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Our jurisdiction has received plans for an addition/remodel of two different occupancy types.
The larger I-1 Condition 2 occupancy will not be undergoing remodeling and currently has a full NFPA 13 system; however, the R-4 occupancy will undergo a complete overhaul. The R-4 will also be added to accommodate a new activities room and additional sleeping units; it will remain an R-4 based on the number of occupants. The design team has drawn an independent 2-hour fire barrier between the two occupancies in the corridor connecting the two buildings. My question is, does the entire building (I-1 and R-4) now have to be served by an NFPA 13 system since they are connected regardless of the fire wall, or would they be allowed to install an NFPA 13R system in the R-4 occupancy? Also, does this now make the entire building an I-Occupancy regardless of the fire wall/barrier? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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In 1999, was it permissible to install a check valve above a ceiling with no access?
For context, our condominiums were built in 1999. The main sprinkler system has an FDC connection in front of the buildings. There is a check valve installed above the ceiling in the first condos in each building, with no access. Was that ever permitted? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Do you have to protect the whole attic that has smoke partitions with fire sprinklers if only one area has gas-fueled equipment in it? Can you just protect the one area that has the fuel-fired equipment in it? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe  NFPA 13R, Section 6.6.5.1 (2019 Edition) requires sprinklers to be installed to protect balconies, decks, etc, that serve dwelling units. What constitutes the definition of "serving dwelling units?" If we have a landing over a stair in an exterior corridor, would that landing over the stair "serve a dwelling unit?" This is a situation that the inspector is now bringing up at the end of the project and is requiring protection, even though the plans were approved, stating that this area was not to be protected per sections 6.6.5 and 6.6.5.1. Please see the attached picture and let me know your thoughts. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe  NFPA 13R can the pipe to the FDC upstream of the check valve to the FDC be CPVC?
I don't think so, but I ran across a couple of projects where this was done. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe There is a seemingly willful gap in information in scoping code (IBC) for small group R structures: those on the threshold of IRC/IBC: I am working on an existing 4 unit building where we do not have verified assembly information so the construction is assumed to be V-B.
The owner would like to renovate the existing basement, which is ~50% above grade, into an apartment with a new exterior exit. Three of the units share a common interior exit stairway & the upper ones are served by a fire escape. The 4th unit is built like a townhouse on the rear of the building and does not share any exit components. If an existing 4-unit residential building (currently not sprinkler protected) adds a 5th unit in the basement — and that unit does not share exit components — is there a code path that allows the project to proceed without installing sprinklers throughout the entire building? Or, a way to construct the new unit in an existing fire area in a way that does not increase risk (ie: 2-hour separation)? While the group is a trigger for requiring a system, looking at Chapter 5 as a scoping reference, the total fire area is below the threshold for a sprinkler system in group R-2 with V-B construction. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a 4-story motel that the architect of record stipulated the sprinkler system was to be designed in accordance with NFPA 13R. The building is wood construction with open wood joists. We have a kitchen and several laundry rooms that have suspended ceilings, which would be designed in accordance with NFPA 13 Ordinary Hazard Group I Occupancy.
What about the combustible area above the ceiling in the combustible area above the suspended ceiling in the laundry room? Are sprinklers required in this space? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have a 24.5' wide porch that needs to be sprinklered. Can we use a dry sidewall sprinkler?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I'm designing a sprinkler system for a hotel. The layout is pretty standard with hotel rooms and corridors, but on one end of the corridor is a "suite" of utility/maintenance rooms.
The rooms are labelled as "Housekeeping" (260sf), and through that, "Electrical" (70sf), and "Linen Chute" (30sf). All walls are 1-hour rated. I am calculating them as Ordinary Group 1. My question is: How do I determine the design area? Can I calculate just the Ordinary Hazard spaces like a Room Design method, or would I calculate the Ordinary Hazard spaces plus four corridor sprinklers? Or does it need to be 900 sf (1500 with QR reduction)? Thanks! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Can a residential sprinkler be used in a building using NFPA 13 in lieu of NFPA 13R?
We have a hotel where a residential sprinkler is proposed with 0.05 gpm/sqft density, but the building is under NFPA 13. I'm rejecting it under 13 for the low density (believe it should be 0.10 gpm/sqft), but residential is permitted under a 13 building, correct? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe As an AHJ, I would like to ask what other AHJ's enforce for sprinklers in R-3 Occupancies when home health or Boarding Care businesses open facilities in single-family homes?
Please explain your reasoning as well as thresholds like 5 or more, etc. We're evaluating what our requirements and/or enforcement should be. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe When does a Community Room trigger the need to use NFPA 13 as opposed to NFPA 13R? If the first floor of a 3-story apartment building is a meeting room, does the building, or perhaps the first floor need to meet NFPA 13?  Thanks in advance.
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Do all wet systems require an FDC?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is CPVC pipe allowed to be used in a tempered space, residential attic?
It's four 8-units attached side by side with a common supply and can be individually isolated. It's monitored by a full central station alarm system. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I'm designing a 13R system. The building currently has a 3/4" domestic water service. The building is in a location that would make installing a new (larger) service a logistical nightmare.
Is it allowed to connect the 3/4" existing supply to a water storage tank (sized per system/domestic demand) in the basement, then build a residential riser from that? If this is allowed, do I only take my calculations back to the storage tank? Do you foresee other problems with this? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I am preparing an assessment for adding a fire protection sprinkler system to an approximately 9,000 sqft existing single-story building that is a state half-way house for juveniles after being released from detention. Fewer than 16 occupants excluding staff.
The architect has deemed it Group R-3 occupancy (although I wonder if Group R-4 Condition 1 is more appropriate.) IFC 903.3.1.2 permits NFPA 13R throughout Group R, and this meets the three stated conditions for this section. Section 903.1.3 allows NFPA 13D in some applications; the list is separated by semicolons and includes R-3 and R-4 condition 1. However, more square feet of this facility is dedicated to non-residential purposes (meeting rooms, classrooms, kitchen, etc.). This seems counter to the scope of NFPA 13D. Even the IFC commentary mentions the use of 13D, but for one- and two-family dwellings. And I'd prefer an FDC and more than a 10-minute water duration. I'm a sprinkler guy, and not a building code expert. My gut says NFPA 13R is most appropriate (and I will ask the building code official), but what nuance am I missing here? Budget-wise NFPA 13D is way more favorable, but it just doesn't seem right. I'd like to know if both NFPA 13D & NFPA 13R are acceptable options for this type of building. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Question regarding a mechanical closet and/or plenum. We have what I'll call a mechanical closet because it houses an electric AC/heating unit for an apartment using NFPA 13. The sprinkler designer/contractor is calling it a plenum/small space and is omitting sprinklers. The plans do not show any sprinkler coverage. Is this closet a plenum or small enough space to omit sprinkler protection? Is there code justification for this? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe  I have a dry pipe system in which all test connections have an auxiliary drain except one. That one test connection is the farthest and highest connection, which is then piped down to ground level.
At ground level, the test valve is in a heated room and drains out through the wall. That pipe was filled with water (we don't know why) right to the top of the attic, froze, and burst an elbow. Should this test connection have had an auxiliary drain where the maintenance person checking for condensate and all other test connections likely would have found the filled test connection? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Forward Flow Test Confusion... I have an NFPA 13R system built in 2013 that doesn't have any hose connection(s) for forward flow testing. The sprinkler contractor is saying they're unable to conduct the test.
I am attempting to understand the codes around this topic and ran into several questions. First, NFPA 25: 2020 NFPA 25 13.7.2.3 states, "Where connections do not permit verification of the forward flow test at the minimum flow rate of system demand, tests shall be conducted at the maximum flow rate possible." Can someone please explain what this means exactly? My second question concerns using the main drain to conduct the forward flow test if it's sized appropriately. A previous Meyer Fire blog post, "Solutions for the Overlooked Forward Flow Test," Option 4, mentioned the 2016 NFPA 13 A8.16.2.4.2, but I cannot find that section in the 2019 version. Has this method changed somehow? Can the sprinkler contractor use the main drain as a means to conduct the forward flow test? If so, what else does the AHJ need to know? Calcs to prove drain size can flow system demand? Pitot reading? Thank you for reading and I'd love to find some clarity. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a project with two existing 900 sqft apartments above a non-sprinklered marine repair garage. Only the apartments are required to be sprinklered.
Can I sprinkler the two apartments per NFPA 13D, or do I have to do per NFPA 13R? I know the definition of dwellings says no more than two dwelling units in 13D. Thank you. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Why is there a drastic change for limiting an NFPA 13R sprinkler system from a four-story, maximum 60 feet height above grade plane in IBC 2018 to the maximum of the top floor being only 30 feet above fire department access in IBC 2021?
Here, we have many townhomes (R-3 group) that could easily comply with the 2018 edition of the IBC, but they will exceed the top floor 30-foot limit of the 2021 edition of IBC. Also, the 2024 IBC tries to fix the drastic change by providing an exception for Group R-2 buildings by raising the top floor height limit from 30 ft to 45 ft. That's great and all, but townhouses are still considered R-3 buildings and do not qualify for the exception. How would you proceed for a townhome with a top floor over 30 feet above fire department access? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a client who owns multiple assisted living facilities. It's residential construction with attic insulation on the roof trusses' bottom chord, and louvered gable ends with ridge vents.
They have existing wet pipe sprinkler systems in the attic and have experienced busted sprinkler lines in the past. They want to heat the attics to prevent this with electric heaters. I have done the heat loss calculations and have determined the heating load would be more than their current electrical service can support. The only options I see available are heat trace, anti-freeze, or conversion to a dry system. Anti-freeze with UL-listed anti-freeze was my first thought, but it looks like a backflow preventer would have to be added. Does anyone have experience with this and/or have recommendations on how to address this? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is there any way to install sidewall sprinklers in a room with sloped ceilings?
Say you had a rectangular room with a ceiling attached directly to the underside of a traditional gable roof with a high ridge peak in the middle. Concealed pendent ceiling sprinklers are often not possible because the space above the ceiling is completely filled with insulation. Can you do sidewalls on the vertical walls near the ceiling high point to protect the room? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a church reuse project with three apartments on the top floor and open storage on the lower/basement level.
Can I use NFPA 13R throughout? Or, do I need to base it on an NFPA 13 system with a typical 4" riser? I believe the building is Type V-B construction. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Imagine you have a 6-unit, true townhouse-construction building covered by the 2018 IRC under construction. It has an NFPA 13D sprinkler and a one-hour separation between units, but there is one common closet for the sprinkler riser and domestic water main. This closet is accessed only through a door on the exterior and is under the control of the landlord, not the tenant.
What is the code path to require any fire separation between that closet and the dwelling units? There is no dog house off the side. The IRC only seems to call out separation between units, and even if you go into the IBC, it is not apparent. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe |
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