Data\Comm Conduit fill

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mkoloj

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Is there any article anyone knows about in the NEC or any other code that limits conduit fill on data\comm (Network\phone) cabling in a 4" EMT sleeve that is approximately 12" long and is being used as a penetration in a fire or smoke rated wall?
Firestopping caulk and glass wool are being used to fill out any voids in the sleeves after the cabling is installed.
I am being told by a building engineer that the sleeves cannot be filled beyond 50%.
I am under the assumption that they can be filled to 100% because the fill ratio does not apply to communications cabling.


BTW this is in NYC and thanks in advance for any insight into this issue.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
No, check with the manufacturer of your firestop. All have details for wall penetrations. The firestop material must be in sufficient quantity and have room to expand around the cable bundle inside the conduit during a fire to seal off the conduit sleeve. If you pack the conduit with cables or mineral wool than apply what amounts to a coating of firestop you are wasting your time.

-Hal
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mkoloj

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Thanks for the code reference, my gut feeling was that the fill rules did not apply.
I understand that the firestop has to be applied per the manufacturers instructions with the ability to do what it was intended to, I just wasn't keen on this 50% fill rule if it was made up abritrarily or with the thought that the fill ratios for line voltage conduits applied to data\com sleeves, which seems to be my case here.
 
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