Y-Delta starters on Fire Pumps with across the line bypass

[mshields]

Your opinion and/or what the code has to say about this; If a Fire pump is provided with a Y-Delta starter plus an across the line bypass starter, would you size the generator for the across the line or just the Y-Delta?

It strikes me that this could drive your generator size through the ceiling and that bypass, not being a requirement is acceptably left as an option only while on utility power. What are your thoughts?

Mike

 

[BSSTG]

Greetings,

I don't know the answer but, it would seem to me that the bldg owner would want worse case scenario if affordable? I question why they have a dual setup like that anyway. When I used to work in a production facility years ago we were doing away with all of our Y/Delta starts and going to electronic soft start stuff. All high tech. Y/D starters, if used very much require a fair amount of maintenance and are prone to malfunctions because of all of the mechanical and electrical interlocks. BTW, our fire pumps in that facility were across the line starts. I spent many hours over the years troubleshooting and maintaining the Y/Delta. To me they are a real pain.

To answer your basic question though, I don't think the national codes will address that. I would look for local guidance from the FM and see what they say. There may be some state requirments as well. If it happened here I would say it would be up the owner precluding any regs I'm not aware of.

BSSTG