I am adding some magnetic door holders in a hospital. Does the wiring for the holders need to be in a conduit? If not, then the next question is if it should be in a red cable or not. I don't want to identify the conductors as "fire alarm" if I don't need to since they are not part of the signaling system. In other words, worst case scenario, the wire gets damaged and the door closes(which is what you want it to do in a fire anyway). Any insight would be great.
Since you are adding an already functioning system, any addition would be a part of an overall fire alarm system.
You don't want to identify the conductors as fire alarm to what end?
If it is to circumvent fire alarm system requirement then you are defeating the intent of enforcing NFPA code. It is an industry standard to have red jacket two- conductor for door holder and other signalling devices.
NEC does not require it to be red. . . only that it should be identified. You still have to adhere to NEC requirement in terms of protecting conductors which you already know.
Another concern is; adding these holders would effectively alter the original design. Since this is a hospital I'm sure regular maintenance is carried out by fire alarm company which is most likely the company that installed it. I used to work at Simplex.
You are right that these wires have to originate from the fire alarm panel. For a comprehensive monitoring practice each door holder has its own output signal from the PLC.
As such, you have to update the software for this addendum and become a part of the document on file in the engineering department.
You don't want the fire alarm company scratching their head when they come out to perform fire drill test.
