Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using risertools.com (“risertools,” “the Site,” or “the Service”), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service (“Terms”). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

risertools is operated by Vladimir Cepeda, a sole proprietor based in the State of Florida. References to “we,” “us,” or “our” mean the proprietor.

These Terms apply to all visitors, registered users, and anyone else who accesses the Service. By clicking “Sign up,” “Sign in,” or otherwise using the Service, you confirm that you are at least 16 years of age and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement.

2. Description of Service

risertools provides a free online catalog of reference calculators for ICT integrators, low-voltage contractors, structured cabling professionals, and related trades. Calculators cover topics including but not limited to cable distances, UPS runtime, camera storage, structured cabling specifications, and related infrastructure planning parameters.

The Service is provided free of charge. risertools is funded through display advertising (Google AdSense). No payment information is collected. No subscription fees are charged.

3. Professional Responsibility Disclaimer — Read This Section Carefully

Calculators are reference and planning tools, not engineering certifications.

The calculators on risertools are provided for general planning, estimation, and educational reference purposes. They are intended to assist qualified professionals in performing preliminary calculations — not to replace professional engineering judgment, certified design review, or Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) approval.

Specifically:

• Outputs are not substitutes for licensed engineering review. Any calculator output used in a final design, submittal, permit application, or installed system must be independently verified by a qualified professional licensed in the applicable jurisdiction.
• Standards references are informational. risertools cites applicable standards (such as BICSI, ANSI/TIA, NFPA, NEC, AVIXA, ISO/IEC) as reference sources. Citing a standard does not constitute engineering certification, code compliance determination, or AHJ approval. The version of a standard in effect in your jurisdiction and the interpretation of that standard by your local AHJ govern your actual project.
• Risertools is not the authority. risertools positions itself as a citation-backed planning aid, not an authority. Where a standard or calculation method has interpretive variation by jurisdiction, risertools surfaces that variation but cannot resolve it for your specific project.
• Life-safety systems require independent professional review. You must not use risertools as the sole basis for design decisions on systems where failure could result in personal injury, property damage, or death. This includes but is not limited to fire alarm, emergency communication, security, and other life-safety systems governed by NFPA 72, NFPA 101, NEC, or equivalent adopted codes.
• Inputs, assumptions, and model limitations. Calculator outputs are only as accurate as the inputs you provide. Typical-case models (e.g., camera storage bitrate estimates, UPS runtime models) do not account for all real-world variables including load profile variation, battery aging, ambient temperature, and scene complexity. You are responsible for applying appropriate engineering margins to any output used in a real system design.

By using risertools calculators, you acknowledge and accept these limitations and agree that professional design decisions for installed systems are entirely your professional responsibility.

4. Vendor Data and Citation Accuracy

risertools builds calculators using data published by equipment manufacturers, standards bodies, and industry organizations. We cite the source and record a “last verified” date for each data reference.

We make no warranty of accuracy for third-party vendor data. Vendor specifications, ratings, and published data are the vendor’s responsibility. risertools republishes this data in good faith with citation and date of verification, but:

• Vendor specifications change without notice. Always verify against the vendor’s current published datasheet or specification sheet for your actual product.
• risertools is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any vendor whose data appears in our calculators unless explicitly stated.
• The presence of a vendor’s data in a risertools calculator is not a recommendation of that vendor’s products over any other vendor’s products.

5. Account Registration and Security

5.1 Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years of age to create an account. By creating an account, you represent that you meet this requirement.

5.2 Account Creation

Accounts are created using one of three methods: Google OAuth, Microsoft OAuth, or email magic link. We do not support password-based accounts. Your account is tied to the email address associated with your chosen sign-in method.

5.3 One Account Per Person

Each person may maintain one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent any restriction or limitation is prohibited.

5.4 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your sign-in method (your Google account, Microsoft account, or access to the email address used for magic link sign-in). If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at [email protected].

5.5 Accurate Information

You agree to provide accurate information when creating your account and to keep your account information current.

6. Acceptable Use

By using risertools, you agree not to:

• Scrape or harvest data. Use automated scripts, bots, crawlers, or other automated means to access, extract, or aggregate calculator content, vendor data, citation data, or any other content from risertools in bulk. Research use and individual page access is fine; systematic extraction of the calculator catalog or underlying data is not.
• Reverse-engineer the calculator engines. Attempt to extract, decompile, or reconstruct the underlying formulas, logic, or data structures of risertools calculators beyond what is observable through normal use.
• Resell or relicense the Service. Re-package, resell, or offer risertools content or calculator outputs as a competing product or service.
• Circumvent technical measures. Attempt to bypass, disable, or circumvent any access control, authentication, rate limiting, or security feature of the Service.
• Use outputs in life-safety design without independent review. As stated in Section 3, do not use risertools as the sole basis for life-safety system design decisions.
• Violate applicable law. Use the Service in violation of any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation.
• Impersonate others. Impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 risertools Content

risertools owns the calculator engines, calculation logic, editorial content, user interface, site structure, branding, and all associated intellectual property, except where third-party standards or vendor data is cited (which remains the property of its respective owner). All rights reserved.

7.2 Your Saved Data

You own the calculator inputs you enter and the outputs you save. We do not claim any ownership over your saved results. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive license to store and retrieve your saved results on your behalf for the purpose of providing the account features of the Service.

7.3 Standards and Vendor Data

Standards content (BICSI, ANSI/TIA, NFPA, AVIXA, ISO/IEC, NEC, etc.) is the property of the respective standards body. Vendor-published specifications are the property of the respective vendor. risertools cites these sources in accordance with fair use and editorial commentary principles. No citation or reference on risertools constitutes a claim of ownership over that third-party content.

risertools’ editorial policy is to cite standards only by published section, clause, or chapter number — substantial standards text is never reproduced on risertools pages. Where additional context is needed, users are directed to the standards body’s purchase or index page.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RISERTOOLS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
• WARRANTIES THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
• WARRANTIES THAT CALCULATOR OUTPUTS ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SUITABLE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC APPLICATION.
• WARRANTIES THAT VENDOR DATA CITED IN CALCULATORS IS CURRENT OR ACCURATE.

Some jurisdictions do not permit the exclusion of implied warranties; in those jurisdictions, the foregoing exclusions apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, and implied warranties that cannot be lawfully disclaimed remain in effect to the extent required.

9. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, RISERTOOLS AND ITS OPERATOR SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

• LOSSES ARISING FROM RELIANCE ON CALCULATOR OUTPUTS IN PROFESSIONAL OR COMMERCIAL DECISIONS.
• LOSSES ARISING FROM VENDOR DATA INACCURACIES.
• LOSSES ARISING FROM ACCOUNT DATA LOSS OR SERVICE INTERRUPTION.
• LOSSES ARISING FROM DECISIONS MADE IN RELIANCE ON CITED STANDARDS OR SPECIFICATIONS.

IN NO EVENT SHALL RISERTOOLS’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US$100). This nominal cap reflects the free, no-payment nature of the Service.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless risertools and its operator, officers, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from:

• Your use of the Service in violation of these Terms.
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation.
• Any professional or commercial decisions you make based on calculator outputs.
• Any claim by a third party arising from your use of risertools content or outputs.

The “professional decisions based on calculator outputs” clause above is intentional and reflects the professional-context use of risertools by low-voltage trades professionals; it operates together with Section 3 (Professional Responsibility Disclaimer) to allocate professional-design risk to the user as the licensed professional responsible for the installed system.

11. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict of law principles.

These Terms do not include a mandatory arbitration clause or a class-action waiver. Disputes arising under these Terms that are not resolved informally shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Broward County, Florida.

12. Termination

12.1 Termination by You

You may terminate your account at any time by using the account deletion feature at /account/. Account deletion removes all saved calculator results and account data from our database. You may also contact us directly to request deletion.

12.2 Termination by risertools

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and access to the Service at our discretion if you violate these Terms, engage in abusive or fraudulent behavior, or for any other reason we deem appropriate, with or without notice.

12.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination: your account data is deleted from our D1 database; your newsletter subscription, if any, is unsubscribed; your ability to sign in to risertools is revoked. Sections 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 survive termination.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and, where feasible, notify registered users by email. Your continued use of risertools after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

If you do not agree to updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and may request account deletion.

14. Miscellaneous

• Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and risertools regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
• No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce it in the future.
• No Agency. Nothing in these Terms creates any agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship between you and risertools.
• Contact. For questions about these Terms: [email protected] / 12680 NW 65th Drive, Parkland, FL 33076.