Fire Alarm Strobes w/ indirect lighting

[tommom]

Wondering if anyone has either designed a fire alarm system (strobes) to be visible when using a lit ceiling (ie indirect lighting) or been flagged for not having one? Any idea of the enforceability of such a design issue?

Thanks.

 

[HCBFlash]

Yeah, I have. In fact a couple "computer rooms" with local gas type fire extinguishing / suppression systems.

The strobes themselves have to be clearly visible and mounted at a height compliant with the applicable code (I think NFPA70 establishes locations, but it may be another NFPA standard).

The last one I did this was the case, and the strobes had to indicate for the rest of the area, despite the local gaseous system, or should I say in addition to the local system.

Fire inspectors are like that.

Please let us all know how this works out for you! and don't forget faq731-376

 

[davidbeach]

NFPA 70 is the NEC. NFPA 72 is Fire Alarms.

 

[tommom]

HCB Flash - Thanks for your reply.

I was really asking specifically about the situation of applying strobes when the ceiling is lit. The strobes must be clearly visible, but I think there is a pretty wide latitude in the various codes and standards regarding what "visible" means - e.g. I think the general guideline is that it is not required that the strobes be directly visible from all points in the space, but that someone in the space would be visually aware they are flashing.

The issue is that if you have relatively high furniture partition walls and a ceiling which is lit by normal lighting, for example, you could have the situation where it may not be easy or practical to see the flash of the strobe. If you were to take the most stringent interp of "visible" short of "directly visible", we could end up with a 177 candela strobe every 20 feet or something like that.

That's the situation I was talking about. After all, if one strictly follows ADA (prescriptive) requirements for this placement, it could be difficult/impossible to see flashing strobes if you're sitting down, have any ceiling height.

Any thoughts?