Ark is a registered professional engineer with a master’s degree in electrical engineering. He is currently the chair of the Technical Committee for the Canadian Electrical Code and is representing the CE Code Committee on the CMP-1 of the National Electrical Code.
Let’s acknowledge a few undisputed facts: 1. All electrical equipment used in installations under provisions of the CE Code, Part I must be approved , and it must be of a kind or type and rating approved for specific purpose for which it is intended to be utilized (Re: Rule 2-024). 2. Word “approved” (in respect [...]
Let’s refresh a couple of well-known facts: 1. All electrical equipment intended to be used under provisions of the CE Code must be approved. 2. Requirements of the Canadian Electrical Code cannot create obstacles for use of any new technologies, as long as each such technology presents “approved” equipment that could be utilized for specific applications [...]
Let say, a designer decides to install a backup power supply for the IT network in the office, or to provide an alternate source of power to the sump pump in a building. Or a decision is made to have a standby power source for lighting in all classrooms of a high school. Or what [...]
Traditionally, when we plan to do anything, we should ask ourselves three questions:What? Why? How?Let’s apply this approach to the subject at hand. Seriously, as electrical designers, installers and regulators, what do we know about a need for a lightning protection system? Except for a few references, the Canadian Electrical Code is silent on this [...]
After a well-known fiasco of the 1990s, electric vehicles are making a rapid and confident comeback. They are here to stay and to change our lives. Are we ready for them? Let’s take a look. Section 86 of the 2009 edition of the Canadian Electrical Code has been revised to clarify that an electric vehicle [...]
All electrical practitioners know too well that water and electricity do not mix. Results of such mixture are quite hazardous. This is the reason that the CE Code mandates GFCI protection of receptacles and permanently connected electrical equipment installed in proximity to water (i.e., pools, bathtubs, sinks, shower stalls, etc.). This is also the reason [...]
This article covers the application of two rules of the Canadian Electrical Code that establish a unique relationship between electrical designers/contractors and electrical safety regulators/inspectors in each jurisdiction where the CE Code is adopted for regulatory purposes. Let’s start with a “Special Permission” rule, or as it is described in the Code: “Deviation or postponement.” [...]
There are some subjects in the Canadian Electrical Code that often become a source of heated discussions by the users. Selection of dry type transformers and selection of a proper rating of the transformers’ circuits is one of such controversial subjects. So, let’s try to clarify this seemingly complex issue. First of all, we need [...]
Lately, the electrical industry in Canada has been buzzing about newly developed CSA standard Z462 which covers requirements for workplace electrical safety. There are many in the industry who feel that this standard will impact on electrical work done under provisions of the CE Code, and that this standard will immediately affect electrical contractors involved [...]
Code users often ask whether Section 46 of the CE Code governs only the requirements for emergency systems that are mandated by the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) to provide alternate source of power when the normal power fails. Some of the Code users feel that Section 46 also covers wiring to the emergency [...]
The CE Code requirements for bonding and grounding are perhaps, the most important safety rules for electrical installations. Each person deemed to be qualified to do electrical work must clearly understand what bonding and grounding is, why it is necessary and how it must be done. And yet the basic principles of these essential code [...]
Rules 6-102 and 6-104 of the CE Code, Part I specify provisions for a maximum number of service boxes permitted to be installed in a building and for a maximum number of services allowed to be run to a building. Inquisitive Code users wonder why these provisions appear to be different for supply services and [...]
The 2005 edition of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) has been already adopted by the majority of provincial and territorial jurisdictions. This means that one change that has been introduced into the latest edition of the NBCC could be very interesting (and very relevant) to the electrical designers, installers and electrical safety regulators. [...]
Electrical installations related to fire alarm systems appear to be no different from other types of electrical work. A typical fire alarm system is an interconnected combination of: 1. the alarm initiating devices (i.e., field devices that constitute system inputs); 2. various audible signal devices such as bells, horns and speakers (i.e., field devices that [...]
It is very reassuring for a feature columnist to know that his articles are actually read and discussed by the readers. I was pleased to get comments from the Canadian readers of the IAEI News on my column published in the July/August issue (page 38). That column described a comprehensive process developed by the CSA [...]
