nursing home

[wire monk]

We are bidding a nursing home remodel and they are putting recp's in the resident room for wall mounted televisions.. Do they have to be on arc faults?? and also are they required redundant grounding??
for the recp's

 

[Buck Parrish]

No AFCI is not required.
Redundant grounding will depend on what level of health care the rooms will be giving, if any. I would think some rooms set up with IV'S etc. would require an isolated ground.

 

[Volta]

Probably need redundant grounds on the foot wall for tv's. NFPA 99 defines a "Patient Care Vicinity" as:

A space, within a location intended for the examination and treatment of patients, extending 1.8m (6 ft) beyond the normal location of the bed, chair, table, treadmill, or other device that supports the patient during examination and treatment and that extends vertically to 2.3m (7 ft 6 in) above the floor. (ELE)

NFPA 99 3.3.140 2005.
The (ELE) refers to the primary chapter(s) using the definition.

The 6' rule essentially requires every electrical appliance reasonably likely to be touched by staff while also in contact with the patient to be connected to a low impedance ground.

 

[Volta]

No AFCI is not required.
Redundant grounding will depend on what level of health care the rooms will be giving, if any. I would think some rooms set up with IV'S etc. would require an isolated ground.

The receptacle grounds should not be isolated from the enclosure, but connected to it, the raceway / cable sheath, and the insulated copper conductor to eliminate all possible gradients / local potentials.

 

[chris kennedy]

I would think some rooms set up with IV'S etc. would require an isolated ground.

This is a sore spot with me also.

517.16 Receptacles with Insulated Grounding Terminals.
Receptacles with insulated grounding terminals, as permitted in 250.146(D), shall be identified; such identification shall be visible after installation.
FPN: Caution is important in specifying such a system with receptacles having insulated grounding terminals, since the grounding impedance is controlled only by the equipment grounding conductors and does not benefit functionally from any parallel grounding paths. This type of installation is typically used where a reduction of electrical noise (electromagnetic interference) is necessary and parallel grounding paths are to be avoided.

 

[roger]

There is no reason for 517.16 and no way to apply it without an exception to 517.13(A)

Roger