Illumination of exterior door

Specific Inspection Topics Electrical Inspections
1

I’ll throw this out to the group.
I just inspected a house where the porch had been turned into a three season room. They added an exterior door therefore requiring illumination of the exterior door per NEC 210.7 (A)(2)(b). However there is a switch in the house (old main entrance and exit) that controls the two coach lights on the detached garage about 20 feet away. The detached garage does have a service door facing the exterior door in question so it requires illumination as well.
The question is : does the exterior door from the three season porch have to have its own light with a switch or does the garage illumination cover the requirement and if so, How far away can this light be? This is the third time I have run into this and have not gotten any good answers

2

[FONT=Times New Roman][size=2]I think you mean 210.70(A)(2)(b)…;)[/size][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]size=2 Additional Locations.
[/size][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman][size=2]Additional lighting outlets shall[/size][/FONT]
[size=2][FONT=Times New Roman]be installed in accordance with (A)(2)(a), (A)(2)(b), and
(A)(2)©.
(a) At least one wall switch–controlled lighting outlet
shall be installed in hallways, stairways, attached garages,
and detached garages with electric power.
(b) For dwelling units, attached garages, and detached
garages with electric power, at least one wall switch–
controlled lighting outlet shall be installed to provide illumination
on the exterior side of outdoor entrances or exits
[FONT=Times New Roman][size=2][FONT=Times New Roman][size=2]with grade level access. A vehicle door in a garage shall not
be considered as an outdoor entrance or exit.

The question is can you control the illumination from the dwelling unit? Or let me say it this way…is the area that requires lumination controlled from the dwelling unit?

Nothing in the NEC says where the switch has to be except for the premise that it needs to be in the dwelling unit, attached or detached garage to which it is supplied. The NEC is also clear that as long as the location is illuminated it does not have to have a luminarie at each entrance or exit…just that the entrance or exit is illuminated. Now the question has to be raised…does this exit or entrance have grade level access?

Answer all these questions and you shall find your answer.
[/size][/size][/FONT][/FONT][/size][/FONT]

3

Thanks Paul,
Yes the door does have grade level access and the light switch is in the house just inside of the original entrance. It would appear that this is acceptable and in this case I would agree as the detached garage was only about 20 feet from the door needing lumination. I had one not too long ago with the same scenario where the detached garage had the luminare for the house entrance/exit but was about 40-50 feet away. Now we get into “define iluminated” and I did not find anything in Article 100.

I understand that much of the NEC is interpetation but I did not see that …“The NEC is also clear that as long as the location is illuminated it does not have to have a luminarie at each entrance or exit…just that the entrance or exit is illuminated.”… is clear…more like foggy;-) and likley up to interpetation by the AHJ.

Thanks for your post and your help!!!

4

Same with me. Yesterday the bath light switch was in by the sink instead of at the entrance? You had to walk in to turn the bath light on.

5

It would be amazing if InterNACHI would make an illustration to use as an example picture for this recommendation in inspection reports. After hours of searching the NEC code and different search terms, there seams to be no illustrations on the subject. Also would be nice to learn the year in which the requirement foe exterior lighting was introduced.

6

NACHI
NACHI.jpg1256×1161 139 KB

7

Thank you Roy! That’s perfect!

8

Roy diagram is not the only way to satisfy th NEC requirements.