Uniformat D5090

Emergency lighting unit

An emergency lighting unit lasts about 10 years, the median of 2 published sources, which state 5–20 years.

Also listed as battery pack, emergency light

Confidence C
Version 0.5.0 (permanent link)
Reviewed 2026-10-22

Service life

10 yearsmedian of the stated lives · sources say 5–20 years

Years in service. The band runs from the shortest to the longest life the sources state, so it shows how much they disagree, not how long 80% of units last. The line is the median of the stated lives.

Work out when yours is due for replacement

Basis

5–10 years · CNA e-Tool Estimated Useful Life Table, p15 · HUD CNA 3.6.2.6 “Emergency lights, illuminated signs” — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (planning life)
Family properties 5 years, elderly 10. US multifamily housing.
20 years · Meaford: By-law 2020-83, Tangible Capital Asset Policy, Appendix A Estimated Useful Lives, p17 (accounting life)
Capital asset policy (amortization period). Approved on text check: the label and value were found on the cited page.

How sources are chosen and recorded: sourcing policy.

Municipal lives for electrical (D50)

39 municipalities in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta state a life for electrical as a whole, in 30 distinct tables: 10–50 years, median 20. 47 rows come from capital asset policies (accounting lives, used for amortization) and 7 from asset management plans (planning lives, used to forecast replacement). They describe the system rather than this component, and none is a measured life.

Years. Each dot is one stated life and each bar a stated range; equal values stack. Hollow marks are planning lives from asset management plans; filled marks are accounting lives from policies. The dashed line is the median. Policies that copy the same table count once.

All 45 stated lives

Municipality	Covers	Years	Kind	Source
Kingston	Electrical	10	accounting	p15 · 2016
Grey Highlands	Electrical	15	accounting	p11 · 2026
Meaford	Electrical	15	accounting	p17 · 2020
The Blue Mountains	Electrical	15	accounting	p11 · 2019
Fort St. James, Revelstoke, Rossland, Sicamous, Tumbler Ridge · same table	Plumbing, Fire protection, Electrical	15–20	accounting	p5, p9, p7, p9, p5 · 2010
Okanagan-Similkameen	Plumbing, Fire protection, Electrical	15–20	accounting	p11 · 2023
Salmo	Plumbing, Fire protection, Electrical	15–20	accounting	p6 · 2016
Lloydminster	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2023
Lloydminster	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2023
Comox Valley	Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical	20	accounting	p6 · 2010
Cranbrook	Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical	20	accounting	p9 · 2010
Parksville	Electrical	20	accounting	p9 · 2023
Telkwa	Plumbing, Fire protection, Electrical	20	accounting	p8
Amherstburg	HVAC, Electrical	20	accounting	p8 · 2026
Grey Highlands	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2026
Grey Highlands	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2026
Huron	Electrical	20	planning	p42 · 2025
Huron	Electrical	20	planning	p57 · 2025
Huron	Electrical	20	planning	p68 · 2025
Huron	Electrical	20	planning	p77 · 2025
Kenora	Electrical	20	accounting	p15 · 2026
London	Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical	20	accounting	p2 · 2023
Meaford	Electrical	20	accounting	p17 · 2020
Meaford	Electrical	20	accounting	p17 · 2020
Meaford	Emergency lighting unit	20	accounting	p17 · 2020
The Blue Mountains	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2019
The Blue Mountains	Electrical	20	accounting	p11 · 2019
Welland	HVAC, Electrical	20	accounting	p8 · 2021
Vulcan County	HVAC, Electrical	20–30	accounting	p5 · 2024
Duncan, North Cowichan · same table	HVAC, Electrical	25	accounting	p17, p9 · 2011
Lantzville	Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical	25	accounting	p11 · 2019
Tofino	HVAC, Electrical	25	accounting	p12 · 2009
Brantford	Electrical	25	planning	p10 · 2025
Brantford	Electrical	25	planning	p10 · 2025
Greater Napanee	HVAC, Electrical	25	accounting	p16 · 2012
Kirkland Lake	HVAC, Electrical	25	accounting	p10 · 2020
Rainy River	Plumbing, Electrical	25	accounting	p11 · 2010
Rainy River	Plumbing, Electrical	25	planning	p17 · 2026
The Blue Mountains	Electrical	25	accounting	p11 · 2019
Bancroft, Centre Hastings, Hastings Highlands, Wollaston · same table	Plumbing, Electrical	25–30	accounting	p5, p4, p6, p5
Brockton	HVAC, Electrical	40	accounting	p2 · 2009
Greater Madawaska, Quinte West · same table	Electrical	40	accounting	p17, p38 · 2025
Simcoe	Electrical	40	accounting	p19 · 2025
Trent Lakes	Electrical	40	accounting	p10 · 2009
Meaford	Electrical	50	accounting	p17 · 2020

Of 54 rows, 2 were compared with an image of their page; 52 were matched to their page automatically (the label and number appear in the page text). Follow the page link before relying on an automatically matched row. About the policies · All approved rows as JSON

Preventive maintenance

1 tasks in 1 work order.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12Annual

Months from the schedule start. Download the tasks as CSV for a CMMS, or ask the MCP tool get_pm_schedule for dated visits.

Annual · 1 task

Source: UFC 3-601-02 Fire Protection Systems Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance (7 October 2021, with Change 1, 18 April 2025), Table 2-27 Emergency Lighting System ITM Tasks

Task	Page
Run battery emergency lights at least 90 minutes	p85

Frequencies are ISO 8601 durations in the data (P3M = every 3 months).

Open questions

HUD gives planning lives for US multifamily housing; the municipal rows are Ontario accounting lives. Neither is observed replacement data.

Know the answer? Send it with a source to [email protected].

Cite this

Citation

unfinished.one (2026). Emergency lighting unit, v0.5.0. https://unfinished.one/c/emergency-lighting/v/0.5.0

BibTeX

@misc{unfinished_emergency_lighting_0_5_0,
  title = {Emergency lighting unit},
  author = {{unfinished.one}},
  year = {2026},
  version = {0.5.0},
  url = {https://unfinished.one/c/emergency-lighting/v/0.5.0},
  note = {CC BY 4.0}
}

Licence CC BY 4.0 · How to cite · JSON · Versions: 0.5.0, 0.4.0, 0.3.0, 0.2.0, 0.1.0