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I’m designing a wet system protecting storage utilizing 25.2K ESFR pendents.
I have some continuous obstructions greater than 2-ft wide (less than 4-ft wide) that require protection below the obstructions. It's under the 2018 IBC, and NFPA 13 2019 edition. The obstructions are mostly closely-spaced conduit groups. I would like to place the ESFR pendents within 3-inches to the side of the group with the deflector 6-inches below and have listed water shields installed for intermediate level rack type protection. Chapter 9 in NFPA 13 seems to allow this, but it is in a subsequent section dealing with obstructions greater than 4-ft wide. The verbiage and the annex figure do not clearly state the width of the obstruction. This protection scheme will be clearly denoted and submitted to the AHJ, but I want to get input if there are any potential issues with this design. Any questions, comments, or concerns will be greatly appreciated! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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I’m trying to find some back-up support for sprinkler protection hazard classification for propane (LPG) golf carts, stored at a Golf Course.
Judgement wise, I can go with OH2, as NFPA 13 says vehicle parking garages are OH1, and repair garages are OH2. But.... is there anything included somewhere in any of the NFPA standards that addresses this specifically? Any help is greatly appreciated. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Does an FDC have to be hydrostatically tested every five years?
Is that commonly done as part of a 5-year test? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Recently, my son introduced me to some examples of AI that affect my everyday routine, such as email automation and task management.
This got me wondering if there are any ongoing developments in AI specifically aimed at enhancing fire protection systems and fire sprinklers? It seems like we are only scratching the surface of what this technology can achieve in this crucial area. Look forward to the discussion. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is there a good dividing line for when to have a 6" vs 8" service main to a building?
Assuming light & ordinary hazard with 52,000 sf as an area limitation for a riser, is there a limit on number of risers to a 6" main? What is the driver on how to predict that service main size? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have an underground water storage tank (concrete) with two compartments; Tank 1 and Tank 2. Our fire pumps are vertical turbine type: 1 duty and 1 back-up. Both suctions of each fire pump are located only at Tank 1.
Is this code compliant? Or shall we relocate the suction of the back-up fire pump into the Tank 2? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is it a requirement to have a 42-inch handrail on the edge of the building, due to the standpipe hose connections and this needing to be accessible for the fire department use? If it's required, it seems that handrails could apply under IBC 2018 Section 1015.6.  Thanks in advance.
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is a Pathway Survivability of Level 1 allowed for an elementary school and high school?
If not, what kind of protection would be required? Are there any performance alternatives? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I am in the process of bidding an existing building. Here is the rundown: the ground level has parking. Above that is a 3-hour horizontal separation between the parking and the first floor. Then there are three stories of apartments above the separation. I’m looking at this as two separate buildings and am proposing NFPA 13 for the parking and NFPA 13R for the apartments above.  It will also have two dry standpipes on the exterior stairwells. My question comes to sprinkler protection on the outside exit corridors and the egress travel distance. NFPA 13R Section 6.6.5 clearly states that the exit corridors are not required to be protected. Life Safety code allows a means of egress travel distance of 250' for a sprinklered building. If the building is sprinklered per NFPA 13R with the above ommision, can the 250' egress travel distance be used? Thought/Comments appreciated! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Needing some help here to diagnose what might be the issue for frequent running of an air compressor for our dry sprinkler system.
Our dry system compressor runs every 5 minutes for about 15 seconds. The air gauges on the system never shows any change but the gauge on the compressor tank shows a loss of 15 pounds of air pressure on a 60 psi tank. The compressor goes on when the tank gauge reaches 42 pounds and pumps up to 56 pounds; the compressor stays on for 15 seconds then kicks off. Any advice? Are the gauges reading normally? Where should I start here? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a project with an air supported dome structure. It's serving around 430,000+ sqft of indoor sports.
However, I am a bit confused with the type of construction this would be clasified as. As per NFPA 5000 and IBC, an air-supported structure can be Type II-B (000), but wouldn't we be limited on allowable floor area restrictions for the site of the building? Are there any exceptions to sprinkler protection for a building like this? I would really appreciate your point of view, thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a production facility with a roof height of 55-ft. Someone has decided that storage sprinklers would be more appropriate.
How far from the roof would it be acceptable to install K11.2 (K160) spray sprinklers? Is this approach even acceptable? Does the extreme height of the roof affect the best sprinkler height? I vaguely remember Russ Fleming did a paper on the hottest point in the fire plume being some 10 % (?) of the ceiling height from the roof. Must have been 20 years ago or more. Hopefully someone can help me with information or views on this subject on an appropriate height from the roof. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a multistory hotel building with the rooms opening to an exterior corridor. There is Exterior Insulation Finish System (EIFS) along the walls of the exterior corridor.
NFPA 13 (2022), Section 9.2.3.3 allows omission of sprinklers from exterior exit corridors where the exterior wall of the corridor is at least 50% open and where the corridor is entirely of noncombustible construction. It seems from research that EIFS is considered combustible and would require sprinkler protection along the exterior corridor. Has anyone done more research on this or has this come up before for other projects with EIFS in the exterior corridors and ultimately required sprinkler protection? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Are hydraulic placards required for NFPA 13D systems?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I'd appreciate some advice.
What's the best way to regulate pressures on a combined sprinkler (OH2) and Class 3 standpipe system? Obviously the pressures required vary between sprinklers, 2-1/2" standpipe outlets and 1-1/2" hose rack connections. Pressure regulating valves are expensive to put in on all connections, but I was thinking about using pressure regulating valves for the 2-1/2" standpipe outlets. I think it's great that we can all share our combined experience on this great website - thanks in advance! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe My community has a number of fire pump pressurized fire loop systems that include private fire hydrants.
These facilities are large industrial structures and require pressures in excess of 200 psi for their sprinkler systems. The hydrants are needed to provide water access within code required distances. To avoid injury to fire personnel and damage to our pumper trucks, is it possible to decrease the fire pump pressure to a manageable pressure once we have arrived on site and assessed the situation? This would allow us to operate normally while the existing sprinklers, though not at full discharge, are still adding water to the situation. I am looking for solutions that don't involve millions of dollars or running hose for a quarter mile or more. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe If a stair structure is supporting the fire barriers that enclose the exit enclosure, does the stair structure have to be fire rated as well?
Looking specifically at IBC 2018 Section 707.5.1 and NFPA 101 (2018) Section 7.1.3.2. If there is a fire inside a stair, the means of egress is no longer usable and at that point are you protecting the interior of the building from the fire inside the exit enclosure? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I'm working with a city inspector who is adamant that we add a second non-rising stem valve (NRS) in the fire sprinkler service main just before the building. The first valve being in the street at the live-tap location with the roadway box.
Is a valve required on the service main before the building? The requested location would place the valve under the sidewalk, accessible by T-handle wrench only, prohibiting reliable supervision of any kind. I can't seem to find any language in NFPA 24 that I can use to argue against the second unsupervised valve. I don't see any value in the position the inspector has taken and requested a copy of the city ordinance requiring the additional valve. Installing the second valve wouldn't be a huge deal but certainly seems like an unnecessary opportunity for an unsupervised valve to get closed or fail. I would like to hear what others in this community think and if anyone has something to offer. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Has anyone designed a dry manual standpipe for a pier or dock standpipe system in the past?
My question is in regards to materials used for the pipe. With the tides rising and falling my client is struggling to find an approved material that will allow for enough flexibility. I walked an adjacent marina to our project and it looked like they used 4" heavy-duty rubber tubing to run out the standpipe lines and transitioned to steel only for the vertical 2 1/2" up to the hose valves on the dock. Any information to point us in the right direction would be helpful. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a Fire Marshal that is asking us to "show how the fill line can refill the [water supply] tank in a maximum of 8-hours, per NFPA 22 Section 14.4.2".
The tank we're proposing will be supplied by an existing well, but we do not have information on well capacity. What parameters should we be looking for on well capacity? Do we have to test for both flow and time? Is the computation on refill as simple as the flow rate (gpm) x time (8-hours) to get the contribution from the well? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a project that is a 100,000 sqft building with an ESFR system that will be built out as offices with ceilings throughout the building.
The building and construction will all be non-combustible with no clouds or open areas. We don't know yet if all the ceilings will be rated. Does the ceiling rating have any bearing on whether upright ESFR sprinklers will have to remain at the roof? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Thanks to the Top Contributors that make the discussions here exceptional. Here are the Top Contributors for May:
From a firefighting perspective, how do do I calculate losses through hose lines?
How much water can flow through a 6-inch Yellow Storz hose line? What about an 8-inch? Is there a pressure associated with the calculation? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe |
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