Strobes in Restroom Stalls?

10/24/2017

A project has restroom stall walls that run floor to ceiling. There are gaps above and below the door for venting. Are strobes required in each stall? Audibility would be provided with a combination horn/strobe in the main restrooms space.

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3 Comments

Joe Meyer

11/2/2017 06:25:18 am

With walls floor-to-ceiling, there likely isn't much visual notification within the stalls themselves. Being that the stalls are often publicly accessible, visual notification should still be required by NFPA 72.

I would probably venture on the conservative side and provide visual coverage within each stall unless there's reasonable provisions that would allow visual notification within each stall. Someone with hearing impairments otherwise may be at risk of no notification under a fire and not even know it.

Kyle MacKenzie

1/7/2022 08:08:31 am

3 thoughts regarding your comment Joe:
1) what about the non Ada stalls… not required correct?
2) even if these are not accessible to the general public they are common use areas that are not designated to one person and therefore still require strobes… correct?
3) where does it end… what if the stall ended 18 inches below the ceiling
What if there was 18 inches in the bottom and 18 inches clear in the top… safest bet is to add a strobe to the Ada stall regardless but is this overkill?

Jason Lupa, PE

2/15/2022 08:44:59 am

For strobes, NFPA 72 describes two methods of visible signaling: direct and indirect. Both of these methods are designed to notify building occupants of an emergency condition by a direct viewing of the visible appliance or by illuminating the surrounding area.

A common construction trend is for restroom stall walls that run floor to ceiling with large gaps above and below the watercloset doors for venting. Audibility can be maintained similar to traditional bathroom partitions. For a full height privacy stalls, a conservative design is to provide a visual appliance in each full-wall stall. For a performance design approach consider indirect light application; the occupant Consequently, you don’t need to be facing a fire alarm strobe light directly, from all possible orientations, at all times. Indirect coverage happens when walls, floors, and furniture receive enough light to warn people in their surroundings. Hard shinny surfaces can provide light bounce and UL 1971-listed strobes are designed to provide a light pulse duration (20 milliseconds) which generates a ‘hanging light’ strobes effect to maximize perception of the human eye.

Typically one strobe is sufficient for open-ended stalls, to minimize costs designers use fewer strobes set to a higher candela rating in larger bathrooms. For full-wall stall applications with space above and below the doors, a system designers could specify multiple ceiling strobes outside of the individual waterclosets. The ceiling orientation would provide better light distribution and a greater number of low intensity strobes also ensures that should one or more appliances fail, there are others nearby that will continue to provide visual signaling. Finally since specify a strobe candela beyond the standard NFPA 72 spacing to increase the perceived light effect.

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Strobes in Restroom Stalls?

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