Thread: Passageway

Ok - help me out with this . I have attic unit with appropriate platform for working clearance in front. My concern is that the unit faces towards the rear of the attic. See picture. Would this not require the clear and unobstructed passageway? Any help would be appreciated.

Do you have any other pictures? The view you showed looked ok for the duct work.

Is this the back of the unit?

IRC 2003. M1305.1.3 Appliances in attic. ................ A level service space at least 30 inches deep and 30 inches wide shall be present along all sides of the appliance where access is required..........
Do not have disk someone can maybe give you the whole code.
You also need a passageway 24 inches wide.

Originally Posted by Zibby Swieca

Would this not require the clear and unobstructed passageway?

Yes, it does need a proper passageway to the service side of the equipment.

From the 2006 IRC. (underlining is mine)

- M1305.1.3 Appliances in attics. Attics containing appliances requiring access shall have with an opening and a clear and unobstructed passageway large enough to allow removal of the largest appliance, but not less than 30 inches (762 mm) high and 22 inches (559 mm) wide and not more than 20 feet (6096 mm) long when measured along the centerline of the passageway from the opening to the appliance. The passageway shall have continuous solid flooring in accordance with Chapter 5 not less than 24 inches (610 mm) wide. A level service space at least 30 inches (762 mm) deep and 30 inches (762 mm) wide shall be present along all sides of the appliance where access is required. The clear access opening dimensions shall be a minimum of 20 inches by 30 inches (508 mm) by 762 mm), where such dimensions are large enough to allow removal of the largest appliance.
- - Exceptions:
- - - 1. The passageway and level service space are not required where the appliance can be serviced and removed through the required opening.
- - - 2. Where the passageway is unobstructed and not less than 6 feet (1829 mm) high and 22 inches (559 mm) wide for its entire length, the passageway shall be not more than 50 feet (15 250 mm) long.
- - M1305.1.3.1 Electrical requirements. A luminaire controlled by a switch located at the required passageway opening and a receptacle outlet shall be installed at or near the appliance location in accordance with Chapter 38.

The "passageway" is required to allow access to the "service space" and needs to go from the attic opening to the service space.

Hey Jerry,

What's up with the French terminology in the code, anyway? I keep seeing "luminaires" everywhere. Why don't they just use plain English and call them light fixtures?


Ross

Originally Posted by Ross Morgan

Hey Jerry,

What's up with the French terminology in the code, anyway? I keep seeing "luminaires" everywhere. Why don't they just use plain English and call them light fixtures?


Ross

They did for over 100 years, but then the code started becoming a combination of metric for a broader based use, and luminaires is also used in English for light fixture.

A "light fixture" is simply that, "the light fixture", whereas a "luminaire" includes all lamps, etc., as being the whole.

Thus, it works to your benefit to use "luminaire" as the code does, that way, when the builder says 'I did put a light fixture in the attic, I don't have to install a light bulb.', you can say 'Yes you do, that is an integral part of the luminaire which is required.'

Luminaire. A complete lighting unit consisting of a light source such as a lamp or lamps, together with the parts designed to position the light source and connect it to the power supply. It may also include parts to protect the light source or the ballast or to distribute the light. A lampholder itself is not a luminaire.

Fair enough. Thanks for the explanation. Sorry to wander off topic.

Ross

Good trivia on the luminaires Jerry. "course, every time I see luminaires mentioned I visualize a group of guys in red velvet sport coats singing 50's - 60's songs........................oh wait, that was the Debonaires,lol

Zibby:

Here's a good article addressing the point:

http://www.texasinspector.com/Monster%20Attics.pdf

Aaron

Aaron,

I guess our house has a monster attic in that, from the attic above the 8 foot ceiling level, it's about 14-15 feet up to the ridge, and from the 14 foot peak of our living room/family room/dining room ceiling it's another 6-7 feet in the attic to the ridge.

Of course, though, the only mechanical equipment in our attic is the AHU, which I would like to move down out of the attic some time ... if only I can find room for it out of the attic without losing other needed and valuable space (and ours is a 1978 house).

... if only I can find room for it out of the attic without losing other needed and valuable space (and ours is a 1978 house).

Mine's an '88, same issue with furnaces and air handlers. Would love to see them in conditioned air, but would not live to see them run after taking up my wife's storage spaces . . .

Aaron

Thus the real reason behind moving the mechanical out of the closets and into the attic; "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

Thus the real reason behind moving the mechanical out of the closets and into the attic; "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"

Jim:

Say it ain't so . . . .

Aaron