Where is "Height of Storage" Measured From?

1/28/2022

Where does "Bottom of Storage" begin in terms of storage height for low piled/miscellaneous storage?

So the warehouse I'm looking at has non-combustible liquid (Sodium Hydroxide. Corrosive and dangerous. Not flammable) in plastic containers that are over 5-ft from grade/floor because they are above an empty spill collection vessel.

But, the combustible material themselves (the liquids in plastic container) is less than 5-ft from bottom of the commodity to top of commodity.

It is only because it has to be above the spill collection vessel that the plastic could be over 5-ft?

Does this still count as over 5-ft of plastic storage, even though what's underneath the less than 5-ft of commodity is just open air?

Thank you all for your time.

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8 Comments

Glenn Berger

1/28/2022 08:11:13 am

I would use the finish floor elevation. You cannot guarantee that the spill collection will always be used.

Jesse

1/28/2022 08:20:56 am

Storage height is measured from finished floor elevation to the top of storage.

There are a lot of reasons for this, such as fall down ignition, latent combustible liquid in the spill retention, etc.

Franck

1/28/2022 08:35:13 am

A possible additional question: is the spill collection vessel made of plastic? (as it could be the case when collecting corrosive liquids).

In the affirmative, this is an additional combustible load (and height), because of the plastic vessel.

If not, the height to be considered should be at the appreciation of the AHJ.
But it is a tough decision to make, between being too conservative (taking the full height) to too "soft" (taking only the height of the container).
To be honnest, both postions are defendable.

Bob

1/28/2022 08:50:05 am

It was common at least in the past to store short stacks of wood pallets (originally 6’ high and now 5’) on supports above overhead dock doors. I seem to recall some NFPA-13 provision that allowed for this since the fuel load was the same and the floor space would not be used for storage below. We have not done that in some time and I’m not sure if the arrangement is still allowed or not.

Jack G

1/28/2022 08:55:54 am

Always from floor. Always been like that. For any storage.

Alex

1/28/2022 10:13:47 am

The storage should be measured from the top of the commodity to the finished floor.

Anthony

1/28/2022 10:58:24 am

For this one singular case I'd argue its the volume that you're trying to appropriately protect not a 1 dimensional vertical measure.

HOWEVER, I would measure from the floor because you cannot be sure this area will only be used in the way described. Which is how I'd approach this area.

Bob

1/28/2022 12:31:14 pm

Had to go back and look this up, but following-up on earlier comment about storing pallets above overhead doors -- in NPFA-13 (2013) there was a specific provision for storing above OH doors that allowed the height of the load to be measured from the bottom of the stack and not the floor =>

12.1.3.3
The sprinkler system design shall be based on the storage height and clearance to ceiling that routinely or periodically exist in the building and create the greatest water demand. Where storage is placed above doors, the storage height shall be calculated from the base of storage above the door.

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Where is "Height of Storage" Measured From?

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