The Toolkit package is here!
This week, as part of the big launch, you can get every tool we have available: Get access to the Sprinkler Database, downloaded tools, post-a-question and more today. The Toolkit is a downloadable package that allows you to PDF, print and save your calculations as well as get access to the Sprinkler Database and a host of other benefits.
A couple of weeks ago I debuted a concept I've been working on which analyses fire pump curves and their combination with city pressure. With a handful of helpful suggestions, here's the latest iteration.
The big news this week is that this tool, alongside everything else I've created to date, is now available as the MeyerFire Toolkit - it's downloadable, printable, PDF-able version of each of these tools as well as a way to access the Sprinkler Database and all of our flowcharts and tables as PDFs.
What updates can I incorporate from here? Comment below for advice & feedback on how you'd like to see it completed.
If you're new to the blog, be sure to subscribe here for free weekly articles & tools. Things are busy and trending up around here -
On Monday of next week the Toolkit officially launches. As a subscriber you'll now be able to use the Toolkit alongside the Sprinkler Database, get all flowcharts as PDFs, and be up to date on the latest tools we're creating and testing around here. Stay tuned for emails next week with the big launch and special offer details. I started working with fire suppression systems as a bid/spec designer who did both upfront "full-design" as well as "performance-spec" or "design/build" criteria. I'll save frustrations and pet-peeves with this approach for a later time. While I still help architects put those packages together, several years ago I also began helping contractors with permit design, hydraulic calculations, installation detailing, and stocklisting. To say that this foray into seeing the other side of the industry is eye-opening would be an understatement. I've learned so much and perhaps only now realize how much I still have to learn. Here's my top takeaways from pulling back the curtain and working with Oz: 1. Details Are Critical Probably the biggest adjustment when working on installation drawings as opposed to an upfront 'full-design' is that each and every detail is critical. The goal becomes less of "is this a code-compliant, efficient design?" and rather becomes "is this a code-compliant, most efficient design?" What happens when a pipe is fabricated to exact lengths and ends up overlapping with a steel beam by 1/2-inch? Steel beam wins. My buddy in the field now has add a spool piece or re-cut pipe. What happens when you accidentally order unions instead of couplings? You get a phone call. 2. It's Just Theory Until Someone Has to Do It In some ways, living on the 'engineering' side of a project and not the contracting end is dabbling in theory. Even if pipe, fittings and equipment are all shown on bid documents, there's still someone on the back-end putting together installation drawings and a contractor that's looking at it before it gets installed. When you're the guy on the back-end, it's no longer theory. A dimension from a pipe to structure is where it's supposed to go in the field. My point is, my fantasy-world of someone else correcting my schematic layout before it gets installed is no longer there. How many components are shown here? I used to see this as a pipe with a lateral seismic brace. After designing installation drawings and stocklisting, I see at least four assemblies with a wide range of options, listings, and details. 3. Preferences Vary Widely Prefer flex drops to hard pipe? What about grooved & welded branchlines over threaded? Want Viking, Vic, Tyco, Reliable, or Globe sprinklers? What about hanger attachments? Preferences vary widely, and while all of the above are code compliant, there is a ton of variation in how different people prefer to purchase and install a system. 4. Ain't Nobody Got Time for This Think architects have tight deadlines? When a subcontractor has a contract held out for long periods of time, only to finally be released for work and in the next breadth asked when submittals will be complete - there's a time crunch. Not all projects designs are under tight timelines and if contracts are released in good time sometimes there's a decent amount of breathing room. But in many cases, my clients need turnarounds as soon as possible. 5. Think Differently Once our drawings were unstrapped from the titleblock and drawing convention (scale, fonts, numbering) typically dictated by the architect - a world of possibility has opened up with flexibility on the documents. Want to know why many shop drawings have details thrown on the same sheet as the plan? It's because the installer may only be carrying that sheet when he or she installs that area. We made the leap a couple years ago to do 100% BIM, whether the job required it or not. In doing so, there's been many opportunities to approach how we construct our drawings differently. When everything is modeled, section cuts become very easy. Want isometrics for risers and complex areas? Done. Why is 1/8-inch scale so prevalent in the shop drawing world? It's about the smallest scale we can do to see everything on a sheet. Traditionally, drafting was labor intensive and each sheet represented a real cost incurred to the designer and thereby the building owner. This resulted in reducing the number of sheets whenever possible. Now, with computer drafting and even more-so in the 3-D world of BIM, scale is almost irrelevant. I find the notion of charging clients by the sheet almost funny now. My life becomes so much easier using 1/4-inch scale - drawings are cleaner, I can show two-line pipe and fittings, annotations take far less time to clean up, and I've yet to have a complaint from an installer concerning the larger scale. In talking to software developers at HydraTEC there's a real sense that BIM will change how we construct drawings. When there's little to zero extra effort to show sections, isometrics, or renderings, then the question becomes less about how much time it takes to show extra detail and instead what presentation offers the best explanation of what we're trying to indicate. It's a really exciting place to be when you're at that point. Taking the leap into 100% BIM (building information modeling) on every job has been a challenge, yet now pays off in ways I would have never anticipated with better-orchestrated drawings and flexibility in overall presentation 6. Lack of Information & Consideration Probably my most frustrating lesson is that with many 'design-build' jobs that don't incorporate an engineer tasked with fire protection, there is zero consideration to where fire sprinkler systems and components are going to be installed. I've had many projects put out to bid that don't even state whether a building is going to have an NFPA 13 system, much less space allocated for the sprinkler riser on an exterior wall. For a functional bid, there's a few important details I think would help contractors compare apples-to-apples, and that's for another time but at a minimum should include (1) applicable code, (2) coordinated service entry, (3) flow test information where calculations are needed, (4) pipe specification, and perhaps (5) hazard criteria. 7. Boy There's A Lot to Learn Years ago I was told it takes a solid 6-8 years or so of work in this industry before you gain a foothold in understanding the breadth of the work involved. Malcolm Gladwell, author of the Best-Seller "Outliers", discusses the now famous 10,000-hour rule whereby in order to truly be an expert in a topic, one must amass 10,000 hours of quality experience in that arena. While I hold both of those considerations to be somewhat valid, I also realize after amassing those totals that I still have so, so much to learn in this industry. Please don't think that just because I record and share my thoughts here that I'm in any way more capable or more of an expert in this space than you are or can be. I was on a jobsite yesterday getting installer feedback on one of my latest projects. While walking the job, we discussed at least a dozen different areas that the design could be improved to benefit the installer, allow for flexibility in field adjustments, and ways to route pipe that doesn't upset the other trades. The entire discussion didn't even touch code - there were no code issues - rather it was all about improving design technique for future projects. My joy in sharing this material as someone who is not a refined expert, a Fellow SFPE, or the committee chairman of a major standard is that I can cover the small tips and nuances that we naturally gather and learn along the way. There's so much in the day-to-day where just starting the discussion has value. Know someone who might appreciate this article? Forward to a friend.
Get these weekly articles, for free, by subscribing here. Based on some feedback and good ideas I've been experimenting with graphing fire pump & flow test curves with usable data outputs. Below is the first iteration for drawing a fire pump curve alongside a water supply curve. Determining ideal fire pump configurations for sprinkler and standpipe systems can be an important part of optimizing fire suppression design Here's the help I could really use from you - what else would be included in your ideal pump curve?
Would you prefer this be on a logarithmic x-axis? Want 175 & 300 psi limit lines shown? Would you want to see at what height in a building the 175 psi threshold would occur - on this graph? System demand and hose? I'm open to any and all ideas - in the end I think it'd be great if this tool was the quickest & best method for summarizing and analyzing fire pump output. Share your ideas in the comments here, thanks in advance! This week's resource was a fun one to put together. Frequent Questions about NFPA 13 vs. 13R I've been asked a handful of times in early project planning phases on whether NFPA 13R would be allowed in lieu of NFPA 13 for a project. In short, the two standards have very different objectives and as a result require very different means. While those who ask are generally looking for ways to save on construction for the project, the differences are important and worth discussing early in a project. Designed for Different Purposes It's important to note that NFPA 13R systems are designed primarily with the intent for life safety (extending the amount of time occupants have to escape a burning building). It's stated purpose is to additional "prevent flashover in the room of fire origin, where sprinklered" (NFPA 13R 2019 1.2.2). Unlike NFPA 13, NFPA 13R works to make the installation of the sprinkler system more affordable and accessible for residential occupancies by targeting the areas of highest fire risk to life safety with sprinkler systems. Swapping NFPA 13 and NFPA 13R is not simply a one-for-one exchange, as their goals are overall quite different. Summary of Differences Here's the summary of differences I use between NFPA 13, 13R, and 13D as a downloadable PDF (at the bottom of this page). References to the building code are to the International Building Code, as it's typically the most prevalent used in the US. As always, there's far more detail to many of these requirements than can be summarized in two pages - so be sure to use the supplied section references to gather more information on specifics for your project. CODE PLANNING
OMITTED AREAS
HYDRAULIC CALCULATIONS
Download PDF Cheatsheet: Save this page as a printable PDF right to your computer. See below for the link: Want More Like This? Subscribe to these weekly articles, for free, here. This site and the resources herein are created to help you excel in fire protection.
Toolkit Release in a Few Weeks
We're just a few weeks away from the Toolkit release. It'll contain everything that's in the tool now, plus the popular Sprinkler Database and the ability to post any question to the Daily followers.
The MeyerFire Toolkit contains all of the quick tools I use regularly, which can be printed or saved as PDFs.
Haven't seen the Sprinkler Database? Watch this quick video: If you've demo'd the MeyerFire Toolkit and have any ideas or suggestions, it's not too late! Please email any ideas for improvement at [email protected]. Vote on the Next Project Here's the top five ideas for next development. Click here to vote below to rate the idea and help guide the direction of tools & resources: Floor-Mounted Obstruction Calculator While it doesn't come up all that often, floor-mounted items can create obstructions for sprinklers just as anything hanging from a ceiling. This calculator is a quick-assessment tool similar to the popular Sprinkler Obstruction Calculator. Access: Free to Everyone / Downloadable for Toolkit Members Fitting Hydraulic Loss Calculator This tool is an expansion of the popular Friction Loss Calculator, but compares loss across various sizes with more output analytics. Trying to decide whether a backflow preventer was calculated correctly? Will you need a 3" or 4" sprinkler riser? Will the choice between various flex drop suppliers matter? This is the tool for you. Access: Free to Everyone / Downloadable for Toolkit Members Fire Pump Database This comprehensive database lists all of the various models of fire pumps available on the marketplace. Just like the Sprinkler Database (currently available to Sprinkler Database subscribers), this database allows users to quickly search and filter all current fire pumps on the markets. Links from the database go straight to manufacturer's websites, product data, CAD details, and Revit models. Access: Free to Toolkit Members Trapeze Hanger Calculator This tool is a quick-sizer with analytics for designing & sizing trapeze hangers for fire sprinkler systems. Access: Free to Everyone / Downloadable for Toolkit Members Next Week This site is created to help you excel in fire protection. It's all about a supportive community & fast tools to help you do great work in fire protection. Next week I'll be covering big-picture differences between NFPA 13, NFPA 13R, and NFPA 13D. If you haven't already subscribed, you can do so here. Have a great week. In hindsight it seems silly that early as a designer I didn't take time to understand some of the basic nuances and differences in pipe fittings. Performance Spec Beginnings Like a good handful of engineers in the industry, I began early in my design days doing bid/performance specification work - outlining big picture issues and project nuances - while leaving the system layout and detailing to the fire sprinkler contractor. It lends itself to understanding code surprisingly well, but lacks the hands-on experience to understand how systems are actually built. Understanding Each Component Why is understanding the fitting components important? When I started laying systems out there's some natural rules that develop due to availability of the materials. If you want a basic, labor efficient, and cost-effective system, then it's imperative to understand what materials are commonly available and cost effective - and materials are considered "special order" (ie: expensive and longer lead-times). After doing shop drawing/fabrication design, finding ways to create clean designs with commonly available components is a very important part of the design process. Overview of Components In today's article I'm covering the basic, traditional threaded pipe fittings. Elbows Likely the most familiar component - an elbow has two openings traditionally 90-degrees apart, with female threads on both ends. Elbows can vary in angles - while the most common are 90-degree and 45-degree, cast-iron fittings also offer a 22-1/2 degree threaded elbow. Long-Turns The 'turn' on the elbow also can vary, particularly with cast-iron elbows. "Long-turn" elbows have a larger radius and make a more gradual curve, which could have hydraulic benefits should the application justify it. Street Elbows "Street Elbows", typically available as a malleable-iron fitting, is an elbow with a female thread on one side and a male thread on the other. They can be particularly helpful when an elbow is needed to come directly off a welded branch line without a riser nipple in-between the branch pipe and the elbow. I don't know where "street" elbows get their name, but I like to think it comes from a dark and cloudy past of use in 1920's style gangster street battles. Reducing Elbows & Tees Elbows, like tees, come in reducing styles, where one opening is simply a different (reduced) size from the original opening. This is a very helpful and friendly feature with threaded fittings, as there are many different reducing elbow and reducing tee sizes that makes their use with branch lines easy. Identifying Reducing Fittings To label the size of a reducing tee or elbow, there's a specific order to the different openings. A 1 x 1/2 reducing elbow, for instance, emphasizes that the primary opening is 1-inch and the smaller opening is 1/2-inch. While this terminology doesn't matter much for a traditional elbow that can be quickly spun around, it's more important for reducing street elbows and certainly for tees. Reducing tees are labeled by their primary opening (opening A, above), then the opposite side (B, above), and then the last outlet in-between and perpendicular to the first two (opening C, above). If a branch line goes from 1-1/4" in diameter, to a 1" pipe, while serving a 1/2" threaded sprinkler at the intersection, then this reducing tee would be a 1-1/4" x 1" x 1/2" (A x B x C). Crosses Crosses can be helpful when sprinklers split on either side of a continuous branch line. Crosses also offer a good reminder that just because a cross exists, doesn't mean it exists in the wide variety of combinations that could possibly be necessary. Ductile iron crosses, for instance, are commonly in three sizes 2 x 2 x 1 x 1, 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x 1 x 1, and 1-1/4 x 1-1/4 x 1 x 1. Cast iron are generally available in a wider variety, even offering sides C and D below in different sizes. It's important to caution, however, that just being available doesn't mean an item is commonly available as 'off the shelf'. Identifying Crosses The naming convention for crosses is the primary side (largest, A above) x opposite side (B, above) x adjacent north side (C, above) x remaining south side (D, above). A cross that connects a 2-inch branch pipe to a 1-1/2-inch branch pipe while also splitting out to serve two 1" armovers would be a 2 x 1-1/2 x 1 x 1 fitting. Riser Nipples to Avoid Crosses One trick to avoid semi-custom crosses entirely is to consider using two tees at the intersection. Running a riser nipple from one line to another slightly above it can make use of more common reducing tees and give the designer some flexibility that crosses don't always offer. Order of Threading One other item to consider with crosses is the order of threading. It's important not just to select fittings that functionally work for a design, but that can physically be threaded in a sequence that can actually be accomplished in the field. Unions One classic situation fitters understand all too well that designers don't is the order of threading. Without a union, you can't have two risers connect into the same main drain with threaded fittings. Likewise, without a union, a gridded system can't only use threaded connections. Why? It's all about the order of installation. Threads can only be accomplished in one circular direction (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, right?). Because of this, threading one end will lock in pipe without the ability to then rotate the pipe on the other end. Now introducing the union. Sent by the pipe gods, the union has a female threaded connection on both ends with a swivel disc (for lack of a better term) in-between, that allows rotation between the two female inlets. This swivel ability allows threading to occur on either side of the union without the opposite side needing to turn. As cited in the above examples, unions are used to make closed connected systems threadable. Couplings The more basic counterpart to the union, the coupling connects two male segments by way of two female inlets. If you ever get this mixed up and happen to order unions instead of couplings - don't worry - you'll get a call from someone in the field who will be 'happy' to straighten things out. At least that was the case for me the first and last time I accidentally swapped the two. Reducing Couplings Also known as 'reducers' and 'bell reducers', reducing couplings connect two male threaded segments off different sizes. In the sprinkler industry these are far and away the most popular fitting used to connect a sprinkler to a sprig, drop, or armover. The actual styles and look can vary, but in basic premise there's two different sized inlets with a hex or another flanged point to attach a wrench and turn the coupling relative to a pipe or sprinkler. Bushings
Less common in steel systems than in CPVC systems (where there's many less fitting options), bushings are similar to reducing couplings except that one side is male and the other is female. One applications I've come across that's made good use of bushings is in a new installation installing upright sprinklers were a future ceiling will be provided. Since a minimum 1-inch outlet is required for sprinklers below a ceiling (NFPA 13-2106 8.15.20.1), the 1-inch outlet can be provided but installed with a bushing that can screw directly into the 1-inch outlet and still accommodate the 1/2-inch thread of a standard upright sprinkler. Plug & Cap One of the concepts that prompted this article was a discussion my wife and I had about the differences between plugs and caps (yes, I do think about this stuff all the time). In short, plugs have a male connection while caps have a female. They both generally serve the same purpose - to stop the flow of anything in the pipe network. I don't come across caps in threaded systems much, primarily because of the availability of reducing fittings that size each component to its need. Caps are common for temporary drops in ceilings to close up a system while waiting for ceilings to be installed. Caps are also used when a branch pipe needs to be extended beyond the last sprinkler to catch a hanger. Plugs are used quite a bit - at remote auxiliary drains that aren't piped to a discharge location, for three-way valves serving water gauges, or on tees connected to dry sprinklers. Spread the Word We're all about helping you excel in fire protection. If you've found this helpful, please share with someone who you think could benefit. Thank you in advance! If you're not already receiving these weekly articles, you can sign up for free here: I've never trimmed a dry valve nor have I tested or drained a system myself. I'll also admit that for longer than I should have I never investigated the details of a dry valve. Hopefully with today's post if you've been in that same boat there's enough to better understand the basic components of a dry pipe valve. How Dry Pipe Valves Function 1. The valve is in the closed position (clapper inside the valve is horizontal) and air pressure keeps the clapper closed. 2. A sprinkler activates, releasing air pressure at the sprinkler. 3. Air pressure within the dry pipe system begins to reduce. 4. After sufficient air pressure is reduced, the water pressure below the clapper becomes greater than the pressure above the clapper, and the valve opens upward. 5. Water flows through the opening in the valve, past the clapper, and into the system. 6. After entering through the valve, the water gravitates towards the opening in the system where the air pressure is being released, and discharges through the sprinkler at the fire interface. Clapper Assembly The clapper is the interface between the air and the water within a dry pipe valve. It's purpose is to remain closed when air pressure is sufficient in the system, and open when the air pressure falls. The surface area of the clapper is disproportionately larger on the air side than the water side - which is intentional. To hold the clapper closed, the force on the clapper must be greater on the air side than the water side. Since force is pressure x area, a larger surface area on the air side means the air can be kept at a much lower pressure and still keep the clapper assembly closed - often to a ratio of 4:1 or 5:1 (allowing 40 psi of air to 120 psi of water pressure, for instance). External Reset The External Reset Knob shown in this model is used in lieu of priming water, which otherwise sits on top of the clapper and helps distribute pressure across the top interface of the clapper. The Knob incorporated in this dry valve is depressed to "unlatch" an open clapper, allowing it to reset back into its normal, closed position. It is a convenient function where a user doesn't have to open the face of the valve in order to reset it. Low Body Drain Valve The low-body drain valve allows the air-side of the valve to be drained completely with the clapper closed. Since the main drain valve is below the clapper, the clapper must be opened for the main drain to be used to drain the system. Main Drain & Intermediate Chamber The main drain is used to drain water from the system, and is located below the clapper assembly. For dry valves, some models permit the main drain to be used to test the waterflow pressure switch without opening the clapper. In other models, there's an intermediate chamber between the water and air side which is normally dry. When water enters the intermediate chamber after the valve opens, the waterflow pressure switch senses water pressure and activates. In this configuration, there's usually a ball valve that can be used to test the waterflow pressure switch and fill the intermediate chamber without opening the dry valve. Pressure Gauges The water supply pressure gauge and the system air pressure gauge are included to monitor the incoming water supply pressure and the system air pressure. These gauges are usually attached to a gauge test valve with a plug that permits removal and cleaning of the gauge orifice. Pressure Switches There are typically two pressure switches on the dry pipe valve assembly. The first is a pressure switch which monitors the air supply. When the air supply on the system drops to a pre-determined level, this pressure switch will typically send a supervisory signal to the fire alarm control panel, allowing an early warning that the dry valve is about to open and flood the system. The second pressure switch is included to activate when there is water in the intermediate chamber or is flooding the system. This is typically an alarm signal that also activates fire alarm notification in a building. Supply Shut-Off Valve This valve is typically separate from the dry pipe valve, but allows the system to be shut off after a fire has been sufficiently suppressed. It also can be closed when a system needs to be isolated, such as for a modification, repair or remodel. Other Items Outside of the dry valve assembly, an air maintenance device allows the incoming air to be regulated to a preset air pressure and for that pressure to be maintained in the system. In order to supply the air, or in many cases now nitrogen, an air compressor or nitrogen generator are provided to supply pressured air or nitrogen into the system. Summary While this valve is only one model, many of the components between dry valves are designed similarly. For further reading and detail on dry valves, I'd recommend reading NFSA's Layout, Detail and Calculation of Fire Sprinkler Systems (2nd Edition by Kenneth E. Isman, P.E.) and any product data for a dry valve you're reviewing, installing, or specifying. Subscribe Today Don't get these free weekly articles? Subscribe today and get a free PDF guide on Canopies & Overhangs. New Backflow Preventer Database I've started a new database for backflow preventers in a similar way to the popular fire sprinkler database. Backflow preventers are and have been a mainstay on fire sprinkler systems to protect the public water supply from backsiphonage. They're required by both the International Plumbing Code (608.16.4) and the Uniform Plumbing Code, two popular enforced codes in the US and elsewhere. The new Backflow Preventer Database is in beta and available to current Sprinkler Database subscribers. Backflow preventers have a number of different parameters. There's differences in types (double check, double check detector, reduced pressure zone, and reduced pressure detector), materials, listed rating, sizes, connections (flanged, grooved), valve types (outside screw and yolk or OS&Y, non-rising stem or NRS, butterfly valves, or ball valves), orientations (horizontal, vertical, n-pattern, y-pattern, z-pattern), and various certifying agencies (UL, FM, ASSE, CSA, NSF, USC). Most of my curiosity and the reason for building to the tool was (1) to determine what is actually available on the market today, (2) what are the differences between types and models, and (3) how can I easily access manufacturer websites, product data, CAD details, and Revit families with one-click. That curiosity led to the new Backflow Database. While it's still in an early beta-testing mode users who are already subscribed to the Sprinkler Database can now access the Backflow Database by logging in. If you're a Sprinkler Database user, give it a try and let me know what improvements I can make. Right now the database includes Wilkins, Ames, and Febco models. Have a manufacturer you'd like to see? Have ideas for updates? Email me at [email protected] or comment here. Thanks in advance! Vote on New Tools & See What Else is Coming Soon Around here we're always in development on new and improved tools to help designers, reviewers, inspectors, installers, and engineers in the fire protection industry. You can now see, and vote, on upcoming tools that are in development for MeyerFire.com. The "Coming Soon" page is now live under "Tools" on the website header. Take a look at upcoming tools, rate each, and share ideas that we can work towards on this new area of the website. Get Articles & New Tools Weekly
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+ Unsubscribe anytime AUTHORJoe Meyer, PE, is a Fire Protection Engineer out of St. Louis, Missouri who writes & develops resources for Fire Protection Professionals. See bio here: About FILTERS
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