The FLOOR WIRING CLOSET (FWC) is the second type of room required. Backbone cables from
the ENTRANCE WIRING CLOSET are terminated here as are station cables. Pairs in these
cables are connected in this room to establish continuous electrical paths from
rooms/desktops to other rooms/desktops, and to communication devices. Electronic devices
associated with the exchange of data and/or video information will also be situated in
these FWC’s.
- GENERAL:
- A room designated to be a FLOOR WIRING CLOSET must be dedicated exclusively to that
purpose. Access to the room should be direct without passing through other secure areas
that would require additional keys for access. Conversely, access to the FWC should not be
required in order to access another area. It cannot be shared with any other use such as
storage, janitorial equipment or other electrical or mechanical installation. There should
not be any plumbing fixtures in the room and pipes should not pass through the room that
could cause flooding or require repair or replacement. There should not be any fire
sprinklers in the room, if fire codes will permit.
- FLOOR:
- The floor must be free of dust and static electricity. The floor should be tiled instead
of carpeted. If the floor is left uncovered, it must be sealed and painted. The floor must
be high enough to avoid any threat of flooding and have a minimum floor loading
specification of 50 lb/ft2 .
- CEILING:
- The ceiling should be a minimum of 8-feet, 6-inches high and there should not be a false
ceiling.
- WALLS:
- The walls should be lined with ¾-inch, 4-feet by 8- feet plywood attached to the wall
framing members or mechanically attached to the masonry walls. All surfaces are to be
painted with fire resistant paint.
- DOORS:
- Doorways should be a minimum of 36-inches wide by 6-feet, 8-inches high. Doors should be
hinged outward and solid to provide security and resistance to fire. The door locks will
be cored so that they will allow access to network personnel only.
- LIGHTING:
- Lighting should be provided to a minimum level of 540 lx (50 foot candles) measured
3-feet above the floor. Light fixtures should be mounted a minimum of 8-feet 6-inches,
above the floor.
- ELECTRICAL:
- A 20 Amp, 110 volt AC separately fused electrical circuit shall be provided for power
strips to be installed with the steel equipment racks. Additional outlets for tools, test
instruments and work lights shall be placed at least at 6-foot intervals around the room
at a height of 6-inches above the floor.
- GROUNDING:
- A minimum of a #6 AWG ground conductor from the main building grounding electrode and
the power neutral shall be provided and terminated on a copper ground bar properly
installed in the room.
- HVAC:
- HVAC provisioning shall be sufficient to provide a minimum of four (4) air changes per
hour. The temperature should be maintained at 55 F to 80 F 24 hours per day, 365 days per
year.
Care must be taken to not include the room in a zone that could have heating, air
conditioning or air exchange reduced during night or idle times as the equipment will
generate the same quantity of heat at all times.
- LOCATION:
- Each floor must have at least one FWC. Additional FWC’s may be required to meet
maximum limits for station cable lengths defined below. FWC’s should be located in
the center of the area to be served.
In multi-floored buildings, FWC’s should be
located directly above each other to minimize the lengths of riser cables, thus reducing
the lengths of circuits between floors in the building.
The FWC should be located in such a way that the average station cable length is 150
feet, and no individual station cable exceeds 295 feet in length. One FWC can effectively
serve 20,000 square feet of usable floor space.
- SIZE:
- The requirements to terminate fiber optic cables both to the individual room jack and in
the building backbone system coupled with the video media terminations required in each
FWC cause the minimum acceptable room size to be 6 feet by 9 feet.
This 54 square foot
minimum requirement can effectively serve 15,000 square feet of usable floor space. As the
usable floor space increases, so should the size of the FWC at the rate of 9 square feet
per 5,000 square feet of usable floor space. A maximum 20,000 square feet of usable space
would require a minimum FWC size of 6-feet by 12-feet.
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