Jockey Stop if Fire Pump Starts? Multi-Pump?

9/18/2024

During a fire event, the pressure in a sprinkler system drops, and the jockey pump starts but cannot make up the pressure loss. Then, the electric fire pump kicks in.

Should the jockey still be running, or stop?

Same for electric and diesel: should they operate together if the pressure still goes down and the electric pump cannot make the pressure up?

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6 Comments

Dan Wilder

9/18/2024 08:08:50 am

It really doesn't matter if it stays on or turns off. The On/Off points are above the starting pressure of the pump. While it may be available in the programming, having an additional low pressure Off point has not been a part of any of my Fire Pump designs thus far (Electric & Diesel, VSP & VFD, single/parallel/series Fire Pump setups with single or redundant Jockey Pump setups).

There is no appreciable boost to the performance of a fire pump with or without a pressure maintenance pump (Jockey) being on or off during a fire event as they only contribute ~1% of the total flow. If there is a fire event and the main pump(s) can't keep up, the Jockey isn't going to be that scale tipping piece of equipment.

They aren't even required (4.27), nor are they required to be listed for fire protection (4.27.2)....they are a stop gap measure to prevent the fire pump from turning on during normal leakage (mostly from underground fittings). There is also no NFPA provision for field acceptance testing of the flow from a Jockey pump, only an electrical check and the ON/OFF pressure settings, the MFG does have some additional

Section 14.2.6 for field acceptance has nothing on Jockey pump acceptance (other than wiring 14.2.3) nor the ability to combine flow curves between the fire and jockey pump. The MFG may have a couple additional checks, but again, this doesn't go to the combined performance aspect, just an individual piece of equipment's acceptance.

Chad

9/18/2024 08:08:54 am

It stays on. Its load is part of the electrical calcs. It doesnt affect system pressure (to any extent worth considering) when you have a true fire flow.

Anthony

9/18/2024 08:23:49 am

Doesn't matter as others have said.

Jesse

9/18/2024 11:43:31 am

Its going to keep running but it doesn't matter. I has no effect on the performance of teh system at that point

Mike

9/18/2024 12:06:07 pm

It will stay running.

Jack G

9/18/2024 05:07:55 pm

It should remain on but as described above it actually doesn’t matter.
I can remember back in the day in Philadelphia, if a building was classified a high rise, a jockey pump was neither required or provided. ( 1950 to 1960).
Those buildings worked , without them , and in the 80 s retrofit jockey pumps installations were done under insurance company recommendations, FM, CHUBB, etc.

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Jockey Stop if Fire Pump Starts? Multi-Pump?

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