We sold a variety of equipment on a job here in St. Louis County, consisting of fans, fire dampers, fire/smoke dampers, and grills. The fire/smoke dampers were to have factory-mounted actuators with end switches. But the salesman, when releasing the order for production, somehow deleted the end switches.
After the arrival of the equipment on the job, it was discovered that the actuators did not have end switches. We set out to find a solution to our problem without having to replace the actuators. Since the actuators were Belimo, Greenheck, the manufacturer of the dampers, contacted Belimo and was provided with a positioning switch for this application.
The switches were installed and the electrical inspector called for final inspection. The devices were rejected because the area was a return plenum, and the devices were not plenum rate.
We started checking for another switch that was plenum rated, because Belimo did not have one. That’s when I found Kele.
My first contact was a member of the Kele sales team, who was very helpful and sent a cut sheet on the TS-470 switches. One, the –P model, was plenum rated.
We sent submittals on this switch through normal channels, and I also spoke with the electrical inspector, and he said it sounded like it would satisfy the requirements. The switches were ordered and installed. Upon the final inspection, the inspector rejected the switches because they were not UL listed. He was concerned that there might be a reaction between the stainless steel housing and the epoxy used to seal the wire into the housing.
We spoke with a tech at Kele, explained our dilemma, and asked for his help. He provided us with a letter explaining the rating on the switches and the various components, cable, epoxy, and stainless steel housing.
A meeting was set up with the fire marshal AHJ for this project. Kele’s letter was presented to the fire marshal, along with backup data on the various components, and after reviewing the data, the marshal agreed there was no concern with this device producing sufficient smoke to be of any concern. The marshal sent a letter to the St. Louis County Inspection Department, and the device was accepted.
The project is progressing, and, barring any unforeseen problems, all is good.
Note from Kele: Thanks for the great blog, Dale! If you have a Kele experience you’d like to share, please drop us an e-mail.
