AFCI Protection in Clothes Closets

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Not really on topic, but where does the notion that a room must have a closet to be a bedroom? I've heard this over and over, and can't comprehend it. I think Roger already asked this question.

As someone already posted, what makes a room a bedroom is what's written on the prints.
 
j_erickson said:
Not really on topic, but where does the notion that a room must have a closet to be a bedroom? I've heard this over and over, and can't comprehend it. I think Roger already asked this question.

As someone already posted, what makes a room a bedroom is what's written on the prints.
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They did away with the closet to be a bedroom a long time ago, was to easy to eliminate the closet and install a smaller septec...
 
stickboy1375 said:
They did away with the closet to be a bedroom a long time ago, was to easy to eliminate the closet and install a smaller septec...
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Maybe where you are they did away with the closet rule but not here.Even though it doesn`t fall under the NEC our inspectors say that they,will inspect along the lines of what the building inspector and the fire marshall inspect.In other words these other depts. say that if a room has a bedroom it requires a smoke detector and also afci protection.So if it has a closet it is a bedroom.

Even a den with a closet requires a smoke and afci,even if it is listed as a den on the floor plan.
 
Allen, have you ever asked to see this definition in writing? It doesn't matter whose code it is in, for it be code it has to be documented somewhere.

BTW, I do know that it wouldn't be a big deal to put the closet on the AFCI protected Bedroom circuit, and in most cases it is probably the easiest and most sensible.

But in a case where there may be a reason that this would not be true, I know I would object to being made to do it at my expense because there is some unwritten rule.

(Edited to make a sentence make sense, this was after Georges post)

Roger
 
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What is the source for the "closet makes it a bedroom"? I thought the building code dictated that.

I have been made to install smokes in offices that had closets, because they met the "xxxxx" definition of a bedroom.

You know, all things being equal, I actually hope the 2008 goes through with the whole-house AFCI requirement. Then, at last, we'll be able to put this question to bed. :D
 
georgestolz said:
What is the source for the "closet makes it a bedroom"? I thought the building code dictated that.

I have been made to install smokes in offices that had closets, because they met the "xxxxx" definition of a bedroom.

You know, all things being equal, I actually hope the 2008 goes through with the whole-house AFCI requirement. Then, at last, we'll be able to put this question to bed. :D
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Yes it will and it will be the start of many new ones.The bright side for me is i will be retired before then.
 
As someone already posted, the building code does not define "bedroom".

If the whole house AFI becomes a requirement, we're all gonna have a lot oftime on our hands.
 
stickboy1375 said:
i agree 100%, the only room with a defination in the nec is a bathroom. personally i don't think I would have even asked the owner if he wanted them...
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Wasnt up to me.The print did not include them and we dont do them for free.Now if the inspector had pushed for them i would not even try to argue.Someday this house will get sold and likely will have the rooms used as bedrooms.
 
Even a den with a closet requires a smoke and afci,even if it is listed as a den on the floor plan.[/QUOTE]

I'd like to see where it says that? SO if your den has a cased doorway (no door installed) you call that a bedroom? Have fun getting dressed in the morning....also I have a room with closet, french doors (no privacy) no smoke and a computer, I call it an OFFICE...
 
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stickboy1375 said:
Even a den with a closet requires a smoke and afci,even if it is listed as a den on the floor plan.
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I'd like to see where it says that? SO if your den has a cased doorway (no door installed) you call that a bedroom? Have fun getting dressed in the morning....also I have a room with closet, french doors (no privacy) no smoke and a computer, I call it an OFFICE...[/QUOTE]

This deals with local code and building codes not nec
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
I'd like to see where it says that? SO if your den has a cased doorway (no door installed) you call that a bedroom? Have fun getting dressed in the morning....also I have a room with closet, french doors (no privacy) no smoke and a computer, I call it an OFFICE...
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This deals with local code and building codes not nec[/QUOTE]

You'd be correct, i'm also required to now install CO detectors outside sleeping areas
 
Just FYI, I saw a picture on Mike Holt's website showing closets with AFCI protection and Smoke Detectors, if anybody even cares, since this is thread turned into who defines what room what anyways.,.
 
Cavie, don't get to excited, Mikes graphic just shows what might be a way to wire the bed room circuit, take note of the HALLWAY receptacle that is also on the AFCI.

1099599192_2.jpg


Does a hallway entrance into a room define the space as a bedroom, and would any receptacles in any hallway need to be AFCI protected?

I have ask you for some written substantiation to a Closet classifying a room as a bedroom and you haven't as of yet produced any.

Roger
 
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The area in Yellow shows what MUST be on the circuit. The hallway CAN be put on the circuit but not required. The closet causing it to be a bedroom comes for every AHJ I have met in 4 counties on the West Coast of Florida. Every Structial Inspector, Plans examiner, and Electric Inspector. If it has a closet it is a bedroom. It will have a smoke and a AFC and if on a septic system, a Drainfield Area sized to the number of bedrooms. An dat's the name of dat tune.
 
Cavie said:
The area in Yellow shows what MUST be on the circuit. The hallway CAN be put on the circuit but not required.
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Well here's one without different colors.

1014150850_2.gif
Same situation.

Cavie said:
The closet causing it to be a bedroom comes for every AHJ I have met in 4 counties on the West Coast of Florida. Every Structial Inspector, Plans examiner, and Electric Inspector. If it has a closet it is a bedroom. It will have a smoke and a AFC and if on a septic system, a Drainfield Area sized to the number of bedrooms. An dat's the name of dat tune.
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So you have nothing as far as a code to back this up, just some guys / girls making something up.

In all fairness though, I don't see a set of cheap bi-fold doors as being a true separation of the spaces.

On the other hand, a closet door equal to the bedroom or bathroom door (walkin closet for example) would definitely separate the spaces.

Roger
 
Why is no one considering it to be the closet light SWITCH, which is in the bedroom in all examples so far, to be what is requiring AFCI? I see no question that if present, the closet lamp wiring must comply.

BUT, what if the switch is inside the closet? To me, that is the issue that is open.
 
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