Bright & Festive for the Holidays! Festoon Lighting

by | Dec 26, 2018 | MEP

Hopefully everyone has a fantastic holiday season! The weeks leading up to Christmas can be frantic with decorating, crowded malls, finding the perfect gifts, wrapping, and visiting family.  As enjoyable as Christmas day is, it seems to come and go entirely too quickly.

One of my favorite parts of the build up to Christmas is seeing homes decorated with Christmas lights.  Whether your house looks like the Griswold household or you took a milder approach to decorating, all Christmas lights have something in common.  Christmas lights are considered festoon lighting. 

According to the Article 100 of the NEC, festoon lighting is defined as a string of outdoor lights that is suspended between two points. Festoon lighting is mentioned in Article 225 Section 6(B) in regards to conductor size and support, but for this blog we’ll highlight Article 590 Section 3(B). Article 590.3(B) states temporary electric power and lighting installations shall be permitted for a period not to exceed 90 days for holiday decorative lighting and similar purposes.

In other words once Christmas passes and the fast pace starts to return to normal, it’s okay to enjoy your Christmas lights for a little longer. Just remember to remove your festoon lighting within 90 days of installation.

Engineers at Allegheny Design Services can assist in answering code compliance questions or provide code compliance inspections related to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, or structural engineering. You can reach Allegheny Design Services at 304-599-0771. We look forward to working with you!

Thanks for reading,
Alex Clarkson, EIT
Junior Mechanical Engineer
Journeyman Electrician

Phasing Out Refrigerants

by | Apr 19, 2017 | MEP

There are many different options for providing conditioned air to a space. One possibility is a Direct Expansion (DX) System.

A DX system uses a refrigerant, a compound that changes phases from a gas to a liquid and back, to move heat indoors to outdoors or vice versa. (more…)

Noisy LED Light Fixtures

by | Oct 5, 2016 | MEP

LED light fixtures are becoming the industry standard and will likely replace fluorescent lighting.

With the energy efficiency and relatively small size of LEDs, lighting manufacturers have a tremendous amount of flexibility to create different shapes and sizes of light fixtures.  But with all of the advantages of LED light fixtures, there are always some disadvantages. (more…)

Humidity Control: A Key Factor in Human Comfort

by | Aug 25, 2016 | MEP, Summer Blogs

Humidity ControlHave you walked outside recently and felt sticky as sweat starts to bead up on your forehead? In the summer, the relative humidity can seem unbearable. The HVAC field involves more than the acronym H (heating), V (ventilation) and AC (air conditioning) indicates. A key factor in human comfort is humidity control.     (more…)