Ceiling and Wall mounted FA strobes in the same space?

[Shujinko]

Are ceiling and wall mounted FA strobes allowed to be installed in the same room to achieve coverage? I'm involved with a project that has a fairly large exsiting room, the room has 3 existing wall mounted strobes. The owner wants to make 1 of them ceiling mounted as the associated conduit is surface mounted and looks ugly. The other 2 would stay wall mounted.

What codes allow/disallow this? I checked in NFPA 72 and it doesn't seem clear if the 2 mounting types can be mixed.

 

[MichaelGP3]

Yes. Where you need to exercise care is in selecting a ceiling mounted strobe that will synchronize with the existing wall mounted strobes. Be aware that it is possible to select a strobe from the same manufacturer that will not synchronize with a model from a different product line. What is the ceiling height?

 

[Shujinko]

The ceiling is 10 feet high. Any idea about a code section that talks about the mixing of ceiling and wall mounted devices? Or is this just the AHJ's call?

 

[ryant35]

The only issue is aesthetics, wall and ceiling mount devices in the same space won't look good. As long as the devices are installed with the correct spacing per NFPA 72 and they sync, there shouldn't be an issue.

 

[gadfly56]

The ceiling is 10 feet high. Any idea about a code section that talks about the mixing of ceiling and wall mounted devices? Or is this just the AHJ's call?

As others have said, there shouldn't be an issue. You should take a look at the tables in NFPA 72 regarding strobe coverage. Do a scale drawing of the room with the notification appliances accurately located. You can adjust the strobe coverage by adjusting the output of the strobe, if it's a multi-candela unit. See if you can achieve proper coverage with only the remaining devices. The only caveat: adjusting the strobe value upwards also increases the unit's current draw and it's possible to overload the NAC.

 

[MichaelGP3]

The only issue is aesthetics, wall and ceiling mount devices in the same space won't look good. As long as the devices are installed with the correct spacing per NFPA 72 and they sync, there shouldn't be an issue.

Ehh, it's done all the time.


You may already know this, but if the current draw for the new ceiling mount strobe is higher than the wall mounted device it is replacing, it is incumbent on you to re-calculate the voltage drop for that circuit and show it on the as-built drawings.