Code & Installation Question From NFPA 99 the 2012 Edition

  • Monday, December 03, 2018 12:55 PM
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    Message # 6943752
    Al Moon (Administrator)

    LISTED BELOW ARE TWO SEPARATE CODE SECTIONS FROM OUR NFPA 99 CODE FROM THE 2012 EDITION: 


    CONCERING THE INSTALLATION OF CEILING BOOMS, ARMS AND PENDANTS, AND SOME MODELS OF HEADWALLS.

    WHICH ONE OF TWO SECTIONS, IS REQUIRED?




    5.1.6.7  Manufactured assemblies employing hose or flexible connectors, where the station outlet/inlet attached to the piping is not fully and immediately accessible (i.e., cannot be manipulated without the removal of panels, doors, and so forth), shall have station outlets/inlets with the following additional characteristics:



    5.1.10.11.6.1  Hose and flexible connectors, both metallic and nonmetallic, shall be no longer than necessary and shall not penetrate or be concealed in walls, floors, ceilings, or partitions.
  • Tuesday, December 04, 2018 4:45 AM
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    Reply # 6944738 on 6943752
    Mark Allen

    Al,

     

    Both are required of course.  Where do you see they conflict?
  • Tuesday, December 04, 2018 3:02 PM
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    Reply # 6945871 on 6943752
    Al Moon (Administrator)

    Maybe, I am reading this to hard, but this is my Angina.


    1) In section 5.1.10.11.6.1 - reads as - hoses shall not penetrate or be concealed in walls, floors, ceilings, or partitions.


    vis 


    2) Then in section 5.1.6.7 which states the hoses can be placed in locations not fully and immediately accessible. 


    I'm seeing more and more manufactured assemblies (i.e. the booms, arms, pendants and / or those headwall types that are attached to a existing or new wall outlet) and the gas and vacuum hoses are above the ceiling or inside a partition.


    Should the ASSE 6030 verifier be responsible for the review ?

    Or is this only the owner, architect, pe or ahj ?
  • Wednesday, December 05, 2018 6:47 AM
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    Reply # 6946606 on 6943752
    Mark Allen

    Ah, now I see your issue.  You are not alone on this - the CSA committee also discussed it.

     

    In the NFPA, this has not been wrestled with at all, but CSA and ISO have a standard for "Medical Supply Units" (Z305.8).  In those standards it is clear that a "hidden hose" like this is not allowed (CSA Z305.8 12.5.1.4). 

     

    The NFPA rule 5.1.6.7 was originally written with the Hill Rom "Horizon" product in mind, where hoses were hidden behind an easily removed "dress" panel.  The new product you are referring to has hoses in the basic structure and which are difficult to access.

     

    The counterargument is that hose has been used in a very similar way since time immemorial in pendants and ceiling columns, where they cannot be argued to be "fully and immediately accessible" either.  Nevertheless, the hoses in pendants and columns are now required to be examined every 18 months, and no such requirement will apply here at the moment.

     

    As this is a competitor's product it is not appropriate for me to comment furthur, but that is the background as it stands at the moment.

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