Electrical Room Minimum Height Clearance

[steve holt]

Is there a minimum height clearance requirement in electrical rooms, besides those required for working space, frontal clearances and dedicated space? Can there be piping, cable tray, a light, or anything else below a specific height? I am assuming this may be a UBC or IBC issue.

 

[Carultch]

Is there a minimum height clearance requirement in electrical rooms, besides those required for working space, frontal clearances and dedicated space? Can there be piping, cable tray, a light, or anything else below a specific height? I am assuming this may be a UBC or IBC issue.

It is OK if other parts of the room, have less vertical clearance than 6'-6", but the region that requires working space, needs 6'-6" clear space throughout the entire region requiring it. Where 110.26(C)(2) applies, the required egress paths also need the 6'-6" clear height. The NEC doesn't extend the same egress dimensions to smaller equipment, and instead uses the phrase "sufficient area", which defers to building codes and the AHJ to specify what this means.

Where dedicated space is not required, it is OK for materials as you describe to be below 6'-6" above the floor, when located above electrical equipment. Not all equipment requires dedicated space, and where dedicated space is required, remember that it is "dedicated" to the electrical installation as a whole. Anything governed by the NEC. So it is OK for unrelated raceways and cable trays to be in dedicated space, just not foreign systems like plumbing and HVAC.