Smoke alarm rules when renovating

I’m getting conflicting information regarding smoke alarm requirements when renovating a multfamily dwelling.  I am renovating 4 vacant units and not doing anything except running some pipes thru 2 occupied units. Do I have to hardwire smoke alarms to the 2 occupied units that are not getting renovated?  Do I have to hardwire smoke alarms thru the 4 units being renovated or can battery ones suffice? Can they be hardwired thru the unit’s electricity or do does they have to run to the building’s electricity, closest being outside of the unit in the hallway? Any info is appreciated.

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mozeeatupu

in About Brooklyn 12 years and 2 months ago

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bk123 | 12 years and 1 month ago

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your looking at the state code. NYC has a diff code, but i think its same result.

mozeeatupu | 12 years and 1 month ago

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OP here.  Doing some more research, it seems that hard wiring is not required if we’re not renovating the existing dwelling unit. AJ504.2 Smoke alarms. When interior alterations occur in existing dwellings, the individual dwelling unit shall be provided with smoke alarms located as required for new dwellings; the smoke alarms shall be interconnected and hard wired. Exception: Except for bed and breakfast dwellings, smoke alarms in existing areas shall not be required to be interconnected and hard wired where interior wall or ceiling finishes are not removed to expose the structure. http://fivecat.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/smoke-alarms-new-york-state-residential-code/

daveinbedstuy | 12 years and 2 months ago

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The hardwiring part of the code, where it does exist, is not only for delivering current to them but they are also ALL hardwired in tandem so that when one goes off, ALL of them do.  I can’t answer your question about what is required in NYC by law.

stevecym | 12 years and 2 months ago

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I just reread your question and have to say, you really have to get a consultant on board on this – someone who knows this stuff.  You get down the road on this and do something wrong and it is going to cost an armful of $$ and a boat load of annoyance.  the reason I say this is you are also asking about feeding the power to the detectors – my guess is if you are hardwireing smokes, they will go through a central panel and that panel is fed through the building’s power.  We once had a seperate con-ed bill from an unmetered (they estimated the usage of the alarm box based on the manufaturer’s data) alarm panel circuit box that was wire directly to the in-feed so in the event the buildings power went out, the alarm still functioned.  to ad another level of security, there is battery backup in the alarm system.  Isn’t this the point of hardwiring them?  so they all feed back to one source and trip the alarm for the entire building and not just locally?  and so if part of the system fails or if the power goes down, there is another power source and redundancy?   I may have missed the boat here – so wait to see what others say.  For something like this, you want to pay someone for their opionion and have them put it in writing so you can hold their feet to the fire if they are wrong.     Steve

stevecym | 12 years and 2 months ago

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this is something that I was told years ago when renovating a commercial structure.  And I cannot remember who said it to me – if it was our engineer or architect or if I heard it in a class I happen to be taking at the time – so I do not know how true it was nor do I know if it would apply to residential nor how it might apply to safety systems:  “if the expense of your reno will exceed 50% of the value of the property, then the entire structure must br brought to current code.”  agian, this statement may be the litmus test for some things and not others – so you will have to wait and see what others say but in the absence of other more reliable comments, what I have told you may be a basis on which you can start some research.   Steve