Emergency / egress lighting question....

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623merlin

Member
Location
Arizona, near Phoenix
I am working on a 40,000sqft retail/mall (multiple shops under one roof, walls do not extend to the grid height, 3' clearance to grid). There are 3 exits in front, two side and 3 rear exits, multiple corridors and a central court area. I have not been given my egress paths yet but they are pretty obvious (divide the building on the center building lines and egress to the nearest exit in that quadrant) (200' x 200" building). What I am looking to find is the minimum spacing of the "Wal-pak" units to achieve my one (1) lumen per sqft. and a maximum mounting height (ceiling is up to 16' in places). I would like to mount them on boxes on top of the walls (10') or use cut-in boxes to lower them to 8'. I know exit signs are required at all exit doors, corridor intersections and corridors with limited/restricted view (zig-zags). Any suggestions on where to look? The City of Phoenix is very slow to respond to my questions.
 
J

jtester

Senior Member
Location
Las Cruces N.M.
You should get .ies files for the units you plan to use, and model the situation in a lighting program. You could also get a lighting supplier to run the point by point to see where you are.

Your building seems large enough to do an actual design, and not risk someone's rule of thumb turning out wrong.

Jim T
 
6

623merlin

Member
Location
Arizona, near Phoenix
I did ask the electrical inspector about it, he referred me to the structural inspector for egress pathways and to ask him what he suggests. The electrical inspector said that he only checks to see if they are wired and secured properly.
 
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bmac71

Member
623merlin

We usually have the Architect do a life safety egress drawing to show placement of all emergency and egress lights. As jtester stated this is a large facility and being a mall this will be a popular place and large crowds. My recommendation is to contact the engineer to get the life saftey plan done before you start this will be the best for everyone. May be a little more money, but safety is #1 in the business.
 
steve66

steve66

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
Lithonia does show some suggested spacing for their emergency egress lights if you have their product guide. I'll bet you can also find it online.

Steve
 
6

623merlin

Member
Location
Arizona, near Phoenix
The structural inspector will be onsite in the morning to inspect above the hard lid in the restrooms. The electrical inspector and the engineer both referred me to him for the egress paths. I think I will ask if emergency ballasts in the troffers would be a better way to go (although I do have 2 cases of Lithonia bug-eyes on site, left behind by the previous tennants), and what he would recommend for locations of them and the exit signage. The managers of the mall space are running low on funds and we are trying to work with the inspectors and engineer to keep costs down.
 
W

W6SJK

Senior Member
Putting them at 10ft makes it hard for the owner to do monthly tests, which they are supposed to do. :) Putting them lower risks vandalism. Tough call. Also, exit sign spacing is usually such that no point in the egress path is more than 100ft from a sign, in addition to what you already mentioned.
 
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