Anthony: I cannot point to anything specific from a manufacturer of paper-faced insulation as to heat content of their products, but I got curious and cobbled together a little bit of information: The paper face is a vapor barrier, so it has stuff in it like wax and oil up to about 20% by weight to resist passage of moisture. That raises the heat content from the 8000 Btu/lb to about 9600 Btu/lb. A square foot of the paper weighs about 0.022 lbs, so the heat content of the paper alone is 210 Btu's. The glass fibers are non-combustible and actually reduce the heat content of the product overall by absorbing some heat, but the stuff that holds the glass fibers together is listed on one manufacturer's MSDS as an organic binder (not identified, proprietary), up to 30% by weight. To find out the ball park we are in, let's take a leap of faith, and assume the binder is 30% by weight, it is a hydrocarbon with heat content of 16000 Btu/lb and the density of the insulation is 0.5 lb/cubic foot, then an R13 insulation batt (3.5 inches thick) has 0.04375 pounds of binder with a heat content of 700 Btu's per square foot. Soooo ... if all these assumptions are valid, an R13 paper-faced batt (insulation facing and substrate) has a heat content of about 910 Btu's per square foot. That is certainly close enough to 1000 that I would dig a lot deeper to verify these tidbits of information and run the calcs again to see which side of that line your particular product falls. Note that an R30 product is going to be a lot thicker and have a lot more binder, so you really need to know the specific product in use. And of course, if the binder is modified in some way to reduce its heat content, that could make a big difference the other direction. David de Vries, P.E., CSP [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Gumkowski,Anthony Charles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Forum Members: According to NFPA 13 section 8.15.1.2 (and the 16 subsections to that section) sprinkler protection is required for this concealed space UNLESS the requirements of 8.15.1.2.12 (insulation facing and substrate material does not exceed 1000 BTU/sq. ft.) applies. Can anyone tell me where I can find documentation that will identify for me the heat content of this type of paper-faced fiberglass insulation materia? Tony Gumkowski ============================================================================== This communication, together with any attachments hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain information that is confidential or legally protected. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination, distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication, along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system. ============================================================================== The St. Paul Travelers e-mail system made this annotation on 02/12/07, 15:57:46. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
