For standpipe hose connections within stairwells, does ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) restrictions apply to the dimensions of hose valves coming off pipe?
ADA - 2010 Standard 307.2 Protrusion Limits. Objects with leading edges more than 27 inches (685 mm) and not more than 80 inches (2030 mm) above the finish floor or ground shall protrude 4 inches (100 mm) maximum horizontally into the circulation path. 307.3 Post-Mounted Objects. Free-standing objects mounted on posts or pylons shall overhang circulation paths 12 inches (305 mm) maximum when located 27 inches (685 mm) minimum and 80 inches (2030 mm) maximum above the finish floor or ground. In particular, I'm wondering if the 4" protrusion limit applies to standpipe hose connections off of a vertical standpipe, and if it does, if it only applies if the standpipe hose connection is pointed into the path of egress? I would imagine there's some life safety experts that could explain this better than I surely am. Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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A new Type II (000) construction facility without exposure protection is being designed to be built on an industrial campus. If Class II liquids are planned to be handled and dispensed regularly within the facility, what minimum distance from an adjacent, build-able property must the building allow? a. 5 feet b. 10 feet c. 25 feet d. 50 feet Solution | Posted 06/13/19
Where concrete anchors are used for seismic bracing, they must be "prequalified". Is this just an additional listing that is required to meet ACI 355.2?
Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Halocarbon clean agents are effective fire extinguishing products due to what principal(s): i. oxygen dilution ii. heat extraction iii. chemical combustion interruption a. ii only b. i and ii only c. ii and iii only d. i, ii, and iii Solution | Posted 06/12/19
The Leaderboard lists the total scores for the most recent weekly exams for PE Prep Series participants. See the entire scoreboard here. Want to join in? It's not too late - the PE Prep Series is the ultimate PE Prep tool. It's a series of 1-hour, 10-question simulated PE Exams offered weekly with solutions immediately following each exam. Learn more here. Every week of the series is retroactive so you can still test yourself with past week exams
In general, when designing fire sprinkler systems with a fire pump, is your philosophy to only provide the minimum fire pump size that is needed to support your system, or do you often increase the fire pump size to decrease pipe sizes on the system?
How much are you typically willing to increase a fire pump size in order to benefit the pipe sizes throughout your project? When I first learned about how to size a fire pump, I was told that if your system gets over 100 psi then you might as well size the pump to get as close to 170-175 psi on the system as possible - the reason being that the cost to upsize a fire pump is less than the savings associated with smaller mains and branch pipe. I'm not sure that there's a hard-and-fast rule of thumb, but I'm just interested if other people use the same strategy or if it's entirely dependent on the type of job and size of the job. Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe What is the greatest allowed spacing among all pipe sizes between hangers for CPVC pipe in fire sprinkler systems? a. 6'-0" b. 9'-0" c. 10'-0" d. 12'-0" Solution | Posted 06/11/19
What is the ideal approach for fire sprinkler pipe to enter a building?
I find many engineer details show either an in-building riser (by Ames) or a ductile iron pipe with restrained pipe and fittings come under the building foundation and up into the building. While this approach is acceptable, if we have the ability to coordinate with the structural foundation during design, would it not be better to drop the footing so that the fire sprinkler pipe can be sleeved through the vertical portion of the foundation wall? I would think that running through the foundation wall would put far less pressure onto the pipe and joints itself. I understand when most installation/design work is completed is usually well after structural design, but when we do design upfront wouldn't this be the best-case scenario? Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe A stair is 59 inches wide, with a handrail on one side with a centerline of 1.5 inches from the edge of the stair. The other side of the stair is a wall. For the purposes of calculating a specific flow, what is the effective width of the stair? a. 47 in. b. 48 in. c. 53 in. d. 59 in. Solution | Posted 06/10/19
On recent inspections I've seen many installations where an automatic ball drip is not provided anywhere on the pipe connection between the fire department connection and the check valve that serves the fire department connection. Is there an exception I'm missing or isn't that automatic ball drip always required?
Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Inergen (IG-541) is being used for protection of several rooms which contain highly valuable historic documents. If the fire type is considered Class A and the design concentration of Inergen is provided, determine the clean agent-air mixture density. a. 1.15 kg/cu. m b. 1.25 kg/cu. m c. 1.28 kg/cu. m d. 1.44 kg/cu. m Solution | Posted 06/07/19
Have a unique scenario I'd be interested in other's take on. Eight-story building with automatic standpipes and a fully-sprinklered building. There's multiple scenarios where the building is close enough to an adjacent building that the exterior wall needed to be rated. In order to keep the fire resistance rating Tyco window sprinklers were installed in conjunction with glass to provide up to a 2-hour fire resistance rating.
The issue is that the sprinkler system experiences a working pressure of up to 220-230 psi, while the window sprinklers are only available as rated up to 175 psi. We've proposed adding pressure reducing valve to the seven floors affected by this situation, but that introduces its own issues aside from cost. We've also suggested replacing the glass with a rated glass. Are there other alternatives we haven't explored here? Would be interested in others' opinions. Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe A 500 sqft rated liquid storage room is to be created within a fully-sprinklered 200,000 sqft warehouse. How many 55 gallon drums of Class IIIB liquid (flashpoint above 200 deg F) can be stored within this room? a. 18 containers b. 36 containers c. 87 containers d. 90 containers Solution | Posted 06/06/19
Without the context of a specific project or problem, when would you recommend creating a separate, detached fire pump house versus a fire pump room inside a building?
Is is purely a risk perspective? Do you recommend fire pump houses only when a pump is feeding multiple buildings, or a campus? I've only had a few projects that used a fire pump house, and it has generally been in retrofit situations or when the pump is next to a water storage tank. In either case the pump house overall cost more than it would have should the fire pump room been within the building (even despite the simple construction of the pump house). Just curious on getting another perspective. Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe June marks the early beginning to what we call 'prep season' around here. As part of that beginning, today is the first day that Week 1 of the MeyerFire PE Prep Series begins.
What is the PE Prep Series? The MeyerFire PE Prep Series is a 20-week weekly series of timed 1-hour, 10-question simulated PE Exams. We simulate the types of questions and pace of the exam with instant graded solutions emailed immediately following each exam. The Leaderboard One of the most fun and advantageous parts of being a part of the Prep Series is that you get to see each (1) your progress in getting better at exam-type questions, and (2) see how you compare against others taking the exam. Each Monday (after a week is up), the Leaderboard will be posted here on the Daily page. This year already has nearly twice the participants as last year - already over 1/5th of all of this year's examinees. If you want to be a part of the PE Prep Series, track your progress and see how you stack up, you can learn more information and join on here. Starting tomorrow you'll now see sample PE Exam problems alongside the Daily questions you're used to seeing here. This will be at least the third year I've published daily exam questions during study season, and the response has been bigger and better each year.
How it Works Each weekday I'll post a sample Fire Protection PE Exam question that mimics the style and length of an exam question, and the following day I'll post the solution. As always, feel free to comment or guess your answer after the question is posted. We manufacture dust collectors and pre-pipe fire sprinklers within them with a couple fusible fittings.
We pressure test the pipe at our shop, however, when a contractor connects to them in the field, are there any code/standard requirements to check the system for leaks after connecting to the system? We put on our drawings that the contractor should test for leaks, however, we're trying to determine what requirements exist for this application. The problem we're running into is that the connection is supposed to be made and checked before installing cartridges. If a leak occurs, the contractor could address and not get the paper cartridges all wet with running water down at the floor. In this last case they didn't, and I'm trying to address future installation of systems and make sure the contractor checks for leaks. Posted anonymously for discussion. Discuss This | Submit Your Question | Subscribe It's another record-breaking month with the most contributions to date - thanks to you who come to learn and share your expertise and help make this community more impactful. Here's May's top contributors:
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