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I recently inspected a hotel that was constructed back in the 1970s but was recently converted to an apartment building. The total square feet of the 17-story building is 270,000 square feet.
There is an attached 3-story parking garage that is only partially sprinkler-protected. The main apartment building is fully sprinkler-protected. Only one incoming riser was noted for the property. My question is, can one riser feed the entire footprint of both buildings? There are other vertical pipes noted, but one is labeled as a dry standpipe. Is the other vertical pipe also considered a riser? Or did I just miss finding all of the main risers? Trying to piece this together. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
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Are CMSA sprinklers permitted to be installed with a CMDA design from NFPA 13?
I never thought this was the case, but I wanted to know if anyone has any insights on this. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe How do I know if these valves are open or closed without using the signage present that says OPEN? Are these non-indicating valves, or am I missing something? Are these even allowed? Thanks in advance.  Does the requirement that a dry system Inspector's Test have a plug mean that it cannot be directly routed to an exterior drain? NFPA 13 2022 Section 16.14.2 requires that the test trip connection on a dry pipe sprinkler system be equipped with a plug (or nipple and cap). The appendix then includes a detail of how the plug can be removed and a temporary connection can be made to the exterior drain for testing.  I can't remember having ever seeing that in person or in the design for an actual dry system.
Was it always there I was just never paying enough attention to the details? Or is there a way (or ways) that the plug requirement is typically satisfied with a maintained connection to the exterior drain? I had it in my head that equipment like the TestanDrain had equipment to fulfill that requirement, some sort of fancy hoses or something, but now that I've been looking into it, the hoses I'm seeing on there are all for pressure relief of wet systems. Am I just remembering hoses that were kept handy but not actually connected except for testing? The Meyer Fire blog post on inspector's test requirements even shows a combined drum drip/inspector's test, but I don't see how it fulfills the plug requirement. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any clarity. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe In mercantile occupancy, are products classified as Group A Plastics limited to 12-ft, 8-ft, or 5-ft in height when mixed with other Class I-IV products (not segregated)?
If the Group A Plastic products are not mixed with other products (segregated in their own areas), is the storage limited to 12-ft, 8-ft, or 5-ft in height? Our adopted edition is NFPA 13, 2019. For context, a mercantile occupancy is shown as Ordinary Hazard Group 2 in NFPA 13, 2019 Section A.4.3.4. NFPA 13, 2019 §3.3.134.5 defines OH2 as "Occupancies or portions of other occupancies where the quantity and combustibility of contents are moderate to high, stockpiles of contents with moderate rates of heat release do not exceed 12 ft (3.7 m), and stockpiles of contents with high rates of heat release do not exceed 8 ft (2.4 m)." NFPA 13, 2019 §3.3.18 defined low-piled storage as "Solid-piled, palletized, rack storage, bin box, and shelf storage up to 12 ft (3.7 m) in height." However, in NFPA 13, 2022, this definition was changed to match the requirements of Chapters 4 and 20. NFPA 13, 2022 §3.3.14 defines low-piled storage as "Solid-piled, palletized, rack storage, bin box, and shelf storage of Class I through Class IV commodities up to 12 ft (3.7 m) in height and solid-piled, palletized, rack storage, bin box, and shelf storage of Group A plastic commodities up to 5 ft (1.5 m) in height." Chapter 4 table 4.3.1.7.1 limits group a plastics in OH2 to 5ft for low-piled storage. NFPA 13, 2019 §20.4.14.2 states "Unless the requirements of 20.4.13.3 or 20.4.13.4 are met, mixed commodity storage shall be protected by the requirements for the highest classified commodity AND storage arrangement" Thanks for your help in clarifying this. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I found this fitting from a system installed in the 1970s. Everyone I work with and I are unfamiliar with it. Do you recognize it, and does anyone have any technical information available? It looks like a 2" coupling with a threaded head outlet on the other side. It is a push-connect type fitting. Thanks!  Is there a specific code that requires an inspector's test on a fire sprinkler system to be at the most-remote part of the system, or is it only required at the riser near the main drain?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is the installation form of the control valve for the hydrant correct/allowed as shown? It is a wet barrel hydrant, and the owner wants to save costs by installing the control valve directly below the hydrant. How should the effective coverage area of the fire hydrant be considered? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe  We're installing a manual dry standpipe system that will have 12 psi of supervisory air. This is my first supervised dry standpipe in [redacted by original author to protect author's extreme age] years in the industry.
The FDC has 3 brass clappered snoots supplying a 6" main. I'm assuming we'll need to install a 6" rubber-faced check valve near the FDC to hold the air. However, you know what they say about 'assuming'. Therefore, I'll ask the FP Pro world: Is there any chance those brass clappers will hold 12psi of air? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe What is estimate life expectancy of a clean agent system before complete replacement?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have a building where the 3rd floor is open to the structure. It is open-web joists (wood) with 2x6 members on top and bottom, and 1x6 supports. They are spaced 16" apart. The bottom of the joist elevation is parallel with the floor throughout, but the top varies, as the roof slopes slightly. I cannot come up with a passable solution to sprinkler this area, since the joists are too close together to pass the 3X rule, and the bottom of the joist is more than 22" below deck for the majority of the space. How would you approach this from a sprinkler design perspective, considering the obstruction rules as well as unobstructed vs obstructed construction? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe  In California (and other states), are diesel fire pumps subject to emissions requirements, or are they exempt?
Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe For a newly built steel smelting plant, how should the layout spacing and protection range of private fire hydrants be considered?
I have checked that NFPA 1 states the maximum spacing for "Buildings Other than Detached One- and Two-Family Dwellings" is no more than 500 feet, but NFPA 850 specifies a maximum spacing of 300 feet. Do both govern? If so, does the more-restrictive one apply? What should be the protection range of each hydrant? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe On a fire pump system that has a large PRV on it, should there be a test of just the fire pump, as in the fire pump annual test, and also separately a test with the pump through the PRV?
This would ensure that the reduced-pressure standpipe/ sprinklers work ( system acceptance ). Are these required to be separate tests, or can they be combined? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe I have always assumed that we only design for one fire in a building at a given time, and in a campus-style site with a single water supply, a fire in one building only.
Is that written anywhere, or just the agreed-upon practice? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Do I need a separate 6" fire line to a building sprinkler system, and a second water line for all other uses?
This is for an NFPA 13 system. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe The IBC section 403.3.3 requires an automatic on-site secondary water supply for high-rise buildings in seismic zone C or greater.
Does NFPA have a similar requirement for on-site water storage in a seismic zone? All I can find are the bracing requirements in NFPA 13, but I am not seeing anything in NFPA 101 or NFPA 5000. 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 Our project is a school campus with nine buildings.
The Civil Engineer has designed the underground so that three buildings are controlled from a single PIV and an FDC. Additionally, they want butterfly valves on each fire sprinkler riser. Does shutting off three buildings become an issue, and is this within the NFPA 13 parameters to dictate this one way or another? Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe What is an appropriate hazard classification for bowling lanes?
The current design was originally pipe schedule in certain portions, but has been cut up with new pipe sizing. The spacing is between 100-130 SF. Not sure if this would fall under OH1 or OH2. Thanks in advance. Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Where can I find guidance for fire flow for an outdoor lumberyard?
The IBC, Appendix B and C are for Buildings. It specifically says: "This appendix does not apply to structures other than buildings." Is there anything in the FM data sheets, or elsewhere? Thanks in advance. 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 We have a condominium (3 story, 18 units), with an original 20-year-old Gast model 2LAF-12-M200X.
Complaint from the unit sharing an adjacent wall to the sprinkler room. The compressor repeatedly turns on and off only during the early morning hours, between 2 and 4 AM. We have monitored and seen nothing but normal activity during the day. Is this possible? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe Is it mandatory to install a strainer at the suction pipe of a fire pump?
Or are there specific criteria in NFPA for horizontal centrifugal pumps to determine under what circumstances a strainer may not be required at the suction pipe? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe We have an office building where we have performed hydraulic calculations for a light hazard occupancy, using a design density of 0.10 gpm/ft² over a remote area of 1,500 ft².
However, our calculations require 20 sprinklers to cover this area, which is huge. Typically, there are only 7 sprinklers (at -215 ft² per sprinkler) that are sufficient for 1,500 ft². The issue comes because the office has many small rooms, each with its own sprinkler, increasing the total number within the remote area. The output is higher at 439 gpm with 20 sprinklers. How can we correctly define the remote area to bring down the overall flow bust still comply with NFPA 13? Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe |
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