A building inspector and fire marshall recently made a client of mine install a dedicated line just for alarm system in a doctors office. When i asked why dedicated not shared,Fire Marshall said he had the right to demand it. If RJ31x jack is wired right alarm system controls line,so whats the difference?-------------John

I have seen some alarms that require dedicated line for dial in or line monitor but this maybe more of an FM being a AH

I understand some alarm systems need it because of type of system,also schools and hospitals need 2 lines,I'm sure there are others,If he is wrong i can go back later and use line for other use.------John

I am with Merritt, sounds like he is being an AH, if you have a RJ31X on it it shoudl be fine, For fire I always run two lines to the panel.

Whether the Fire Marshal is right or wrong is kind of irrelevant when you are “in the field” because he does have the power to enforce the codes the way he interprets them.

You can always check with the State Fire Marshal for his or her opinion and if he or she agrees with you then you will have something to argue your case with.

Now the “gotcha”. In case you have not dealt with Fire Marshals a lot in the past I have to warn you that they have the power and ability to make you and your customer miserable if they don’t like you. And a sure fire way of getting a Fire Marshal to “not like you” is by going over their head with a complaint and winning!

If this is an issue with the customer I would recommend that they call the State Fire Marshal to request his or her opinion regarding the situation. And get it in writing if the Marshal happens to agree with thier point of view.

Just my $ 0.02

Yep, just like TT said. They are God and do whatever is takes to make them happy.

After all said and done, after inspections and permits, use that line for an additional voice line. No will ever come back and check.

I have almost always seen alarms with just 1 RJ31X jack..I can only think of 1 or 2 installs I have seen with a backup jack/line.

Bobby is right and they are wrong. This is exactly why the RJ31 through RJ38X jack wiring patterns were developed, to allow an alarm system to share a line and control it. It's been that way since 1974.

This is just more ignorance by those who have the power to "know" our job better than we do. They can't comprehend this technology, yet they can tell you "no, you are doing the wrong thing". Seems to be the way of the times these days.

I have never seen a dedicated line for a fire panel. We always use RJ31X.

Have had monitored security systems that had to have dedicated line so the monitoring company could dial in a listen to what was happening in side the biulding if system was triped.

well, my guess would be the local phone company has installed rj31x wrong several times wich has caused problems and is on the mind of fm. he is doing what he thinks is the only way to insure proper operation of the system. i can tell you i have had to rewire many a phone block after the phone company install.

just my thoughts

My national code any fire alarm require two co lines ,because if one fail the other is for backup.