110.26(C)

[chris kennedy]

Reading through this looking for verbiage that states you CAN or CANNOT egress through a compliant door from one electrical room into another.

Could one of you English majors break that down for me please?

Thanks

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Chris I don't see anywhere that states you cannot egress into another electrical room nor does it state that you can have only one door. The egress states at least one door so IMO, you can egress from one electric room to another and then egress from hat room thru another door to exit all electrical equipment.

 

[ivsenroute]

1

 

[charlie b]

The rule has nothing to do with rooms. It is about entrance to and egress from the working space. If there is a door that provides egress from the working space, it does not matter what is on the other side of that door. The idea is to allow the worker to be somewhere else, other than in the vicinity of arcing switchboards. Once you are clear of that area, the NEC stops caring about you. I hope you brought your lunch with you, as it may be some time before you can safely reenter the vicinity of the working space. The rule is not about allowing you a path to the outside world.

 

[ivsenroute]

The rule has nothing to do with rooms. It is about entrance to and egress from the working space. If there is a door that provides egress from the working space, it does not matter what is on the other side of that door. The idea is to allow the worker to be somewhere else, other than in the vicinity of arcing switchboards. Once you are clear of that area, the NEC stops caring about you. I hope you brought your lunch with you, as it may be some time before you can safely reenter the vicinity of the working space. The rule is not about allowing you a path to the outside world.

I will respectfully disagree. The purpose of egress is to: (per 110.26(C)(1)) is to "......to give access to and egress from working space about electrical equipment." It does not say "...access from THE working space....," but, essentially away from any workspace about electrical equipment. Egress that takes you into yet another work area about electrical equipment does not meet the code as written. If the code panel wants, they can change the verbiage, but that is my opinion as of now unless there is a better argument that I could see and agree with.

 

[charlie b]

I will respectfully disagree.

You are certainly welcome to do so. But please allow me to clarify my earlier comment with an example. Especially for large projects, I like to design the power feeds to mechanical equipment by placing a 480/277 panel, a transformer, and a 120/208 panel inside the mechanical room. I work with the mechanical and plumbing designers to ensure that working clearance is preserved. But when a person leaves the working space, they are not necessarily leaving the room. Just beyond the working space you might find a pump or two, or perhaps an air compressor, or perhaps some pipes. Indeed, you might be able to walk more than 25 feet away from the working space and still not get to the door to the mechanical room.

 

[charlie b]

Egress that takes you into yet another work area about electrical equipment does not meet the code as written.

And now I will respectfully disagree with you. I believe the intent of this rule is to make it possible for a worker to safely get away from a panel that is arcing. If by stepping away from that panel, and getting clear of its working space, you find yourself within the working space of a panel that is not arcing, you have not moved yourself from the path of one danger into the path of another danger.

 

[Carultch]

The rule has nothing to do with rooms. It is about entrance to and egress from the working space. If there is a door that provides egress from the working space, it does not matter what is on the other side of that door. The idea is to allow the worker to be somewhere else, other than in the vicinity of arcing switchboards. Once you are clear of that area, the NEC stops caring about you. I hope you brought your lunch with you, as it may be some time before you can safely reenter the vicinity of the working space. The rule is not about allowing you a path to the outside world.

I'd like to play devil's advocate, on your explanation. Suppose you had a situation with 1200A and greater, where the NEC requires two exits. Per your explanation of the intent of this concept in the NEC, one of the egress paths could lead you to a non-electrical closet as a dead end, and it would still meet the requirement of two egress paths. I would see this as a serious problem if the worker picked the path that led to being trapped in this closet, and the arcing panel (or an unrelated cause) leads to a fire in the building.

 

[charlie b]

I'd like to play devil's advocate, on your explanation.

OK. I'll play along. You bring up a reasonable concern. But it is a concern that goes beyond what the NEC requires.

The rule requires two exits from the working space. That does not have to involve a door. If you can step back (let's say, for a 480V board) 42 inches away from the front of the board, then turn left and walk away, or turn right and walk away, with "walk away" meaning far enough to get beyond the required working clearance width, then the game is over. Now, if by turning one of the two ways you find your path blocked by a door, and if you choose to walk through that door, you will be (at least initially) safer than you were when you had been standing in front of an arcing board. But if you can't continue beyond the room you find yourself in, the NEC is not going to require the architect to do anything about that.

My group designs buildings from start to finish. We have architects and every engineering discipline represented. I would not allow the architect to design an electric room such that leaving the working space in one direction puts the worker in a no-further-exit situation. That's because I believe that "good design" has to sometimes go beyond code minimum requirements. All I am suggesting is that we continue to distinguish between those two concepts.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I believe that the UBC says that you can exit through one adjoining room.