making your own KO's on a FACP cabinet

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UL 864 - Control Units for Fire Protective Signaling Systems

This does apply to FACPs.




"5. Conduit shall not enter the Fire Alarm Control Panel, or any other remotely mounted Control Panel equipment or backboxes, except where conduit entry is specified by the FACP manufacturer."

 
Pierre C Belarge said:
"5. Conduit shall not enter the Fire Alarm Control Panel, or any other remotely mounted Control Panel equipment or backboxes, except where conduit entry is specified by the FACP manufacturer."
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This does not say you can not drill your own holes. It does say that any hole you do drill must be an area allowed by the manufacturer.
 
Pierre C Belarge said:
UL 864 - Control Units for Fire Protective Signaling Systems

This does apply to FACPs.




"5. Conduit shall not enter the Fire Alarm Control Panel, or any other remotely mounted Control Panel equipment or backboxes, except where conduit entry is specified by the FACP manufacturer."

Click to expand...

Good to know, apparently I was wrong about the FACP back boxes.:)

Again though, unless the instructions prohibit field punched conduit entrys they would not violate the UL listing.



Chris
 
So what you said is...

So what you said is...

jim dungar said:
This does not say you can not drill your own holes. It does say that any hole you do drill must be an area allowed by the manufacturer.
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So enlarging a KO would be OK, but making new ones is not? Thats how I read it.

Again thank you all for joining the discussion
 
nhfire77 said:
So enlarging a KO would be OK, but making new ones is not? Thats how I read it.

Again thank you all for joining the discussion
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Enlarging a KO would be no different than making you own KO, IMHO. Either one changes the box from what the manufacturer built. That said, I don't see either one a violation of the UL listing unless the installation instruction prohibited them.

Like Bob pointed out, I have seen back boxes that had an area marked "No entrys" or other such markings that would prohibit conduits from entering that area. But unless the installation instructions say you can't make your own opening I would say it was OK.

JMHO,

Chris
 
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nhfire77 said:
So enlarging a KO would be OK, but making new ones is not? Thats how I read it.

Again thank you all for joining the discussion
Click to expand...

No, that is not what is being said, you can make your own holes but they would have to be in an area allowed by the manufacturer.

Many F/A backboxes will have instructions that will show the conduit entry areas. IOW's, making a conduit entry under the battery compartment would most likely not be allowed but, other areas on the can would be and may be shown as a shaded area in the instructions.

Roger
 
This is the answer I got from a guy I know that is in the engineering department of a major fire alarm manufacturer,

From what I have been made aware of the customer can modify the knockouts. The key to this is to maintain the spacing (quarter inch I believe) between the power limited and non-power limited wiring. I think U.L. looks at it as the knockouts are guidelines for wire routing but not necessarily set in stone.
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I think that roger and raider1 are exactly correct.
 
Two things (neither of which has been mentioned yet)

Two things (neither of which has been mentioned yet)

Thing #1: Some fire alarm manufacturers specify which single knockout may be used for the 120V input power.

Thing #2: Many manufacturer's designs are expandable. There may be a footprint, or standoffs for optional boards that mount on the sides, inside fastened to the top, or on the backplane. Bringing in conduit wherever it looks good to you might have unintended consequences.

Apologies to Dr. Seuss
 
iwire said:
Let me add that I have seen FACPs with labels attached to them that say 'No conduit entry' in certain areas, usually the bottom where the batteries sit.
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I found this out the hard way once when I went to install the batteries and they didn't fit.

But the panel was recessed into a finished wall and all my loops came up from the bottom, so top feeding was going to be a nightmare. It was a classic lose-lose situation.
 
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