Relocating FACP panel

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Alwayslearningelec

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Ok, I am estimating a job that has a FACP being removed and a new one installed about 100' away. They asked for those existing circuits to be rerouted to the new FACP. How is this done? Can you splice those wires and extend them? Thanks very much.
 
horsegoer said:
Ok, I am estimating a job that has a FACP being removed and a new one installed about 100' away. They asked for those existing circuits to be rerouted to the new FACP. How is this done? Can you splice those wires and extend them? Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

Sure, there are lots of ways.

One would be to bring them all into an enclosure, set some terminal strips inside, land the

old and extend the new.
 
horsegoer said:
Ok, I am estimating a job that has a FACP being removed and a new one installed about 100' away. They asked for those existing circuits to be rerouted to the new FACP. How is this done? Can you splice those wires and extend them? Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

Too many questions to ask here. Please tell us:

Panel Manufacturer, Model Number of existing panel

Panel Manufacturer, Model Number of the new panel.

100' in which direction? up through a floor, horizontal?

Is the system in EMT, MI, MC, just cable?

How many circuits are there for IDC's SLC's and NAC's and data Bus'?

There is VD, resistance maximum and circuit length to contend with on all of them.

Do you have the AHJ's blessing for this? Some will be real PITA about this and may ask for a 100% current code compliant system or maybe, new annuicators etc.

Why are you moving the panel?

You can splice the circuits in an enclosure, you have to label them all. Its not that simple though.



You will have to run a full reacceptance test to relocate as well.
 
Are you changing anything else?

Are you changing anything else?

I'll assume that this is a permitted job; you'll be needing new voltage drop & battery draw calculations. Separate conduit run for the AC power. I would also make sure everything existing works properly prior to the panel being relocated so you don't inheirit old problems. If the end of line resistor values are different, those devices at the end of line will need to be located & have their resistors changed. If it's a large system, or if the EOL locations aren't documented, there is some labor to be accounted for.
 
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With some fire alarm panels, it's possible to defeat ground fault detection. Has it been defeated on yours? Also, is this a monitored account? If the answer is yes, is the existing means of alarm transmission compatible with the new panel? HTH, and good luck.
 
Wait! I forgot a big one!

Wait! I forgot a big one!

You need to check that the existing 2 wire smoke detectors and audible/visual devices are listed for use with the new panel.
 
benaround said:
Sure, there are lots of ways.

One would be to bring them all into an enclosure, set some terminal strips inside, land the

old and extend the new.
Click to expand...

I would imagine this terminal strip needs to be right by the FACP. There wires currently landed at the FACP have to be relocated there, correct? Thanks.
 
MichaelGP3 said:
With some fire alarm panels, it's possible to defeat ground fault detection. Has it been defeated on yours? Also, is this a monitored account? If the answer is yes, is the existing means of alarm transmission compatible with the new panel? HTH, and good luck.
Click to expand...

WHat do you mean by defeated ground fault protection? Please explain a little further about existing means of transmission? Thanks,.
 
horsegoer said:
WHat do you mean by defeated ground fault protection? Please explain a little further about existing means of transmission? Thanks,.
Click to expand...

Certain panels have jumpers, or in programming you can turn off ground fault monitoring. When you turn it off, the panel doesn't report when a GF condition is present. This can lead to a whole bunch of problems such as transient voltage (lightning) entering a fire alarm circuit and frying a panel.

Or, as I learned one day while testing a system, a NAC circuit that was touching ground, when placed in alarm the GF carried the full load of the NAC circuit to ground blowing the panel out. $$$$.

The terminal strips can be any where, but there are a lot of considerations that must be evaluated before you can splice a whole system.
 
nhfire77 said:
Certain panels have jumpers, or in programming you can turn off ground fault monitoring. When you turn it off, the panel doesn't report when a GF condition is present. This can lead to a whole bunch of problems such as transient voltage (lightning) entering a fire alarm circuit and frying a panel.

Or, as I learned one day while testing a system, a NAC circuit that was touching ground, when placed in alarm the GF carried the full load of the NAC circuit to ground blowing the panel out. $$$$.

The terminal strips can be any where, but there are a lot of considerations that must be evaluated before you can splice a whole system.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks I appreciate it. But just let me ask for my understanding. What is the terminal strip was placed far away from where the existing to be removed FACP. Don't you have to now run those wires from the demod FACP to the terminal strip then new wires to the new FACP location? Thanks for your help.
 
iwire said:
There has to be more to it than that.
Click to expand...

Might be, but based on what we found that seemed most likely.

It was a Silent Knight 5207. The panel was normal. First thing was to test the A/V's, tripped a pull, got about 60 seconds of alarm and then POP. On the main board, components including a PTC blew off I don't remember exactly what else was damaged. The board shut down immediately.

Investigated, found less than 1 ohm to ground, found a chaffing cable on building steel over 100' feet away.

We sent the board to Silent Knight to see if the programming could be pulled, they did, GF monitoring was off.
 
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