Section 296-96-02465. What are the requirements associated with elevator machine rooms?

(1) Panels or doors for the purpose of accessing nonelevator equipment are not permitted in elevator machine rooms. Passage through the machine room may not be used to gain access to other parts of the building that do not contain elevator equipment.

(2) The lighting control switch must be located inside the machine room within twenty-four inches of the lock jamb side of the machine room door.

(3) Cooling or venting of the elevator machine room shall be to the present building code adopted by the state.

Machinery spaces, machine rooms, control spaces, and control rooms that contain solid-state equipment for elevator operation shall be provided with an independent ventilation or air-conditioning system to protect against the overheating of the electrical equipment. Ventilation systems shall use outdoor makeup air. The system shall service the equipment space only, and shall be capable of maintaining the temperature and humidity within the range established by the manufacturer's specifications. Where no manufacturer specifications are available, the equipment space temperature shall be maintained at no less than fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit and no more than ninety degrees Fahrenheit.

The cooling load for the equipment shall include the BTU output of the elevator operation equipment as specified by the manufacturer based on one hour of continuous operation. The outdoor design temperature for ventilation shall be from the 0.5 percent column for summer from the Puget Sound Chapter of ASHRAE publication "Recommended Outdoor Design Temperatures, Washington State." The following formula shall be used to calculate flow rate for ventilation:

CFM = BTU output of elevator machine room equipment/[1.08 x (acceptable machine room temp - makeup air temp from the ASHRAE publication)]

EXCEPTION:	For buildings four stories or less, natural or mechanical means may be used in lieu of an independent ventilation or air-conditioning system to keep the equipment space ambient air temperature and humidity in the range specified by the elevator equipment manufacturer.

(4) A thermostat must be provided in the elevator machine room to control the temperature.

(5) Where no specifications are available, the machine room temperature shall be maintained at no less than fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit and no more than one hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

(6) When standby power is connected to the elevators, the machine room ventilation or air conditioning system shall be connected to the standby power.

(7) If the air conditioner is mounted overhead, seven feet of headroom clearance must be provided from the underside of the unit to the machine room floor.

(8) If ventilation is used, it must not exhaust air into other parts of the building.

(9) Machine rooms located in underground parking garages must have a means to exchange the air in the machine room. An "exchange of air" is completed through separate intake and exhaust systems.

EXCEPTION:	The air in an underground parking garage machine room can be exchanged directly into the parking garage area.

(10) All elevators that are provided with remote elevator machine and/or control rooms must be provided with a permanent means of communication between the elevator car and the remote machine room and/or control room.

(11) Elevator machine room doors must have signs with lettering at least 1.25 inch in height with "elevator equipment room authorized personnel only - no storage."

EXCEPTION:	Residential conveyances, LULAs and special purpose elevators are exempted from these requirements.

[Statutory Authority: Chapter 70.87 RCW. WSR 07-24-041, § 296-96-02465, filed 11/30/07, effective 1/1/08.]

Reviser's note: RCW 34.05.395 requires the use of underlining and deletion marks to indicate amendments to existing rules, and deems ineffectual changes not filed by the agency in this manner. The bracketed material in the above section does not appear to conform to the statutory requirement.

Chapter 70.87 RCW. WSR 07-24-041, § 296-96-02465, filed 11/30/07, effective 1/1/08.