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TAKEAWAYS AS A FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER

Top Industry Impacts I'm Tracking in 2019

1/2/2019

 
Hope your 2019 is off to a great start! Here's the big industry impacts I'm excited to be following in the upcoming year.

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Engineered Corrosion Solution's Skid-Mounted Nitrogen Generator for Dry Systems.
Nitrogen Inertion

Since its industry debut over a decade ago, nitrogen inertion for dry and pre-action systems has only become more widely discussed, accepted and proven to dramatically reduce corrosion in these rust-prone environments. Nitrogen generation technology has become more automated, less expensive, and has a wider variety of turnkey solutions than it did when first entering the market.

Personally, I see a big future for nitrogen inertion specifically in dry systems, but with applications for pre-action and wet systems as well. Oxygen-induced corrosion is by far the leading cause of pipe failure over time, and the return on investment for building owners who are looking at longer-term or life-cycle costs is clear and very compelling.

Just this past year I've had multiple building owners show interest and end up including nitrogen generation systems to support their sprinkler pipe network. I would only expect the owner & industry discussion to continue to progress and become louder for this market in 2019.

Tyco's UL Certified Antifreeze Solution
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Tyco (Johnson Controls) debuted a big industry shakeup over the end of 2018 with their new UL Certified pre-mixed antifreeze solution. ​

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A tragic apartment kitchen fire in 2010 activated a nearby sprinkler as part of an antifreeze solution with too high of a glycerin concentration, resulting in an "explosion" when contacting the flame. This and two other incidents quickly prompted an investigation by NFPA and its Fire Protection Research Foundation, which resulted in TIAs (Tenative Interim Amendments) to limit the use of antifreeze in new sprinkler systems. These TIAs required that antifreeze solutions must be listed for use in sprinkler systems.

Until now (eight years later), no such listed solution was available on the market.

This new antifreeze solution offers an alternative to dry systems for temperatures as low as -10 deg F (-23.3 deg C), and are listed for use with CPVC.

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Upcoming ​PE Exam Changes

While the 2019 Fire Protection PE Exam doesn't appear to hold any major changes from the 2018 version, this is the last year that is planned to be a pencil and paper, all-resources-allowed version of the PE Exam. In 2020, NCEES (with SFPE's support) is planning to move the exam to be computer-based and potentially only permit portions of reference material to be available via PDFs.

These changes might not seem big on the surface, but with them the exam experience will change fairly dramatically - going from a personalized collection of customized notes, examples and self-made binders to more of a standardized approach similar to NICET exams.

Because of the uncertainty around the 2020 exam, I suspect there will be a good handful of PE candidates that if eligibile would opt to take the 2019 exam over being the "guinea-pig" on the new 2020 exam format. There's plenty more to be discussed and released by both NCEES and SFPE concerning the new computerized exam format, but it'll certainly be something I'll be tracking around here in the coming year.

MeyerFire in ​2019

Thanks to the high level of interest and feedback for this site, everything is full-steam around here. The past year was phenomenal around here and I saw a major uptick in interest for the 2018 PE Prep Guide (two-thirds of examinees had it when they took the exam), the Weekly Exam Series, and the launch of the Toolkit.

In 2019 I hope to continue to improve upon the weekly blog series with highly-visual and hopefully helpful content, release a 2019 edition of the PE Prep Guide, and work towards a long-awaited fire protection reference guide - basically a book of helpful charts, graphs, and visuals for inspectors, designers, and engineers.

Why This Site Exists

This site was built to start the conversation.

I really would like to emphasize that I am not an end-all expert in the field. Much of what I've posted here as it relates to my own experience or industry guidance is already available.

What makes the emphasis of this site different is that it's all about bringing together experts in different fire protection factions to discuss and share best practices. It's about improving your workflow and your knowledge with resources and ideas, and giving a medium for you to share your expertise for other's gain as well.

If you're new to the blog or the website - welcome! We're well suited for a great year.

Michele Rivarola
1/4/2019 02:22:52 am

In wet pipe systems the biggest problem is not so much corrosion ascribed to the presence of air (dissolved oxygen) but MIC from sulphur reducing bacteria. I am not aware of a silver bullet for MIC but it is usually evident from the rotten egg smell in water drained from wet pipe systems and is an absolute curse.


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    Joseph Meyer, PE, owns/operates his own Fire Protection Engineering practice in St. Louis, Missouri. See bio on About page.

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​Copyright © 2021 MeyerFire, LLC

The views, opinions, and information found on this site represent solely the author shown and do not represent the opinions of any other party, nor does the presented material assume responsibility for its use. Fire protection and life safety systems constitute a critical component for public health and safety and you should consult with a licensed professional for proper design and code adherence. Some (not all) outbound links on this website, such as Amazon links, are affiliate-based where we receive a commission for orders placed elsewhere.
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • PE Exam
    • PE Forum & Errata
    • PE Problems
    • PE Store
    • PE Tools
    • PE Prep Series
  • TOOLS
    • TOOLKIT (FREE TRIAL)
    • *TOOLKIT (PURCHASE)
    • SUBMIT AN IDEA
    • BACKFLOW DATABASE*
    • CLEAN AGENT ESTIMATOR*
    • CLOUD CEILING CALCULATOR
    • DOMESTIC DEMAND*
    • FIRE PUMP ANALYZER
    • FIRE PUMP DATABASE*
    • FIRE FLOW CALCULATOR*
    • FRICTION LOSS CALCULATOR
    • HANGER SPACER*
    • IBC TRANSLATOR*
    • K-FACTOR SELECTOR
    • NFPA 13 EDITION TRANSLATOR ('19 ONLY)
    • NFPA 13 EDITION TRANSLATOR ('99-'19)*
    • LIQUIDS ANALYZER*
    • OBSTRUCTION CALCULATOR
    • OBSTRUCTIONS AGAINST WALL*
    • PLUMBING FIXTURE COUNTS
    • REMOTE AREA ANALYZER
    • QUICK RESPONSE AREA REDUCTION
    • SPRINKLER DATABASE*
    • SPRINKLER FLOW*
    • SYSTEM ESTIMATOR*
    • TEST & DRAIN CALCULATOR
    • THRUST BLOCK CALCULATOR
    • TRAPEZE CALCULATOR
    • UNIT CONVERTER
    • VOLUME & COMPRESSOR CALCULATOR
    • WATER SUPPLY (US)
    • WATER SUPPLY (METRIC)
  • ALL-ACCESS
  • LOGIN
  • STORE
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