Elevator Machine Room Door Rating

[100eyeballs]

In a 2-story building with 1-hour rated stair and elevator shafts, we know that 60 minute doors are required on stairways from the chart 715.4 as they are in a shaft.

The question is if the elevator machine room for a room that abuts the elevator shaft needs a 45 or 60 minute door?

3006.4 states that if the machine room abuts the hoistway the room shall have the same rating as the elevator shaft.

Does the answer to the question lie solely in weather or not there are unprotected openings between the machine room and hoistway, therefore the machine room is inherently part of the shaft?

 

[Builder Bob]

The machine room cannot have unprotected openings...... especially in a two story hydraulic elevator machine room.....60 minute door..... same as a stair shaft. See IBC section 713.14/713.7/T716.5 for one hour shafts.

 

[cda]

I think if the machine room is a seperate room door does not need to be rated as far as elevator requirements

 

[100eyeballs]

The question is do we assume there are unprotected openings to the shaft, and therefore the door should always be of the shaft rating requirement of 60 minutes for a 1-hour wall? The current project in question assumed a 45 minute door in a 1-hour wall - assuming there were no unprotected openings between the machine room and hoistway.

 

[Codegeek]

ASME A17.1 for elevators requires that the elevator equipment room be protected with the same level of protection as the elevator shaft itself, at least it used to say that; I don't have access to a current version to verify. I required a one-hour door to the equipment room when I did inspections and plan reviews.