Ser cable and places of Assembly

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

wireman3736

Senior Member
Location
Vermont/Mass.
Is it permissible to use ser cable in an unfinished basement of a church? The framing in the basement is wood (no fire rating). I want to run a 4/0 AL. ser cable from a 200 amp sevice disconnect on the exterior of the building to a 200 amp main lug panel in the basement of the church. Occupancy 100 plus.

Thanks Stan
 
Without a fire rated assembly between the basement and the actual assembly areas (sanctuary, etc.), I really doubt you're going to be able to use SER in that location. The actual delineation of the assembly areas within buildings generally called places of assembly is best done by an engineer or sometimes even the local plan reviewers.
 
I'm a little confused by 518.4(B), I told a customer that I would get him a price to upgrade from a 100 to 200 amp service by today. I have figured it both ways using EMT for one and SER for the other. I would hate to lose the job figuring pipe but then again I don't want to leave the job still hungry by bidding ser and then having to use pipe. I may just wait until tomorrow and check with the state Inspector.
 
wireman3736 said:
Is it permissible to use ser cable in an unfinished basement of a church? The framing in the basement is wood (no fire rating). I want to run a 4/0 AL. ser cable from a 200 amp sevice disconnect on the exterior of the building to a 200 amp main lug panel in the basement of the church. Occupancy 100 plus.

Thanks Stan
Click to expand...

My read on this (rather quickly) is that since it's an unfinished area, there would be a fire separation required which would negate the Nonrated Construction provisions of 518.4(B). This throws you into 518.4(A).
Interestingly enough, if the basement were finished off and used for church uses, including Sunday School or similar educational uses and meeting rooms, there would not be a requirement for a separation between the two compartmentalized spaces. I've used Table 302.3.2 Required Separation of Occupancies in the IBC for reference.
 
Is it permissible to use ser cable in an unfinished basement of a church?
Click to expand...
518 +

The framing in the basement is wood (no fire rating).
Click to expand...
Are you saying no fire seperation required or the basement is not fire rated?
It is rated per its construction, and insured accordingly!
I beleive most assemblies require a minimum of a 1 hour seperation, I don't beleive its the intent of 518(B) to release a sub space to be less than the assembly that around it, or in this case over it.
Nickel to a dime the total being over 100 will control this dictation of what this basement is and it will be part of the Assembly and added to the square footage count to get a corrected occupancy count.

I want to run a 4/0 AL. ser cable from a 200 amp sevice disconnect on the exterior of the building to a 200 amp main lug panel in the basement of the church. Occupancy 100 plus.
Click to expand...
Let's just hope the AHJ consider the application and the overall aspect of this assembly being that it is 100 or more people. 518(B) is 100 or less for this consideration.
 
Why not just run MC? I don't know the cost difference but it's probably not as expensive as piping it. And if your under the 2008 NEC you have to use the 60 deg column for SER.
 
When you stand at the gates of heaven and they are looking at your life and all you hear is he cheaped out on the mc cable at the church as they are pulling the lever marked basement.
 
quogueelectric said:
When you stand at the gates of heaven and they are looking at your life and all you hear is he cheaped out on the mc cable at the church as they are pulling the lever marked basement.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that all makes sense. :rolleyes:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top