When designing and fabricating our telecom shelters and enclosure solutions, the American Products team must adhere to a variety of codes and regulations.
These range from defining the spacing of railings to guiding how we build our shelters. Let’s take a look at some of the codes American Products adheres to.
Rack Rail Standards
When designing rack spacing, we follow guidelines provided by the Electronics Industries Alliance/Telecommunications Industry Association (EIA/TIA) and space all racks at 19” or 23” intervals. This allows providers to install virtually any equipment they want in the cabinet, rather than having to include proprietary equipment that will only fit certain spaces.
These guidelines also provide templates for including rack holes at 5/8” + 5/8” + ½” spaces. Again, this helps ensure the majority of equipment will fit in the racks securely.
Powder Coating Ratings
American Products applies powder coating to virtually all of our cabinets to provide a coat of protection against corrosion.
When we powder coat our aluminum cabinets, it raises the NEMA rating to 4x, which indicates extra corrosion resistance. By applying the powder coat to these cabinets, we reach a GR487 finish specification, which indicates that the enclosure has been tested and proven to withstand 1,000 hours of salt spray with no corrosion. This makes them ideal for coastal deployments.
NEMA Ratings
NEMA ratings are set by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association to define how much protection an enclosure will provide from the elements and climate. American Products follows the NEMA 250 enclosure standards when rating our cabinets.
NEMA ratings are self declaring, which means that OEMs are responsible for testing and rating their own enclosures. At American Products, we invested in the correct rain showerhead and hose setups to test our enclosures in-house.
At American Products, we offer enclosures with the following NEMA ratings and protections:
- NEMA 2 – Indoor use – Protects against falling dirt & water & dripping & light splashing water
- NEMA 3R – Indoor or outdoor use – Protects against rain, sleet, snow & dirt & prevents ice formation
- NEMA 4 – Indoor or outdoor use – Protects against rain, sleet, snow & dirt & prevents ice formation – Includes protection against water ingress/hose-directed water
- NEMA 4X – Indoor or outdoor use – Protects against rain, sleet, snow & dirt & prevents ice formation – Includes protection against water ingress/hose-directed water – Also includes resistance to corrosion
- NEMA 6 – Protects against rain, sleet, snow & dirt & prevents ice formation – Includes protection against water ingress/hose-directed water & temporary water submersion up to a certain depth
UL Listings
UL Listings are set by Underwriters Laboratories and are, unlike the NEMA ratings, managed and certified by third-party organizations.
Underwriters Laboratories is a safety-centric organization that sets standards for enclosures that will house electronics. It is considered the industry gold standard for certification, providing telecommunications and energy organizations peace of mind knowing their new enclosures and/or shelters are safe to hook up to power.
American Products uses UL 50/50E, along with the equivalent Canadian Standards Association (CSA) 22.2#94.1/#94.2 standards, to guide our designs. UL50 is a non-environmental standard that defines construction, e.g., how thick panels must be, how much bracing is required. UL50E, on the other hand, follows the NEMA 250 standards to guide environmental designs, e.g., whether or not the enclosure will keep out wind-driven or just falling rain.
It is completely voluntary for OEMs to have their enclosures UL Listed, but a lot of providers request it or even require it when purchasing cabinets. In fact, some inspectors won’t even hook up an enclosure unless it’s been UL Listed.
To get a cabinet or series of cabinets UL Listed, the OEM must send the cabinet, or the smallest and largest in a cabinet series, to a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL). The tests can be quite expensive and can take weeks or months, depending on the testing facility’s backlog. This means that if a customer wants an unlisted cabinet to get UL certified, it could add to the project’s lead time.
American Products offers a variety of UL Listed enclosure solutions lines.
Building Codes
American Products telecom shelters are considered uninhabitable buildings, so they are subject to different, and often more, regulations than cabinets.
Often, those regulations will vary by state, and often even by county and/or municipality, as different entities will hold to different code years. Some states, counties and municipalities don’t even have any regulations. At American Products, we strive to design and build our shelters to meet the most current International Building Code (IBC) and National Electric Code (NEC) guidances. This helps ensure that our shelters will meet and/or exceed the newest codes, which typically also include the previous guidelines.
To ensure our telecom shelters are meeting the proper codes for the state/county the unit will be deployed to, American Products engages professional engineers to sign off on the drawings before production even begins. Then, depending on state/county requirements, inspectors will visit the manufacturing facility during production, and then again after the shelter is complete.
It is extremely important that American Products knows as much as about the shelter’s future deployment as possible. There are certain systems that will only function properly if we have the correct information. For example, some providers opt for a fire suppression system, which is configured specifically for the area/elevation. If a shelter with the system goes to a different location than originally intended, it could cause the fire suppression system to not work correctly.
American Products has a dedicated project manager who works with our engineers, the customer and a third-party organization to define the guidelines we will follow for each shelter build.
In addition to some states/municipalities that don’t have set regulations, there are other instances when a shelter might not need to be certified, i.e., deployments for utility companies, tribal lands and some military bases.
American Products Telecom Shelters & Enclosures
Codes, regulations and guidelines change on a regular basis. American Products engineers keep up to date on them to help ensure our telecom shelters and cabinets are meeting the most-current guidelines. When working with a provider to develop and deploy a cabinet or shelter, we will research the regulations that will apply to the order, and then ensure the solution we craft meets and/or exceeds the requirements.
In addition, American Products builds every single one of our cabinet and shelter solutions in our own manufacturing facility in Strafford, MO. We work closely with top-tier American companies to procure quality American-made components and materials as much as possible. This means that every American Products enclosure solution will help providers meet Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act requirements for their project.
If you’d like to learn more about how American Products can help you with your next enclosure solution, including covering all shipping logistics (if opted for), please contact our enclosure specialists at 417.736.2135.