Emergency systems are legally required if certain criteria are met. The criteria are set by municipal, state, federal, or other codes. An emergency system automatically provides light, power, or both to designated areas and equipment if the normal supply is lost or something accidentally happens to elements of a system that supplies, distributes, or controls light and power essential for human safety [700.2].
Article 700 provides the requirements for installation, operation, and maintenance of these systems. Some highlights include:
- Specific testing and maintenance requirements must be met [700.3].
- The emergency system must be able to support the entire designated load. A common strategy is the implementation of automatic selective load pickup and load shedding [700.4(C)].
- Because this is an emergency system rather than an optional standby system, transfer equipment must be automatic. In addition, it must be listed for emergency use [700.5(A)].
- All emergency switchboards and panels must be SPD-protected [700.8].
- All emergency circuits must be permanently marked by the methods provided in 700.10(A).
- Those circuits must be kept separate from other circuits, except as allowed in 700.10(B).
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