I am in the process of designing a fire protection system for a whiskey distillery (making of, bottling, shipping & receiving). This project is a full blown distillery with fermenting tanks, barrel filling room, barrel storage etc.
I've looked at NFPA 13 & NFPA 30 as well as some FM Global Data Sheets (7-29 & 7-74) and cannot locate the correct hazard and commodity class to use. I have high piled storage and the storage of flammable liquids. What is the appropriate commodity classification and hazard to use for whiskey barrel storage? Maybe I'm in information overload at this point and looking to deep into it. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Sent in anonymously for discussion. Click Title to View | Submit Your Question | Subscribe
13 Comments
Dan Wilder
2/20/2024 07:14:59 am
NFPA 30 24' (New Section) - 16.10 Distilled Spirits in Wooden Barrels specific to 20%-75% in wooden barrels not exceeding 130 gallons. Mostly follows FM Global paths.
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Anthony
2/20/2024 07:29:18 am
The alcohol industry has had success in self regulating fire protection since the end of prohibition. There is a design manual out by "The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Inc. (DISCUS)" - link below- that has good guidance on ' industry best practices.'
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Franck
2/20/2024 08:12:45 am
As highlighted by Anthony, DISCUS is THE standard to follow for distilles spirits.
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Jesse
2/20/2024 08:50:29 am
Anthony has it with DISCUS. Neither 13 nor 30 have clear guidance, at least until the 2024 revision of 30 like Dan pointed out.
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Dean Melanson
2/20/2024 09:22:06 am
The IFC and NFPA 1 in the general storage chapter assign commodity classifications to alcohol products based on the percentage of alcohol in the product
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Todd E Wyatt
2/20/2024 10:17:17 am
The whiskey’s “% alcohol”, the quantities stored, if sold, and if consumed all determine WHERE an automatic sprinkler system (ASPS) is to be installed based on the building’s Occupancy Classification (OC).
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Todd E Wyatt
2/20/2024 10:17:49 am
REFERENCES
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Todd E Wyatt
2/20/2024 10:18:41 am
REFERENCES ... continued
Glenn Berger
2/20/2024 12:41:00 pm
Break down the facility by the specific hazard / event / occupancy in each portion of the facility. The DISCUS document looks very applicable for SOME areas of the facility and I doubt a code official would disagree when presented with this information.
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Franck
2/20/2024 01:31:22 pm
The good news is that whisky mix very well with water (well, ethanol mix well with water, not only whisky, but also cognac, vodka…). Sprinkler protection will help dilute the alcohol percentage. This is why whisky bottles are considered as a class IV commodity as indicated by Jess per NFPA and not a flammable liquid.
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Franck
2/20/2024 01:33:03 pm
Cask storage in racks is the big issue.
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Franck
2/20/2024 01:42:47 pm
About 25 years ago we were insuring alcohol facilities and I was one of the Insurance Loss Prevention Engineer.
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Megan Asbrock
3/21/2024 06:55:43 pm
you should download FM Globals Data sheet for commodity classification. to determine protection you need to take a look at your fuel load package...a pallet size of material. if different areas deal with different mixtures (different levels of alcohol content) and different container types or packaging (i.e. glass bottles to a plastic container) the commodity classification may change.
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