When Do Spray Paint Cans Trigger NFPA 30B?

2/27/2023

For a workshop paint spray, is there a delineation for when NFPA 30B is applicable?

I am working on a maintenance shop which has a few spray paint cans. Since they are aerosols, NFPA 13 says to use NFPA 30B which has some pretty drastic requirements for design density.

Yes, the easy answer is a flammable storage locker, but has anyone ever had to design to the full requirements just by the mere presence of paint spray cans?

Thanks in advance.

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4 Comments

Glenn Berger

2/27/2023 08:12:10 am

The mere presence of paint spray cans, unless there a quantity presence, does not trigger NFPA 30B requirements. With that said, your question did not give specifics of the application that is being asked. Flammable lockers would be a good start in commercial applications.

Todd E Wyatt

2/27/2023 08:19:43 am

SUMMARY
Like Maximum Allowable Quantities (MAQ) for Hazardous Materials (HM) per the IBC, the protection criteria for Aerosol Products per 2019 NFPA 30B is based on their quantities.
Chapter 6.1 Basic Requirements identifies these quantities for Warehouses and Storage Areas. There are (29) references to “quantity” in NFPA 30B.

REFERENCES
NFPA 13 (2021)
Chapter 27 Special Occupancy Requirements

ENHANCED CONTENT
A number of special occupancies and hazards exist beyond more traditional buildings with relatively consistent levels of risk. Even though NFPA 13 provides the full set of requirements for the majority of buildings that are constructed, there are many special occupancies or specific hazards whose uniqueness is enough to warrant their own NFPA code or standard. Many of these documents include specialized sprinkler criteria, most commonly on design densities, that take precedence over the more general requirements of NFPA 13 for that particular occupancy or hazard.
Prior to the 2022 edition, NFPA 13 extracted applicable material from the referenced documents into this chapter. For the 2022 edition, the process has been simplified by pointing the user to the appropriate NFPA standard that addresses the specific hazards. It is important that all the protection criteria from another standard be applied appropriately, but not all the requirements were always fully extracted into previous editions of NFPA 13. Simply referencing the appropriate standard, rather than attempting to extract all the relevant requirements, will ensure that the sprinkler design criteria are understood and applied in full.

27.3 Aerosol Products.
Fire sprinkler systems for the protection of aerosol products shall be designed and installed in accordance with this standard and NFPA 30B.

Chapter 2 Referenced Publications
2.2 NFPA Publications.
NFPA 30B, Code for the Manufacture and Storage of Aerosol Products, 2019 edition.

NFPA 30B (2019) Code for the Manufacture and Storage of Aerosol Products
Chapter 1 Administration
1.1 Scope.
1.1.1
This code shall apply to the manufacture, storage, and display of aerosol products as herein defined.
1.1.2*
This code shall not apply to the storage and display of containers whose contents are comprised entirely of LP-Gas products.
1.1.3
This code shall not apply to post-consumer processing of aerosol containers.
1.1.4*
This code shall not apply to containers that do not meet the definition of Aerosol Container(see 3.3.1).
1.1.4.1
Containers that contain a product that meets the definitions in 3.3.2 and 3.3.3, but are larger than the limits specified in 3.3.1, shall not be classified as aerosol products, and this code shall not apply to the manufacture, storage, and display of such products.
1.2* Purpose.
The purpose of this code is to provide minimum requirements for the prevention and control of fires and explosions in facilities that manufacture, store, or display aerosol products.
1.3 Application.
1.3.1
Chapters 4, 5, and 8 shall apply to facilities or portions of facilities that manufacture aerosol products, including gas-filling, product-filling, and packaging operations.
1.3.2
Chapters 4, 6, and 8 shall apply to facilities or portions of facilities that store aerosol products, such as storage areas, storage rooms, and warehouses.
1.3.3
Chapters 4, 7, and 8 shall apply to the storage and display of aerosol products in mercantile occupancies.

Chapter 6 Storage in Warehouses and Storage Areas
6.1 Basic Requirements.
6.1.1
The protection criteria in this chapter shall apply to the following:
(1) Level 1 Aerosol Products in metal containers not more than 1000 ml (33.8 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.2
(2) Aerosol Cooking Spray Products in metal containers not more than 1000 ml (33.8 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.3
(3) Level 2 and Level 3 Aerosol Products in metal containers not more than 1000 ml (33.8 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.4
(4) Aerosol products in glass and plastic containers not more than 118 ml (4 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.4
(5) Plastic Aerosol 1 Products in plastic containers greater than 118 ml (4 fl oz) capacity and not more than 1000 ml (33.8 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.5
(6) Plastic Aerosol 3 Products in plastic containers greater than 118 ml (4 fl oz) capacity and not more than 1000 ml (33.8 fl oz) capacity, in accordance with Section 6.4

Jesse

2/27/2023 09:02:01 am

Having paint spray cans or other Level 3 aerosols on site doesn't necessarily trigger 30B as the governing standard, and a listed flammable liquid / aerosol storage cabinet may suffice. What kind of quantities are we talking?

Anthony

2/27/2023 09:25:59 am

This is one of my personal favorites when NFPA 13 directs you to another NFPA standard that redirects you back to NFPA 13.

If the maintenance shop doesn't have any plans on installing a large paint booth you don't really need to worry about any bulk containers of paint etc. This should be rather straight forward.

Level 1 aerosol products = Class III Commodity (per NFPA-30B-2023)

For Class III under 12' of storage = OH2 (table 13.2.1 b NFPA13-16)

Level 1 aerosol products, I would guess, are all you're going to have in a maintenance shop. I can't think of any general consumer products that wouldn't be in a metal shaker can?

I would assume the shop would be an automotive shop which would be a "repair garage" per NFPA 13-16 again you're looking at OH2 (A.5.3.2 (23))

When Do Spray Paint Cans Trigger NFPA 30B?

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