"Working Space" and Telephone Backboards

[Ragin Cajun]

I am finishing up design of an apartment building where we are challenged for space in the electrical room.

My HVAC counterpart needs to run a return duct (16 X 6) through the electrical room as there is just no other place to run it.

I managed to get the architect give us 3 more feet in the room but we are still very tight.

In looking in section 110 the NEC seems to address only "electrical" equipment like panelboards, switchgear, etc. I would like to place the return duct above a telephone, cable, or security backboard. I can't find anything prohibiting this, but . . . what do I know?

Comments?

Thanks and Merry CHRISTmas!!

RC

 

[charlie b]

Your thread's title is misleading. You are talking about "dedicated equipment space," not "working space." The intent of the "dedicated equipment space" of 110.26(F) is to reserve room for conduits coming up from panels and switchboards and the like. It does not apply to telephone backboards. So yes, you can run a duct over a telephone backboard.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I agree with Charlie. This is a pet peeve of mine, that when they are designing a new building (and this is just for dramatic effect) they somehow have room for a 1500 sq ft conference room, but they never have enough room for the electrical equipment.

 

[charlie b]

A conference room is a revenue generator, in that the presence of such a room is more likely to convince a prospective renter to rent the space. An electrical room does not generate revenue for the owner, even though absence of an electrical room can clearly make it impossible to rent out the other space. C'est la vie!

 

[cowboyjwc]

Oh I understand, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.