Furnace

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jusme123

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On a gas heater for a commercial bldg does the heater need an emergency off button by the door of boiler/electric room? Residential needs one at top of stairs, but where/what code is this found in?
 
jusme123 said:
On a gas heater for a commercial bldg does the heater need an emergency off button by the door of boiler/electric room? Residential needs one at top of stairs, but where/what code is this found in?
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There may be a code in your area but the disconnect for a residential gas furnace only needs to be within site of the furnace. I believe the old oil furnaces req. the switch you are talking about- but not sure.
 
Your local fire inspector is the best one for this question, it is not an NEC issue as Dennis said.

Some towns in MA tried to push this a few years back but it never took off here.:)
 
Dennis Alwon said:
There may be a code in your area but the disconnect for a residential gas furnace only needs to be within site of the furnace. I believe the old oil furnaces req. the switch you are talking about- but not sure.
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those furnaces are not that old........... are they? I would take oil, baseboard heat over anything out there today ( I live in the NE). The switch is an 'emergency off' that must be located at top of stairwell (if boiler is in basement)
 
jusme123 said:
those furnaces are not that old........... are they? I would take oil, baseboard heat over anything out there today ( I live in the NE). The switch is an 'emergency off' that must be located at top of stairwell (if boiler is in basement)
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It is not an NEC issue is all I can tell you. Perhaps a fire code or building code thing.
 
It is probably a local or state mechanical code. ASME has a requirement for an emergency shut off outside a boiler room but that would need to be adopted by the AHJ.
 
jusme123 said:
On a gas heater for a commercial bldg does the heater need an emergency off button by the door of boiler/electric room? Residential needs one at top of stairs, but where/what code is this found in?
Click to expand...

Mass building code 7th addition, go to your town hall and ask the building inspector
 
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As far as I can remember it was a requirement for liquid fuel fired heating equipment, we use to have to install them on all oil type furnaces and space heaters to shutdown the fuel pump in an event the line to the burner ruptured, most of these pumps were a oil gear positive pressure type and if the burner orifice was to plug the pump could build up pressure and rupture the fuel line or blow apart the compression fittings used in some furnaces, the idea was to have a way to shut it down remotely, they also had to have a fire red cover marked "EMG FUEL SHUTOFF"

This went away with the advent of the newer safety gas valves on gas type furnaces (Propane/Natural) which shut off the gas flow if the pilot light goes out, or the igniter doesn't light.

We also had around here a few inspectors who tried to continue this requirement for gas furnaces, but eventually the state over ruled them.
 
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