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I am designing a wet pipe fire sprinkler system in a one story Group B occupancy (16-ft high). The building is about 90,000 sqft in area. The building will be fully sprinklered with two zone control valve assemblies.
The fire department is asking to add fire hose valve cabinets as the interior remote areas of the building are more than 130 feet from an exterior door, only citing that its required by IBC 2021. Is this correct? I can't find this requirement. Any help is appreciated. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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For a fire sprinkler system, if you have a loop running around a typical hip-roof attic, and you have a center riser, can you tie it into the loop in two locations?
NFPA 13 doesn't really discuss when a looped system turns into a gridded system. None of the branch lines would be connected, so in my opinion this would be acceptable as long as you meet the discharge time through the remote inspector's test connection. What are your thoughts? Is this a gridded or double-loop systems? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe What is the industry standard or method used for determining the design area size in order to do the hydraulic calculations for Window Sprinklers in terms of the "Adjacent Sprinklers?"
What is the definition of "Adjacent Sprinklers?" Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When dealing with combustible soffits, what are the conditions where a soffit is big enough to warrant a sprinkler inside?
In our case, we have wood constructed soffits with sprinkler protection below and adjacent to the soffit. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe For NFPA 13D and a single family home of 1,000 sq ft, what is the optimal k-factor I should be considering?
In this particular project, we don't have a city water supply but we do have a good well. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe How would you recommend protecting a dry room for battery operations, such as battery testing or packaging?
I've been designing these with dry systems but was curious if there are any codes to omit sprinklers, or if anyone uses clean agent systems? If you use something alternatively, why do you go that direction? Moderator's Note: Dry Rooms for batteries have less moisture to avoid corrosion and any chemical reaction for the batteries, which would degrade or reduce performance. Very low moisture is the key for a dry room for batteries. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a sprinkler system in a 75,000 sqft self-storage facility. There are upright sprinklers that are within 2" of a vertical support Unistrut that is used to separate storage spaces. Would this be considered obstructed? What is the code-basis for evaluating a vertical obstruction like this?  If a duct detector is installed, and the mechanical unit has a capacity of less than 2,000 CFM, it is required by code for the duct detector to be connected to the fire alarm panel?
Alternatively, removing the detectors can be considered in this situation. Looking for relevant code and standard basis. We're under the 2021 IFC, 2021 IBC, and 2019 NFPA 72. Thank you! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Does anybody have experience with locating diesel fire pump fuel tanks in exterior locations where the local ambient temperature can drop to below freezing point?
We have an unavoidable situation where we have to locate the fuel tank outside the pump room and we're hoping not to have to build a heated enclosure. NFPA 20 seems to require a heated enclosure, but FM not so much. I am aware that condensation and fuel deterioration are issues to be dealt with, but I was thinking maybe good quality thermal lag of the tank and feed/return fuel piping may be sufficient with just a roof structure above the fuel tank. What are your thoughts on this? any thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a 35' tall, 79,103 ft², non-combustible building, which is a cooler in a cheese factory. There are two dry systems at the ceiling uses CMDA heads. There are single and double row racks throughout the cooler. The top of the rack 22' top of storage is roughly 26'. The racks have a single layer of 5.6K in-rack sprinklers at the top of the 3rd level. There are 5 levels of storage, which includes the storage setting on top of the racks. The in-rack sprinklers have their own valve at the riser. It is a Class II commodity to 30'. The original design was done years ago and my question is not about the original design. In a single portion of the cooler the owner is taking a 32' section of the existing racking out and installing new racking. The new racking will have the same amount of levels. The bottom 3 levels will have a "cooling cell," one on each level.  I have never heard of a cooling cell on a rack like this. Not sure what the cooling cell is made of. Does a cooling cell increase the protection level from Class II? If so, how much would it change the commodity classification? Does NFPA 13 even address something like this? My assumption is that it will increase the hazard and call for greater level of protection. I have asked for the data sheet for the cooling cell and hope that it gives direction for fire sprinkler coverage. I have attached a picture, which really doesn't give a lot of information. Has anyone run into this before? Thank you! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe My jurisdiction (I am the AHJ) has had several buildings built with private hydrants supplying the sprinkler system where the main comes into the building, through the RPZ, feeds the sprinkler system/standpipes, and leaves the building and feeds the hydrant(s).  This has always seemed counterintuitive to me, at best. I feel we are "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and have wondered if this arrangement will adequately supply the sprinkler system when we (FD) pull water from the hydrant and pump it back into the FDC.
Per our state law, private hydrants have to be "protected" with a backflow. Is this configuration code compliant, and if not, what is a solution? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe February flew by! Thank you to our Top February Contributors for sharing their expertise.
What specific criteria or code references determine whether a standpipe system is classified as 'separated' rather than 'combined'?
I've seen AHJs state that even though the sprinkler system and the standpipe have separate vertical riser assemblies (control valve, check valve, and supervision), they are fed from the same underground supply (one underground service main) and will still be considered combined. We are working on a project where the AHJ has deemed the building 'partially sprinklered,' requiring the standpipe to be upgraded from 4" to 6" (which would necessitate a pump) but only if it is a combined system. We are looking for clarification or language that supports the distinction between a combined and a separated standpipe system to explore options that may avoid the need for a pump. Additionally, does anyone have thoughts on how we might be able to keep the standpipe at 4" or explore alternative approaches to avoid the pump requirement? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe |
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