Elevators and Escalators practice questions

Correct: B — 620.61(B)(1)

620.61(B)(1) covers elevator, dumbwaiter, and motor-generator set driving motors, rating their duty as intermittent and allowing 430.33 protection. 620.61(B)(4) governs the same intermittent/430.33 scheme but only for platform lifts and stairway chairlifts, not elevators.

Correct: A — Outside the hoistway, accessible only to qualified persons

Per 620.51(C)(1), when the motor controller sits in the hoistway, the disconnect required by 620.51(A) must be located outside the hoistway and accessible to qualified persons only — an additional lockable switch is then required within sight of the controller. The 'within sight, inside the hoistway' option ignores this exception, and the escalator-style same-space rule belongs to 620.51(C)(3), not elevators.

Correct: A — It must be a single means designed so no pole can be operated independently

620.51 requires a single disconnecting means for all ungrounded main power conductors, designed so no pole operates independently. It explicitly must not disconnect the required branch circuits, and multiple driving machines still share one disconnect for the motors and control valve operating magnets, not separate ones.

Correct: A — Listed Class A ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection

620.6(B) requires listed Class A GFCI protection for all 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles in machine rooms, control spaces, machinery spaces, control rooms, and truss interiors. Restricted access does not remove the requirement, and the rule specifically calls for Class A, not just any GFCI class.

Correct: D — 14 AWG copper

620.12(A)(1) sets 14 AWG copper as the minimum for lighting circuits in traveling cables, with 20 AWG or larger conductors allowed in parallel only if the combined ampacity equals at least that of 14 AWG copper. The 20 AWG and 24 AWG sizes are the minimums for other circuits and communications circuits, respectively, not lighting circuits run as a single conductor.

Correct: D — Traveling cables connecting the car or counterweight and hoistway wiring

620.21 explicitly excludes traveling cables connecting the car or counterweight and hoistway wiring from the raceway/cable requirement. Fixed wiring in the machine room, hoistway pit lighting conductors, and control-space conductors are all covered by the general rule unless one of the (A)–(C) exceptions applies.

Correct: A — Metric designator 12 or larger LFNC-B

Per 620.21(C)(1), metric designator 12 (trade size 3/8) FMC or LFMC is capped at 1.8 m (6 ft); to exceed that length, metric designator 12 or larger LFNC-B is permitted instead. The length cap applies to both FMC and LFMC equally, not just LFMC, and CL3 cable is not the wiring method addressed by this length exception.

Correct: C — Fire detection system wiring for the elevator

620.37(A) permits wiring for fire detection systems connected with the elevator. Wiring for unrelated building systems — a general building fire alarm panel, general-purpose receptacles, or a feeder to unrelated equipment — is not on the permitted list and doesn't belong in the hoistway per 620.37(A).

Correct: A — 620.61(D)

620.61(D) directs short-circuit and ground-fault protection for the motor branch circuit to Article 430, Part IV. 620.61(B) governs overload protection (a different fault type) and 620.61(C) covers feeder-level protection, not the branch circuit to the motor.

Correct: B — 724.43 and 724.45

620.61(A) specifically names 724.43 and 724.45 (Class 1 circuit overcurrent rules) for operating devices and control/signaling circuits. Article 725 covers Class 2/3 circuits generally, but 620.61(A) instead sends Class 2 power-limited circuits to Chapter 9's table notes, not to Article 725's text. Standard Article 240 branch-circuit sizing doesn't apply to this small-wire control wiring.

Correct: D — 620.62

620.62 is the section requiring selective coordination between overcurrent devices supplied by the same source when more than one driving machine disconnecting means is involved, including engineering selection and documentation. 620.61(C) and (D) only set short-circuit/ground-fault protection sizing for feeders and branch circuits, not coordination between devices; 620.65 only covers marking equipment once coordination has already been established.

Correct: A — On separate, dedicated branch circuits

620.22(A) and 620.22(B) each independently require 'a separate branch circuit' — one for car lights/ventilation, one for car air-conditioning and heating. There is no allowance to combine them onto one circuit, with or without GFCI protection, and no horsepower exception is given in this section.

Correct: C — 620.13(B)

620.13(B) directly addresses conductors supplying a single motor controller, requiring ampacity not less than the controller's nameplate current rating plus other connected loads. 620.13(A) covers a single motor (not its controller), and 620.13(D) applies only when more than one motor, controller, or transformer is fed by the same conductors.

Correct: D — Based on the maximum nominal circuit voltage of any conductor within the same enclosure, cable, or raceway

620.11(D) requires every conductor's insulation to be rated for at least the maximum nominal circuit voltage present anywhere in the shared enclosure, cable, or raceway — not just its own circuit's voltage. Sizing to the conductor's own circuit voltage ignores higher-voltage neighbors sharing the raceway, and there's no NEC provision for averaging or matching the lowest-rated conductor.

Correct: A — Automatically open the power supply before water is applied

620.51(B) permits the disconnect to automatically open ahead of water application when sprinklers protect the machine room (or hoistway, control room, machinery space, control space). It never permits automatic closing, and remote operation from elsewhere in the premises is prohibited outright.

Correct: B — The frames of motors, elevator machines, and controllers, plus metal enclosures for electrical equipment in or on the car or in the hoistway

620.82 requires bonding of motor frames, elevator machine frames, controller frames, and metal enclosures for all electrical equipment in or on the car or in the hoistway — it's not limited to one location or voltage class.

Correct: B — 300 volts

620.3 sets the general limit at 300 volts between conductors unless 620.3(A) through (C) permits a higher voltage. The 600-volt and 1000-volt figures are thresholds and allowances that appear only within the power-circuit and HVAC-circuit exceptions, not the baseline rule.

Correct: B — 620.14

620.14 is the section that permits feeder conductors of less ampacity than 620.13 requires, subject to Table 620.14's demand factors. 620.13(D) governs sizing conductors for multiple motors/controllers/transformers without any demand reduction, and 620.15 addresses motor controller rating, not feeder demand.

Correct: A — The required pit lighting is connected to the load side of a GFCI device

620.24(A) specifically prohibits connecting the required pit lighting to the load side of a ground-fault circuit interrupter. A separate branch circuit for the pit lighting and receptacle, even one shared between the two, is exactly what the section requires — it's only the GFCI load-side connection for lighting that's barred.

Correct: D — No, lighting and receptacles must be on separate branch circuits that supply no other loads

620.23(A) requires the branch circuit supplying required lighting to be separate from the branch circuit supplying receptacles in machine rooms, control rooms/machinery spaces, control spaces, and truss interiors, and neither circuit may supply other loads. Combined loading staying under the circuit rating doesn't matter — the separation requirement is independent of load, and there's no exemption for machinery spaces.

Correct: D — The enclosure has a lockable door and the disconnecting means is adjacent to or integral with the controller

620.71(A) permits controllers outside the dedicated space only if the enclosure has a door or removable panel capable of being locked closed AND the disconnecting means is adjacent to or an integral part of the controller. A locked closet alone, without the disconnect placement requirement, doesn't satisfy the rule, nor does an enclosure rating substitute for the locking and disconnect-location requirements.

Correct: D — Less than 30 m (100 ft)

620.41 permits looping cables around supports only for unsupported lengths less than 30 m (100 ft). The 60 m (200 ft) figure applies to the separate self-tightening tension support method, not looping, and looping does not require a steel supporting member (that's a distinct, third method).

Correct: C — A listed elevator cable type from Table 400.4, or another approved type

620.11(B) requires traveling cables to be a listed elevator cable type from Table 400.4, or another type specifically approved for the application. Hard-usage cord, Type W portable power cable, and ampacity-based sizing under Table 400.5 are real provisions elsewhere in Article 400, but none satisfy the elevator-specific listing requirement in 620.11(B).

Correct: C — No, trade size 3/8 flexible or liquidtight flexible conduit is limited to 1.8 m (6 ft)

Per 620.21(B)(1), flexible metal conduit or liquidtight flexible conduit of metric designator 12 (trade size 3/8) is limited to lengths not exceeding 1.8 m (6 ft). Only metric designator 12 or larger LFNC-B is permitted in lengths over 6 ft — not standard flexible metal or liquidtight flexible conduit generally, and flexible conduit is in fact permitted in wellways at all.

Correct: B — 620.5(B)

620.5(B) permits skipping the 110.26(A) clearance when live parts over 30V ac rms are suitably guarded, isolated, or insulated so they can be serviced energized without removing that protection. 620.5(C) covers a different exception basis (equipment never needs to be serviced energized at all), and 620.5(D) applies only to low-voltage uninsulated parts, not guarded higher-voltage parts.

Correct: B — 620.13(D)

620.13(D) governs conductors that supply more than one motor, motor controller, or power transformer, requiring ampacity not less than the sum of nameplate ratings plus other connected loads; 620.13(A) only addresses a feeder to a single motor, and 620.14 covers demand factors, not the base ampacity summation.

Correct: D — 620.13(A)

620.13(A) governs conductors supplying a single motor, requiring ampacity per the duty-cycle percentages in 430.22(A) and (E); 620.13(B) instead covers conductors to a single motor controller, 620.13(D) covers conductors serving more than one motor/controller/transformer, and 620.12(A)(3) addresses minimum sizing of traveling cable circuits, not feeder/branch conductor ampacity.

Correct: A — 620.53

620.53 governs the single disconnecting means for car light, receptacle(s), and ventilation power-supply conductors, including the 430.109(C) listed/lockable option when a separate branch circuit under 2 hp ventilation supplies all three. 620.51 covers the main elevator power disconnect for the driving-machine motor, and 620.54 addresses heating/AC equipment disconnects, not car lighting/receptacle/ventilation circuits.