Hello:  I am the Safety & Security Officer for Pasco Hernando Community College near Tampa FL.  We just got inspected by Pasco County Fire Services who used a special extension device to reach our emergency lighting units.  Of course, once he did reach them, he promptly found many of them did not work.  I need a similar extension tool and appreciate any tips where I can find one.  As a veteran of this business, I am only surprised at myself for allowing this guy to pull his trick on me.  Any help is appreciated.

 

Ralph B.

Pasco Hernando Community College

New Port Richey FL

This is what I use to test the emergency lights at our facility:

a pole that is designed for painting (constructed of fiberglass and aluminum) which extends several feet (reaches a total of 12'); the end has an attachment that was designed by our maintenance department especially for this purpose so that it can press the testing button whether it be on the side or the bottom of the emergency lights (basically an aluminum box that has a pointer on the top and the side) - also, one of our maintenance personnel has a wooden pole that has been formed at the end to press the button - both work great. 

You should be able to purchase the paint pole like I have at your local hardware store (about $20), and then you will need someone to design and construct an end for you. Or you can purchase a wooden pole, which may be much easier to modify yourself.

We test our lights every month to ensure they are still working properly. Hope this helps you. If you have any questions or if you would like a photo of the pole I use let me know and I'll email it to you.

 

 

 

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Tim Croley,
Safety Coordinator
CMCA

Unless you have critical equipment plugged into the circuit, why not just pull the circuit breaker for the light?  Seems safer than trying to hit a small button with a 12' pole.

 

 

For our company pulling the circuit for our emergency lights would mean shutting down lights for half a department, which would stop production while testing the lights. I know that safety is the top concern in all cases, even if it means stopping production. However, there is really nothing unsafe about how we test the lights. The lights are all housed, with no electircal wires exposed nor are there any electrical components anywhere in the vacinity. I believe the pole is safer than climbing a ladder, which is our only other option. And for most of our departments the pole is only extended about 6'. So this really works good I believe.

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Tim Croley,
Safety Coordinator
CMCA

Hey Guys:

Visiting here for the first time...

 

Speaking of the emergency lighting units, a good source of batteries for emergency lighting, Batterytex (www.batterytex.com) has a great selection and pretty good prices from what I can tell.

 I recently bought a custom-93 for the max power (or surelite) 026-148.

 

-J