RowE
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Does emergency exit lighting in a church required to be on a dedicated circuit or can it be powered by a geral purpose circuit.
Does emergency exit lighting in a church required to be on a dedicated circuit or can it be powered by a geral purpose circuit.
Is it an emergency system or just a battery operated light that is activated by loss of AC power?
it is battery operated light activated by loss of power
I don't see exit lights as area lighting and see no need for them to be on any specific circuit. They are on all the time and have a battery back-up so no matter what circuit they are on, they will remain lit all the time.
If these are combination exit/emergency lights or just unit equipment emergency lights they would need to be on the same circuit as the general purpose lighting in the area.
I don't see how an exit light (sign) is egress lighting, and even if it is, the "area circuit" for the exit light is the circuit that normally powers the exit light. There is nothing to be gained by putting an exit light on the normal area lighting circuit.Don, here where I am exit lights are treated just as required egress lighting. IMO the NEC supports that.
I don't see how an exit light (sign) is egress lighting, and even if it is, the "area circuit" for the exit light is the circuit that normally powers the exit light.
There is nothing to be gained by putting an exit light on the normal area lighting circuit.
And to me it is egress lighting as it is apparently to the inspectors around here.
Except code compliance.
We will have to remain in disagreement on this.
The issue to me is that if the exit light is providing 'area illumination" then the circuit that supplies the exit light is the "area lighting circuit". I see nothing in the code that supports the idea that a battery back-up exit light has to be supplied by the same circuit that supplies the general lighting in the area. In my opinion it is code compliant to connect the exit light to the general lighting circuit, but it is also code compliant to connect the exit light to any other circuit.
In my area, the common spec is that exit lights are on their own circuit and not connected to the general lighting circuit in the area. Both methods provide the desired effect. (and in my opinion are code compliant)
Don, I completely agree with you that there is not advantage to putting exit lights on the area lighting circuit.
However, I think the NEC is vauge on this issue. 700.12(F) doesn't say "area illumination", it says "emergency illumination". How does anyone know if this includes or doesn't include include exit signs? Exit signs provide emergency illumination for backlighting directional signs.
I'm just saying it looks like a place where the NEC could be clearer.
Steve