Fire pump feed

H

Hvactrician

Member
Location
Walworth Cty Wisconsin
Occupation
Registered electrician
I have a 3000 amp service on commercial building. It also has a fire pump. The feeders for the fire pump go from the CT cabinet into the service entrance conductor portion of the main switch gear and run continuous into another conduit that feeds out to the fire pump room is this compliant with 695.3 A1 since the main breaker/ service disconnect is in a different vertical section of the switch gear?
 
2023 NEC TX
695.3(A)(1)
The way you describe it, my answer would be no, " ....or from a connection located ahead of and not within the same cabinet, enclosure, vertical switch gear section , or vertical switchboard section as the service disconnecting means".
My underlining.

TX+MASTER#4544
 
So its a 3 section switchgear. Entrance, disconnect/main breaker, branch breakers. So if i come in the entrance side. That would be live all the time once energized from utility. So my thinkkng was that the conductors for the fire pump would be acceptable. The AHJ didnt take issue but a different state inspector mentioned it as a concern. When i told the owner they now want my to run a seperate pipe underground outside to feed the pump.
 
I see no problem with "tapping" in the service section of the gear but question the conduit to the fire pump room.
If it is not literally routed outside it must be 2 hour protected or a properly rated cable such as Vitalink,
 
augie47 said:
I see no problem with "tapping" in the service section of the gear but question the conduit to the fire pump room.
If it is not literally routed outside it must be 2 hour protected or a properly rated cable such as Vitalink,
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Augie would you agree that if it's run within the building even with a 2 hour wiring method there would need to be overcurrent protection at the " tap"?
 
infinity said:
Augie would you agree that if it's run within the building even with a 2 hour wiring method there would need to be overcurrent protection at the " tap"?
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IMO, OCP would not be required if the conduit was installed to meet 230.6 as the conduit would be considered outside the building.
Other methods, such as the rated cable, would need OCP at the supply.
 
augie47 said:
Other methods, such as the rated cable, would need OCP at the supply.
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I agree. There are two choices that you've mentioned, conductors outside of the building with no OCPD or a 2 hour wiring method within the building with an OCPD near the "tap".
 
infinity said:
I agree. There are two choices that you've mentioned, conductors outside of the building with no OCPD or a 2 hour wiring method within the building with an OCPD near the "tap".
Click to expand...
augie47 said:
IMO, OCP would not be required if the conduit was installed to meet 230.6 as the conduit would be considered outside the building.
Other methods, such as the rated cable, would need OCP at the supply.
Click to expand...

I’m in a situation now where the electrician wants to go directly to our transformer.
Doesn’t the exception allow for less than 2 hour protection inside a fire pump room?

And a disconnect right beside a self contained Meterbase for the fire pump has to be lockable in the closed position, correct?
 
Unless 700.10(D) {Emergency Systems}, the wiring in the fire pump room does not need to be 2 hr rated,

If you have a disconnect ahead of the controller it needs to be lockable in the closed position.
(Suggest you look at 695.4 for other provisions)
 
Hv&Lv said:
I’m in a situation now where the electrician wants to go directly to our transformer.
Doesn’t the exception allow for less than 2 hour protection inside a fire pump room?

And a disconnect right beside a self contained Meterbase for the fire pump has to be lockable in the closed position, correct?
Click to expand...
The majority of fire pumps are fed that way, no disconnect necessary, unless required locally of by the utility. The fire pump controller is usually service rated, so it is treated as a separate service. I had one inspector in North Carolina want a separate transformer for the fire pump. I told him to run it by the utility and get back to me. LOL!
 
hillbilly1 said:
The majority of fire pumps are fed that way, no disconnect necessary, unless required locally of by the utility. The fire pump controller is usually service rated, so it is treated as a separate service. I had one inspector in North Carolina want a separate transformer for the fire pump. I told him to run it by the utility and get back to me. LOL!
Click to expand...
😂guess what I am and where I am..
 
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