# Is a Fire Pump Room a Wet Location?



## jar546 (Dec 20, 2018)

Do any of you, in your right mind, consider a fire-pump room to be a wet location because it has a lot of water pipes?

Do you?  What would be the reasoning if you do?


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## cda (Dec 20, 2018)

cannot speak to electrical question,

But normally there is water on the floor from something associated with the pump set up


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## Msradell (Dec 20, 2018)

No it's not a wet location anymore than the area in the residential basement where you have hot water heaters etc. is a wet area. Just because there are a lot of pipes giving moderate doesn't make it a wet area.


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## steveray (Dec 21, 2018)

Absolutely not unless there is some sort of required maintenance/ flushing that soaks the room, but I have not seen THAT fire pump yet....


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## cda (Dec 21, 2018)

Is there a definition for 

Wet location


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## Pcinspector1 (Dec 21, 2018)

I would not consider a Fire Pump Room a wet location, hopefully there's a floor drain if used for other appliances like a WH.


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## north star (Dec 21, 2018)

*& = & = &*



> *" **Is there a definition for **Wet location ? "*


Electrically speaking, ...Yes !..........From the NEC:
*Location, Wet:  "*Installations underground or in concrete slabs or masonry in
direct contact with the earth; in locations subject to saturation with water or
other liquids, such as vehicle washing areas; and in unprotected locations
exposed to weather".

*& = & = &*


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## jar546 (Dec 22, 2018)

north star said:


> *& = & = &*
> Electrically speaking, ...Yes !..........From the NEC:
> *Location, Wet:  "*Installations underground or in concrete slabs or masonry in
> direct contact with the earth; in locations subject to saturation with water or
> ...



The only time a fire-pump room gets wet is if there is a failure of a component.  I do not agree to call it a wet location.  If that is the case then every room in a house or building that has plumbing is a wet location.


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## cda (Dec 22, 2018)

Ok per the definition not a wet location

Just some of them not a nice place to be with the pump running, and you are the one who has to trust the electrical install 

When you decide to touch the controller and there is some water on the ground


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## Builder Bob (Jan 7, 2019)

IT depends --- Had one fire pump that dumped cooling water onto the slab trench drain to filter and return to lake ----- So in short the splashing of the water into a badly designed trench drain system made almost everything wet about 30 minutes into the fire pump acceptance test.


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## Gregg Harris (Jan 14, 2019)

jar546 said:


> The only time a fire-pump room gets wet is if there is a failure of a component.  I do not agree to call it a wet location.  If that is the case then every room in a house or building that has plumbing is a wet location.




Not a wet location by definition


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## jar546 (Feb 19, 2019)

OK let's open this back up.  Chris K brought this to my attention in NEC 695.12(E)

_(E) Protection Against Pump Water. Fire pump controller and
power transfer switches shall be located or protected so that
they are not damaged by water escaping from pumps or pump
connections.
_
So what does this mean to you?  A change in NEMA rating for the transfer switches and fire pump controller or simply placing a barrier around them to protect them?  There are a lot of pump connections in a pump room...
Thoughts?


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## steveray (Feb 20, 2019)

I ASSUME that means water escaping from normal operation such as BB mentioned, not failure because....Well it's already failing....


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## cda (Feb 20, 2019)

jar546 said:


> OK let's open this back up.  Chris K brought this to my attention in NEC 695.12(E)
> 
> _(E) Protection Against Pump Water. Fire pump controller and
> power transfer switches shall be located or protected so that
> ...




locate fire pump and controller off the ground



http://1-888-builder.com/wp-content/gallery/portraits/1-41.jpg


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## TorrinFu (May 8, 2020)

Hi...i was going through a reading material and found that It is not a wet location as defined in the NEC. But this is sure that some requirements along these lines. The listing standards for fire pump controllers requires the controller to be drip proof and the NEC and NFPA 20 has some requirements to not violate the integrity of the controller enclosure.


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