Part VII, Overcurrent Protection, divides this topic into four categories for elevators and similar equipment, depending upon the nature of the specific equipment: For operating devices and control and signaling circuits, protection against overcurrent is in accordance with the requirements of Sections 725.43 and 725.45. You need at least one 120VAC GFCI-protected receptacle at each location. In elevators provided with Firefighters' Emergency Operation, a drain or sump pump shall be provided. As we have seen, a limited number of these are approved for elevator locations car, hoistway, pit and machine room. It employs specialists in Mobile, Alabama, and has technical and news correspondents around the world. To avoid this situation, designers can specify elevator controls with a safety feature commonly called a rescuvator. Additional requirements concern escape routes. Where necessary, it is mandated that suitable guards be provided to protect the cables against damage. Flexible cords and cables that are components of listed equipment and used in circuits operating at 30 V (42 VDC) or less are permitted in lengths not to exceed 6 ft., provided the cords and cables are supported and protected from physical damage and are of a jacketed and flame-retardant type. There are options available to achieve this depending upon the customers needs. Freight Elevator Door Control: An Opportunity for Wireless Technology. Flexible cords and cables in lengths not to exceed 6 ft. of a flame-retardant type and located to be protected from physical damage are permitted in machine rooms without being installed in a raceway. Adhering to the requirements will ensure a hazard-free electrical installation. The disconnecting means is to be an externally enclosed, operable, fused motor circuit switch or circuit breaker capable of being locked in the open position. Mohawk Lift Systems Inc, 836 Troy Schenectady Rd, Latham, NY, Elevators For platform lifts and stairway chairlifts, the duty is intermittent. Here, the National Electrical Safety Code has jurisdiction. Sign up for our free e-newsletter. Elevator cab lights require emergency back-up power. But the lights don't have to be in the pit itself. This accomplishes two functions. Therefore, elevator equipment rooms must maintain a temperature between 50F and 90F. By subscribing, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. A section on branch circuits for car lighting, receptacles, ventilation, heating and air-conditioning contains a number of important provisions. The disconnecting means must disconnect the elevator from the emergency, standby and normal power systems. The thinking behind this requirement is that the injured worker could have severe hand burns and be unable to operate a conventional doorknob. Thus, the need for door interlock functionality is recognized. These circuit breaker selective coordination tables can be used to identify the maximum fault current that a pair of circuit breakers can selectively coordinate. The cover shall be secured and level with the pit floor. He participates in IEEE (Senior Member) with Industrial and Commercial Power Systems, NEMA (member of the Codes & Standards Committee), NFPA (committee member for NEC CMP-13 and NFPA 79), UL (508/60947 and 508A) and IAEI activities. This may be countered by providing good machine-room ventilation. A single means for disconnecting all ungrounded main power-supply conductors is required and must be designed so no pole can be operated independently. The elevator controller manufacturer must determine the required elevator controller SCCR as stated in the elevator controller specification and provide an elevator controller SCCR that is equal to or greater than the available fault current thats indicated in the design documents where there are multiple elevator controllers at different locations. Guidance in determining whether elevator pits meet the definition of The hazards are external to the equipment enclosure since equipment SCCR testing and evaluation criteria for product standards are most often performed with the enclosure doors closed and latched, and the fault occurring external to the enclosure. When you consider that an elevator is an enclosed room with one or more doors that people voluntarily enter so they may travel hundreds of feet up or down, several observations are in order. The party responsible for procuring the elevator control panel must state the minimum acceptable SCCR or the maximum available fault current where the controller will be installed. Elevator Pit Drain or Sump Pump | UpCodes The conduit alone can't act as the grounding means. If a smoke detector goes into alarm, it signals the elevator to go into Fire Recall Function, at which point the controller directs the elevator cab to travel to its pre-programmed designated landing, open its doors, and remain stopped there until the alarm clears. (g) Stop Switch in Pits. The fan should be on a dedicated circuit. Hydraulic elevators are typically more cost effective and used for buildings up to 5-6 stories. Luminaires must be lensed or equipped with wire guards to protect the lamps. It is mandatory, as in the car, that these items have a separate, dedicated branch circuit, and the required lighting is not to be supplied through a GFCI. [emailprotected] In addition, the shunt-trip voltage must also be monitored by the Fire Alarm System. When the elevator car is at the top landing, it is the length of cable as measured from the point of suspension on the car to the bottom of the loop. Guarding: Where possible, install temporary guarding to protect from inadvertent contact. As greater numbers of elevators are added, the likelihood of them all operating simultaneously decreases so that it is permissible to reduce the feeder ampacity. As mentioned, traditional installations of a traction or hydraulic elevator include a separate machine room. The surest means of avoiding an arc-flash hazard is to lockout and tagout the electrical service to a controller. Design practices that are acceptable in some jurisdictions may not be in others. As for height, the working space must extend from the grade, floor or platform to 6-1/2 ft. or the height of the equipment, whichever is greater. Society of Mechanical Engineers. 1. Traveling cables are to be supported by one of these means: Looping the cables around supports for unsupported lengths less than 100 ft. +;-mka|7! Selective coordination is also required for multiple elevators per NEC 620.62. The main impetus for the creation of the NEC in the closing years of the 19th century was the collective anguish experienced by insurance underwriters who were losing vast amounts of money due to liability and physical damage claims resulting from Edisons electrification of, first, Lower Manhattan and then the world. The simplest option is to use a shunt trip circuit breaker in either the feeder supplying the elevator or the elevator disconnect. Motor feeder short circuit and ground-fault protection must be as required in Article 430, Part V for all motors. Another important electrical system design consideration for supplying power to multiple elevators is NEC 620.62. They are permitted to be run without raceway when used inside the hoistway, on the elevator car, hoistway wall, counterweight, or controllers and machinery located inside the hoistway, provided they are in their original sheaths. Such vehicles include, but are not . This is something that can be easily accomplished if the elevator controller manufacturer uses components in combination with overcurrent protective devices that are tested and listed with high combination SCCRs. Similarly, underground wiring in mines is not NEC regulated, although other, non-mine wiring below ground (such as lighting in an underground traffic tunnel) is covered. The code exempts some fairly broad areas where compliance is not expected. Pits shall be maintained in a clean and dry condition. You'll need to run telephone cables to the equipment room control panel, but the elevator supplier will take care of getting the cables to the elevator cab. Article 511 provides the requirements for commercial garages areas used for the storage or repair of self-propelled vehicles that use combustibles (liquid or gas) for power. If you specify a rescuvator, you must also specify a disconnect switch with an auxiliary contact that opens when the disconnect arm moves to the open position, but stays closed when the OCPD trips. Many of these are for portable lighting.). This is especially true in an elevator shaft where measures have to be taken to ensure that a hazardous situation is not created. Smoke detectors, which are required in all elevator lobbies and elevator equipment rooms, must be connected to the elevator controllers directly by means of auxiliary contacts and wiring, or indirectly by means of output signals from the fire alarm control panel. 2023 Endeavor Business Media, LLC. This device must be either a fused disconnect or a circuit breaker because ANSI/ASME A17.1 requires you to install an additional overcurrent protection device (OCPD) in the elevator equipment room. These are the principle NEC 2011 Article 620 mandates. Part of the reason that elevator usage is extraordinarily safe is that construction and maintenance are regulated by the wonderfully robust ASME A17.1 2007/CSA B44-07 Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, which contains overall construction and maintenance requirements everything from seismic mandates to machine-room lighting. Get more of Elevator World. Below is a summary of these new 2017 NEC sections: In order to comply with these requirements a chain of events must occur. The Code provides guidance through regulations to establish requirements. Sign up for our free e-newsletter. NEC Article 620 covers elevators, dumbwaiters, escalators, moving walks, platform lifts and stairway chairlifts. Additional branch circuits are to supply other utilization equipment not covered above. Hydraulic reservoir characteristic of a hydraulic-piston-operated elevator. Heating and air-conditioning equipment located on the car must not be in excess of 600 V. All live parts of electrical apparatuses are to be enclosed to protect workers and the public against accidental contact. They must be in enclosures with doors or removable panels that can be locked in the closed position. Conductors supplying a single motor are to have an ampacity not less than the percentage of motor nameplate current determined from Section 430.22(A) and (E). But by understanding how these items fit together and what purpose they serve, you can have a successful project. Hammurabi, sixth king of Babylon and creator of the Babylonian Empire, decreed: If a builder builds a house for someone and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death. Each fused switch or circuit breaker in the panelboard is used as an elevator disconnect. Elevator Sump Requirements - Risi Stone Inc. NEC Article 0: Elevator art by David Herres Continued. You must run a separate insulated grounding conductor with the feeder conductors from the electrical source to the elevator controller. Flexible cords and cables, or conductors grouped together and taped or corded, are permitted to be installed without a raceway. The proposals resulted in adding new requirements in the 2017 NEC for: This article will also discuss other Code requirements that include selective coordination for elevators that are supplied by emergency, legally required standby or critical operation power systems or multiple elevators supplied from a single feeder, and shunt tripping of elevators where the elevator equipment room and/or shaft has a fire suppression sprinkler system.