Use Miscellaneous Storage for Racks Up to 12-ft?

6/27/2024

Is there anything in NFPA 13, 2019 that allows us to use Table 4.3.1.7.1 Discharge Criteria for Miscellaneous Storage Up to 12 ft in Height for Rack Storage of Class I Through Class IV Commodities Stored Up to 12 ft in Height?

NFPA 13, 2016 §16.2.1.2 Protection Criteria for Rack Storage of Class I Through Class IV Commodities Stored Up to 12 ft in Height sends us to Table 13.2.1 for protection criteria (the same as miscellaneous storage).

The 2016-2019 Roadmap provided in NFPA 13, 2019 shows §16.2.1.2 (and the associated sections) as deleted.

NFPA 13, 2019 §21.4.1 provides protection criteria for Rack Storage of Class I Through Class IV Commodities Stored Over 12 ft Up to and Including 25 ft in Height and §21.4.2 provides protection criteria for Rack Storage of Class I Through Class IV Commodities Stored Over 25 ft in Height, but there is no protection criteria provided in NFPA 13, 2019 Chapter 21 for Rack Storage of Class I Through Class IV Commodities Stored Up to 12 ft in Height.

Thanks in advance!

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8 Comments

Brett

6/27/2024 06:57:25 am

Section 20.1.1.

Miscellaneous and low-piled storage, meeting the criteria of Chapter 4, shall be protected in accordance with the relative occupancy hazard criteria reference in that section.

Glenn Berger

6/27/2024 08:16:45 am

I may not be understanding your question correctly.

The second column of Table 4.3.1.7.1.1 does include multi-row racks as a type of storage for Commodity Classes 1 - IV.

Dan Wilder

6/27/2024 08:33:33 am

You would first need to define the storage as either Miscellaneous Storage or Low-Piled Storage (it's not one big pot anymore and they removed the chart). The big defining factors would be:

Misc Storage (4.3.1.4)
-Not more than 10% of the building area or 4,000 ft² (10% of a 40K FT² system)
-Does not exceed 1000 ft² in one pile area
-Separation from other Misc storage areas/piles by at least 25 ft

Low-Piled Storage (4.3.1.5)
-Class I-IV 12' or less that do not fall into the above 3 criteria
-Group A plastics 5' or less that do not meet the above 3 criteria, including if solid shelves are being used (in-rack sprinklers to be provided 25.6.1) along with ceiling sprinkler discharge criteria.

I'd have to look into all the meeting minutes of 13 for that transition as to why some things were setup that way

Some good commentary below:

https://www.meyerfire.com/daily/is-low-piled-and-miscellaneous-stoage-the-same

https://risklogic.com/fire-protection-guidance-for-miscellaneous-work-in-process-and-low-piled-storage/

Jesse

6/27/2024 09:06:39 am

Misc. Storage and Low-piled Storge used to pretty much be the same thing. Insurance companies often referred to it as "incidental storage", basically storage that was incidental to the occupancy.

Misc. Storage now has a couple that clearly define it such as amount of area used for storage, etc.

Low piled storage does also, and comes into play if the parameters for Misc. Storage are not met.

Casey Milhorn

6/27/2024 09:35:21 am

What Dan said. Not the same thing and you will need to meet the definition of one or the other.

Pete H

6/27/2024 01:21:40 pm

Sounds like it's low-piled storage.

Just a heads up, the spacing for 12'-0" of storage of Class I-III items is going to be OH.

But if you got Class IV over 10'-0", you're going to EH.

As per Table 4.3.1.7.1.1

Jack G

6/28/2024 11:47:17 am

Be careful of the allowable spacing for your densities for low piled, high piled and misc storage. In the Meyer fire tool kit there is an excellent cheat sheet for “ sprinkler spacing “.
Easy to follow.

Panos

7/6/2024 01:29:50 am

What Pete said.

The 2019 edition of NFPA 13 was wrong and confusing.

The latest edition got things right, in line with older editions.

If your storage type meets low-piled definition , you can use Table 4.3.1.7.1.1 "Discharge Criteria for Miscellaneous Storage Up to 12 ft (3.7 m) in Height".

Use Miscellaneous Storage for Racks Up to 12-ft?

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