I have a question that I have been pondering for a while. As an AHJ we have some strip malls (or similar construction where there are multiple businesses in different suites), and in a few instances I have come across a single suite that is sprinklered due to the occupancy type within that suite.
For example an older strip mall gets a casino to move into a single suite changing it to a Group A occupancy, which now requires sprinklers. They have been allowed to sprinkler just that suite as long as there is a 2-3 hour rated fire separation between the neighboring suites. Is this in alignment with the code? Are they considered “separate buildings” due to the fire separation provided between suites? If so, how do we avoid confusion when our crews respond for a fire? They see a PIV and FDC and connect, only to realize when they go inside that there aren’t even sprinklers in the suite on fire. It just doesn’t seem operationally sound to me. Do you have any thoughts on this? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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We have a 6-inch Schedule 10 main being hung with a trapeze hanger. The span on the hanger is 6-ft.
We're using a 2-1/2 inch Schedule 40 pipe as the trapeze. Does the 2-1/2 inch hanger rings and rods with beam clamps need to use 1/2-inch diameter rod, since it is supporting 6-inch pipe, or can it use 3/8-inch hanger rings and rods? NFPA 13 2016 Section 9.1.1.7.5 states "all components of each hanger assembly that attach to a trapeze member shall conform to 9.1.1.5 and be sized to support the suspended sprinkler pipe." Table 9.1.2.1 shows pipe sizes up to 4-inch require a minimum 3/8-inch rod and 6-inch requires a minimum of 1/2-inch rod. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When using loop hangers in fire sprinkler systems, is there a distance (minimum or maximum) that the end of the all-thread rod needs to be from the top of the steel pipe?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a job where the plans have a detail of the underground fire service entry into the building that shows us bolting to friction clamps. I've always used the 90-degree I bolts on the flange to shields.
Looking for some detail on this - are there other methods I should be considering? Is this acceptable? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When is sprinkler protection required for a building column?
We have a New York City project with cast iron columns, and we're not sure of any code requirement that would address sprinkler requirements for protection of a cast iron column. Any help is much appreciated. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe According to the International Building Code Section 905.3 (2018 Edition), a standpipe is required in any building with four or more stories.
We have a small building (three family homes) but the first floor is all a parking garage, and then 3 more floors over the parking garage (one home per floor). According to the IBC, do we still need a standpipe even if it's such a small building? If we do need a standpipe, does the service have to be 4-inches or can we have it at 2-inches and increase the riser up to 4-inches to feed the manual wet standpipe? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Why does NFPA 13 limit the use of ESFR sprinklers in storage occupancies to 46 feet (14 meters)?
Looking for some next-level insight here. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a surface-mounted light fixture on the ceiling, and I have to have a sprinkler at least 12-inches away from it in order to clear it as an obstruction. The light fixture is rectangular in shape.
The question is, when doing all of the spacing and the sprinklers are not exactly next to the object, they will have an offset from one side, and another offset from the other (short) side of the light fixture. Does the sprinkler distance from the object need to be measured diagonally? Or is the measurement "aligned" with one (or all) sides of the light fixture? I may be overthinking this, and hopefully am explaining it correctly. Just because I'm 1-foot from the long side I could still be 6 or 8-inches offset from the other side of the fixture. Any help is much appreciated. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Our project is a 16-bed hospice facility. The project site does not have a municipal water supply. The project is under NFPA 13, mostly Light Hazard, and an ancillary storage space in the basement is Ordinary Hazard.
We've designed a water storage tank which is buried outside. The discharge of the tank is approximately 5-feet above the suction side of a fire pump supplying the sprinkler system. I've designated the pump as a sprinkler booster pump and supplied power from an emergency MDP (main disconnect panel). The electrician is asking for a few details concerning the pump designation. Is the fire pump required to have a separate service with a dedicated ATS (automatic transfer switch)? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Have a design criteria question;
I am using Tyco LFII k4.9 sprinklers in a residential renovation for a 20-story highrise. Mostly light hazard, non-combustible building structure. The building does have commercial offices, but the floors being renovated are all completely residential. Based on a design density of 0.10 gpm/sqft, would I need to abide by the 1,500 sqft remote area size for Light Hazard from NFPA 13, or by the product data from Tyco stating the 4 most demanding sprinklers? This is falling under the 2013 Edition of NFPA 13, not NFPA 13R of course. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Can an RPDA (reduced pressure detector backflow assembly) failure cause a sprinkler activation?
The street pressure at our project is 140 psi. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a car dealer who is putting on an addition to their service bays, but they said that they will be adding a tire carousel. I had never heard of these.
I don't know any more info yet of what they are buying, but a quick internet search gave me some ideas. I am stuck on how to even deal with or design for this yet. I found one that appears to fit in the space they show and that one is about 7' deep, 20' wide and about 13' high. Any tips on what questions I need to be asking, or how I could go about accommodating these? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe There has been a lot of discussion on this post regarding forward flow test connections.
NFPA doesn't address sizing of this connection. The project I'm currently working on is strictly sprinkler with Light and Ordinary Group 1 hazards, with no standpipe connections. The maximum expected flow is 250-300 gallons per minute. The engineer is showing a 2" forward flow test connection piped to an open fitting on an outside wall. I know that fire pump tests are frequently conducted using 1 3/4" nozzles and easily achieve 250 gpm readings. Does it make sense that a 2" connection would be adequate in this instance? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a Type V-A Group R-2 apartment building whose code summary indicates as having four stories atop two levels of basement, all of the same construction and occupancy, and requiring a 13R system type.
I’m no expert in the building code, but it's my understanding that in order to have a building taller than four stories and still use 13R, a 3-hour horizontal assembly would be required having Type I construction below such assembly and up to four stories above; this building looks to be Type V throughout six levels with no horizontal assembly. The large building is vertically separated into four individual buildings by 2-hour fire walls but I see no horizontal separation. Is there a way this proposed 13R sprinkler system can be code compliant (IBC 2015)? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe What is the difference between Standard Mill and Semi-Mill Construction?
The annex of NFPA 13 lists Standard Mill as an example of unobstructed construction, while Semi-Mill is considered to be obstructed construction. A.3.3.43.1 Obstructed Construction (5) Semi-Mill Construction. The term semi-mill construction as used in this standard refers to a modified standard mill construction, where greater column spacing is used and beams rest on girders. A.3.3.43.2 Unobstructed Construction. (4) Standard Mill Construction. The term standard mill construction as used in this standard refers to heavy timber construction as defined in NFPA 220. Semi-Mill in NFPA 13 is only defined as a modified standard mill construction where greater column spacing is used and beams rest on girders. The description of Standard Mill refers to heavy timber construction as defined in NFPA 220. NFPA 220 has nominal dimensions for structural members and other details, but that's it. How should I know when something is Standard Mill or Semi-Mill under NFPA 13? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Do solar panels on a roof level of a parking garage require sprinkler protection?
The parking garage is six-level open air garage, and the roof level (the sixth level) is used for parking. Solar panels would cover 30% of the roof level and may potentially in future cover the entire roof. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a two-zone fire sprinkler system, one is wet, the other is dry-pipe. There are no inside hose valves, just a small NFPA 13 building.
Does the fire pump size need to accommodate hose allowances? The sprinkler calculations have no inside hose allowance. We would typically apply the hose allowance at the city tap, which would be upstream of the fire pump. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Why do laminar flows typically have higher frictional factors (Moody Chart) than turbulent flows?
I understand that the head loss is ultimately bigger in turbulent flows but would it not be expected that turbulent flows would experience a larger loss due to friction (and hence, a larger frictional factor)? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When is a sleeve required (or not required) at the base of a sprinkler riser when it comes through a floor?
Is there a requirement I'm missing in NFPA 13, NFPA 24, or the plumbing code? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I'm hoping someone might be able to provide a little direction on the requirements of NFPA 13 2016 Section 23.4.4.8.1 (4) for hydraulic calculations.
We typically use 2"x2"x2 1/2" Vic IR Bullhead Tee directly on the welded grooved outlet. Per NFPA we should be including these fittings on the branch line, but we have always included the tee fitting on the 2 1/2" riser nipple because inside diameters are not typical to a 2" tee. We have been doing this for the longest time and recently received corrections from the local AHJ. Victaulic does not specify the frictional resistance - equivalent length of the NO. 104 Bullhead Tee fitting on the branch line. Have you come across this before, or any suggestions? I tried to create a new fitting type in HydraCalc, but was having trouble. Also, might be pointless since there is no data for this on Victaulic's cut sheets. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is there an established method to "prove" that we have enough fire flow for a project site?
I understand that the premise is to be sure we have the correct water supply available at the site. We do. I'm just interested in the technical 'design' portion to validate that concept. Typically, I run a hydrant flow test at the site with nearby available hydrants. In this case, we're adding new hydrants but I understand the water supply nearby with recent testing. Is a hydraulic graph (N^1.85) showing the available water supply at 20 psi sufficient to "prove" fire flow, or should I be conducting some type of calculation where I'm "flowing" hydrants? We do sprinkler calculations all the time, but I'm just curious if I'm either overcomplicating things or if there's a process for fire flow that I'm not yet doing which I should be. Trying to get things right. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a series of highrise buildings where an NFPA 13 sprinkler system and a wet standpipe system (NFPA 14) are to be installed.
If the sprinkler and the standpipe systems are supplied by a common fire pump, and horizontal supply pipe, but have separate vertical risers, will the system be considered a combined system? Will the subsection of NFPA 14 (2019 Edition) section 7.10.1.3.1.1 apply? 7.10.1.3.1.1 In a building protected in accordance with NFPA 13 or NFPA 13R, the water supply for the combined sprinkler and automatic standpipe system shall be based on the sprinkler system demand (including any hose stream demand) or the standpipe demand, whichever is greater. The buildings are fully-sprinklered, and the proposed fire pump is rated at 1,000 gpm. There is a water storage tank of 30,000 gallons. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When performing hydraulic calculations, do I need to account for the length of the barrel of a dry sprinkler?
The sprinkler itself starts at the threads, but the length can sometimes be quite long before water hits the orifice of the sprinkler. Under NFPA 13, under friction loss, the closest I can find says "friction loss shall be excluded for the fitting directly connected to the sprinkler." Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Can anyone point me in the right direction for codes pertaining to the construction of a draft curtain?
My client will be installing them as part of an attic design, where draft curtains are required per the sprinkler listing. The sprinkler data sheet covers the depth requirement of the draft curtain. From browsing some websites I can gather they can be constructed of fire-resistant fiberglass woven textiles, glass (smoke baffles), or even panels of sheet metal. Does NFPA or the IBC define how they are to be constructed? My client will most likely use sheet metal. I'm curious if there is a gauge requirement for the metal. I may be overthinking it, but I like to see the code defining the curtain requirement, to avoid the contractor putting the wrong materials in place. I appreciate any help that anyone can provide. Thank you. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We are trying to complete system testing for a closed-loop system and a waterflow alarm is not reporting back to the fire alarm panel.
Is there a good sequence of operations for a closed-loop system? More specifically, what order of events needs to happen when a sprinkler activates? Thanks. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe |
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