Red Fire Alarm Conduit

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It could be a local requirement. Regardless, a call to the fire marshal whose town it is in would be in order since they're the one who's going to bless it or fail it.
 
mgookin said:
It could be a local requirement. Regardless, a call to the fire marshal whose town it is in would be in order since they're the one who's going to bless it or fail it.
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Since the OP is in MA (the land of many fire alarm rules), that is a strong possibility.
 
Just out of interest, do you guys ever use mineral insulated (MI) cable? Commonly called Pyro. It's used (with a red outer sheath) for fire protection systems.
 
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Besoeker said:
Just out of interest, do you guys ever use mineral insulated (MI) cable? Commonly called Pyro. It's used (with a red outer sheath) for fire protection systems.
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I have not used MI for fire alarm systems. We use either anything from PVC jacketed cables, to armored cables to conduits with cables or conductors used inside them.

These circuits are often loops and are wired and supervised in such a way that a single failure will only result in a notification of a problem that needs to be fixed while still having full functionality of the circuits.

Places I have used MI cables or other fire resistant cables are for line voltage supplies to emergency distribution panels or motors for things like smoke evacuation or building pressurization etc.
 
Besoeker said:
Just out of interest, do you guys ever use mineral insulated (MI) cable? Commonly called Pyro. It's used (with a red outer sheath) for fire protection systems.
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I've seen it or similar used in high temp industrial processes.
 
iwire said:
I have not used MI for fire alarm systems. We use either anything from PVC jacketed cables, to armored cables to conduits with cables or conductors used inside them.

These circuits are often loops and are wired and supervised in such a way that a single failure will only result in a notification of a problem that needs to be fixed while still having full functionality of the circuits.

Places I have used MI cables or other fire resistant cables are for line voltage supplies to emergency distribution panels or motors for things like smoke evacuation or building pressurization etc.
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I've seen it used for that too. Emergency exit lights fed from a UPS in public buildings like cinemas.
I just wondered having never seen it mentioned on this forum. The discussion about red conduit brought it to mind.
 
iwire said:
No such rule and unenforceable anyway.

The requirement is that the boxes be identified.
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All kidding aside, I'm surprised to hear you say that. You're well aware that in MA and RI the fire departments can pretty much make up any rule they want with impunity. There is one town in my area that requires all smoke alarm boxes in new construction to be painted red. There's no written rule for this, but they require it anyway.
 
peter d said:
All kidding aside, I'm surprised to hear you say that. You're well aware that in MA and RI the fire departments can pretty much make up any rule they want with impunity. There is one town in my area that requires all smoke alarm boxes in new construction to be painted red. There's no written rule for this, but they require it anyway.
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I won't disagree that MA FDs due ask for lots of things beyond the codes and many times we do roll over and comply due to time constraints.

On the other hand somethings you would have to fight, there is no way a chain store like Babies/toys R us, or a movie theater is going to have red conduits running all over. That is the type of thing you would have to say no to.

Things are changing, the courts gave the FDs a major loss here by ruling that they can not require a direct connection to the FD via master or radio boxes. The state code lists three or four ways it can be done with master boxes being one of them. FDs were requiring master boxes even though the rules had been satisfied in other ways.
 
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