Having the strobes set on 15cd inside the rooms? Last time I checked, strobes in sleeping areas needed to be at least 110cd. (Slightly unrelated, the speaker is set on 1/4)
Which hotel? I only ask because I’ve worked on several in the Philadelphia area.
Should I PM you or just post it? I don’t want its name to show in case this topic shows, and effects its business.
PM me is fine.
If it’s a non-ADA room it might be fine.
But, if they’re not going to have it set to 110cd, then why have a strobe? Isn’t the point of having a strobe to wake people up?
The code and strobe application guides reference non-sleeping areas and sleeping areas. The sleeping area strobe intensity is based on what it takes to wake a person up. The illustrations below are from this application guide.
Kind of odd to see a strobe in a non ADA room. Most standard hotel rooms will only have an audible device.
So, is it a violation then, or do only ADA rooms need a high-intensity strobe?
Difficult to say. If it’s a non-ADA room, the strobe isn’t required. So if it isn’t required but it is there, is it required to be up to the standard?
One scenario could be that the AHJ wanted strobes in every room. Hotels have a lot of rooms! And when you figure on one of those EG4’s the current load is 4X greater on 110Cd vs 15Cd, there could have been a trade off where the candela was allowed to be lowered in the non-ADA rooms to save on putting in multiple booster panels. In other words, you would have to know what the system was designed for to determine if there is a violation. All designs are approved by the AHJ.
As far as the 1/4 watt setting on the speaker… The city of Philadelphia requires 75dba in sleeping rooms at the pillow for systems installed after Jan 2010 - 70dba for systems installed prior. So as long as it was tested at 75dba, the speaker can be tapped at whatever wattage it needs.
Off topic but another thing to look out for when your traveling around the city of brotherly love - all manual pull stations have to have a sign installed above them that says “In case of fire - sound alarm and call 911 or fire department”. See how many you can find missing!
So, that’s why those signs are there. I actually saw an RSG T-Bar with the sign you mentioned over the lower part of the handle. Seems like they wanted to discourage malicious alarms!
I’ve done some work in philly in the past year or so, they generally know exactly what they want.
non-hearing impaired rooms don’t require any strobes and the ones that have them only need 110cd in the sleeping areas and 15cd in all other areas. I’d be surprised if the strobes even went off when the alarm was activated unless the smoke in that specific room set it off.
Yeah, the smokes were residential alarms.
Stay tuned for a video! I was back at this hotel, and the alarm went off. :roll:
Given this update, can a mod move this to Fire Alarm General Discussion?
Here is a link to the topic with the video:
