Best Practices to Protect a Tire Carousel?

5/27/2022

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?

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7 Comments

Alex

5/27/2022 05:53:50 am

Hi,

You have a tough project on your hands here! I’ve never dealt with this situation but it was discussed on Meyer Fire previously. Take a look here:

Link: https://www.meyerfire.com/daily/how-to-sprinkler-vertical-storage-carousel

Sorry I’m no help today. Hope others are able to chime in.

Alex

Craig Hanson link

5/27/2022 08:16:35 am

I have lots of information for you on these tire carousels. I have been doing them for several different clients.

The short answer is that NFPA 13: 2016 Table 18.4(a) (you get there by the requirements of 12.6.2 & 3) lists the types of storage. Automation makes no difference in the protection. section (8) on the table is what you are going to base the design on. Look at the notes! especially 3

basically 11.3K heads unless using foam.

I hope this helps.

Dan Wilder

5/27/2022 08:27:56 am

Questions to ask:

Is it enclosed or not? This will be the largest change in your approach... confirm if the enclosure is wire mesh or solid for both the sides and the top.

If exposed or wire mesh at the top, its looking like fixed rack storage of tires, on tread, without pallets or shelves, up to the height of the top of the tires. Extension of the high hazard was also required. We have had luck requesting a +24" ceiling height change or draft stop installation to "enclose" the upper level area a bit...

Watch out for mixing of QR & SR sprinklers as well, many times we see the standard QR's throughout for the light/OH areas but then you get into a storage area with SR sprinklers or vis versa with no separation.

NFPA 13-19 Ed.
21.6.1(a) - (8)
22.6
23.8
Chapter 25 for In-Racks as needed/available (plan on using them for the density break)

If enclosed (either fully solid or solid at the top couple feet), things become much easier and we have treated it like a paint booth (EH2) with a drop to a control valve. Sprinklers were then placed 10' max (pretty sure we used K16.8) at the top of the enclosure and we placed a couple sprinklers within the frame below the upper level of the track with water shields (acting like an in-rack arrangement). Calcs included all the sprinklers in the unit, we did not have to add it to the overhead - being enclosed was our argument and with dumping nearly 200 GPM over <200 sq ft of enclosed space.

We've had a flow switch on occasion to allow a shunt trip of the unit to cut power.

Watch out for motor locations and incoming power for both enclosed and exposed.

Provide yourself a 1" pipe down as an aux drain, much easier...

Offset the upper line from center, there typically isn't a lot of clearance up there with the carousel rotation.

Sprinkler cages on everything. Unistrut is your friend

Glenn Berger

5/27/2022 08:43:07 am

Do not assume that your internet search is the product that will be purchased. Obtain additional information from the client.

Then follow appropriate guidelines as stated by the others.

Jesse

5/27/2022 09:06:57 am

I love protection of tires, and there's a reason it has its own chapter in 13.

The automation is a secondary consideration. Dan has a great answer.

franck

5/27/2022 10:53:43 am

Craig and Dan gave the right comments

If the top of the tire carrousel is not covered, you can protect from the ceiling level as for any rack storage of tires. The fact that it rotates does not make the hazard bigger.
What makes the BIG difference in tire storage ? The way they are stored : on tread, on side or laced. And then the height of storage and if they are stored on pile or in racks.
In your case, it should be equivalent to on tread. And probably with no pallets.
Just avoid a sprinkler protection scheme requiring in-rack sprinklers as it would be very difficult to provide with a carrousel system.

If the top of the carrousel is covered, it would be more complex, unless you can provide the correct sprinklers and density below the cover (be ceraful with the clearance between top of storage and sprinkler deflector).
For high carrousel storage (enclosed), some guidance can be found in FM Global data sheet 8.34 – Protection for Automatic Storage

Rick Rantamaki

6/2/2022 10:25:18 am

For non-enclosed type tire carousels...
NFPA 13 Table 23.8 (2019) lists the requirements for ESFR sprinklers protecting rubber tires including: the minimum number of sprinklers to calculate AND the minimum operating pressure. These requirements, combined with the available street pressures, will dictate your design options.
The lower the available pressures, the higher the K-factor. Minimizing the compartment/room the tire carousel is installed can drastically reduce the sprinkler demand.

Another item to consider is the clearance between the top of the stored commodity (the highest tire) and the sprinkler deflector, which must be a minimum of 36 in (NFPA 13: 20.6.6.5 2019 Edition). Oftentimes, architects will shoehorn in the tallest carousel without taking into account the required sprinkler clearances.

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