NEMA rating for electrical equipment with sprinkler heads

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shortcircuit1

Senior Member
Location
USA
Hello,

If there is a sprinkler installed in the electrical room, does all the equipment in the room need to be rated as NEMA 4? I am just thinking if there is a fire in the electrical room and sprinkler head goes off then whatever equipment thats not on fire may catch on fire if the equipment is not rated properly. Any thoughts?
 
steve66

steve66

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Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
I don't think I have ever seen nema 4 equipment in an electrical room due to sprinklers.

If pipes are ran directly above a panel, the panel may require leak protection. But I don't think you can intentionally block a sprinkler head, so the equipment will probably get wet if a sprinkler is activated. But then, there is probably already a fire there anyway, so.....

A sprinkler activation might cause a breaker to trip, or even an arc flash. But I think the odds of it starting a fire (especially since there is already a spray of water present) is pretty low.

If the building can't tolerate a power outage, you might consider checking to see if the electrical room can be fire rated, and not sprinklered.
 
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victor.cherkashi

Senior Member
Location
NYC, NY
shortcircuit1 said:
Hello,

If there is a sprinkler installed in the electrical room, does all the equipment in the room need to be rated as NEMA 4? I am just thinking if there is a fire in the electrical room and sprinkler head goes off then whatever equipment thats not on fire may catch on fire if the equipment is not rated properly. Any thoughts?
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I don’t know what the most current NFPA 13 code says, but back to 2002 edition, the code talked about hoods or shields to protect important electrical equipment.
Section - 8.14.10.2 Hoods or shields installed to protect important electrical equipment from sprinkler discharge shall be noncombustible.
 
Jraef

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
shortcircuit1 said:
Hello,

If there is a sprinkler installed in the electrical room, does all the equipment in the room need to be rated as NEMA 4? I am just thinking if there is a fire in the electrical room and sprinkler head goes off then whatever equipment thats not on fire may catch on fire if the equipment is not rated properly. Any thoughts?
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Sprinklers are allowed in electrical rooms per 110.26.I.c. If you are still worried about it, sprinklers for fire suppression would be considered "falling or splashing" water and would be covered by type 2, 12 or 13 enclosures per table 110.28, no need to go all the way to Type 4. Nobody sells type 2 stand alone enclosures, but you will find that most free-standing panelboards, switchboards, switchgear and MCCs are actually Type 2, or can have a simple "drip lip" added to them to make them so.
 
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victor.cherkashi

Senior Member
Location
NYC, NY
NYC story happened 5 month ago in Manhattan high rise building. During an inspection, city inspector told the building to remove sprinkler head in floor electrical room or provide protection for electrical panel. Inspector told us, since the room has 2 hours fire rated walls the sprinkler should not be there. We tried to give reference to code that removal of the sprinkler is optional, it's not mandatory. Bottom line, the building removed the head as inspector wanted.
 
ron

ron

Senior Member
Location
New York, 40.7514,-73.9925
victor.cherkashi said:
NYC story happened 5 month ago in Manhattan high rise building. During an inspection, city inspector told the building to remove sprinkler head in floor electrical room or provide protection for electrical panel. Inspector told us, since the room has 2 hours fire rated walls the sprinkler should not be there. We tried to give reference to code that removal of the sprinkler is optional, it's not mandatory. Bottom line, the building removed the head as inspector wanted.
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That's unfortunate especially when the NYC fire Code also has
904.2 "Sprinklers shall not be omitted from any room or area merely because it is of fire-resistance-rated construction or contains electrical equipment."
 
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