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Example: Are Automatic Standpipes Required?

11/19/2021

Michael Knott

6/3/2022 08:50:45 am

Even though a manual standpipe might be allowed, is there a building height where we should be switching from manual to automatic? Just thinking of the max pressure a pumper truck can supply. You may go into more detail in a later video.

JOE MEYER

6/3/2022 08:56:42 am

Michael,

This is a great question, thanks for asking. When the building is too tall for the fire department to supply the water, then automatic standpipes are necessary.

However, code essentially addresses this already. In the IBC, if a building is a highrise (occupiable floor level more than 75-ft), then it needs automatic standpipes. The NFPA 14 and IBC codepath confirms this for us.

To overcome 75-ft of elevation pressure loss, it doesn't take much from a fire pumper truck. Pressure loss due to elevation is 0.433 psi/ft x 75-ft = 32 psi is lost between ground level and 75-ft above it, so that's not much of an ask to overcome from a fire pumper truck. Those pumps usually can supply around 150 psi at different flow rates, so overcoming the elevation loss on top of system losses isn't too bad until the building gets exceptionally tall.

Does that help at all? Thanks for asking.

JOE MEYER

6/3/2022 08:59:17 am

Now I should say, that's from the perspective of the model building code.

If you're looking at this from an AHJ perspective, and we know that our fire department has a very limited pumping ability, then amending local code so that automatic standpipes come into play as soon as a building is beyond the local pumping capability would be a good idea, in my opinion.

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