Car Lifts

Currently working on a high end condo development. The owners have individual garages with an option to have a lift installed so that they can get an additional car in. I am sure you know where this is going ... sprinklers under the lift or no? I don't know of any code references that directly

RE: Car Lifts

NFPA 13, 2016 now gives us guidance and tells us to protect the area as Extra Hazard Group II with an overhead system only. Mike Stossel SET [400dpiLogoCropped] 36 Barren Road East Stroudsburg, PA 18302 Office: 973-670-2627 m...@knssprinkler.com From: Sprinklerforum

Car Lifts

Use common sense. There is guidance on all scenarios is not sorted yet. If the lift plate on which the car rests has lots of openings ( ~ 50% is the line in the sand for racking), then overhead-only should be good. If the car rests on a solid plate to keep oil off what is underneath... I would fin

Re: Car Lifts

You need to think broader. It’s not the lift itself (aka plate) but the car on the lift. Just like the load on the rack is commonly the driver for solid shelving. Roland Roland Huggins, PE - Senior VP Engineering American Fire Sprinkler Assn. Dallas, TX http://www.firesprinkler.org

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

Whether the lift has a catch pan below the car or not makes no difference. In these installations you can assume the lift is elevated since some people with one car don’t like to drive up and down the ramps. Or the lift is elevated because there is a car parked below. In the case of the lift

Re: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

Said report also supports a ceiling of OHG2 combined with in-racks beneath each corner of the upper car (if memory serves me right) Roland Huggins, PE - Senior VP Engineering American Fire Sprinkler Assn. Dallas, TX http://www.firesprinkler.org Fire Sprinklers

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

I agree with what you are saying here Craig, but as Mike already pointed out, NFPA 13 2016 does seem to cover this. The explanatory material in the handbook even seems to go on to explain that extra hazard was chosen for these hazard specifically because of the flammability and the fact that it’

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

Yes. Sprinks at ceiling and below lift. This is just one example. When unique protection situations like this arise, doing some on-line researching can reveal a plethora of information from those who have already trod this ground. Google is our friend. But it only stands to reason that sprink

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

Does it have to be one versus the other, or are we really just looking at two separate but equivalent protection methods? EH2 for ceiling level only –OR- OH2 at the ceiling if you add protection below. -Kyle M From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@lists.firesprinkler.org] On Beha

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

I hear what you’re saying John. I don’t know how the NFPA 13 committee came to this conclusion about car stackers or exactly what type of stacker system this criteria is based upon. There are many variations. But even in EH2, you are still expected to deal with obstructions to discharge. The

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

And I completely agree with you, however I am not a fire protection engineer and try to limit my outward opinions to only those that can be supported by code. Once we start trying to apply what seems like logic, we are exposing ourselves somewhat. Having said that, I am gathering information fr

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

There are directions within NFPA standards for which we do not have all the particular details relating to how the criteria was determined. As far as cars: OH1: Automobile parking and showrooms OH2: Repair garages EH2: Car stackers and car lift systems There are certain assumptions made about t

RE: [EXTERNAL] Car Lifts

Craig, I’m not a registered sprinkler scientist either, but I would say that, considering these are small private garages, the sprinklers would almost certainly activate even if only the lower car was burning. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is anywhere for the heat to go. And certainl