Todd, Tom, I have seen many a fire pump replaced as an AHJ. Fire Pump replacements are considered repairs, albeit not ordinary repairs and as such require a permit and reacceptance test. The theory here is simple, what if the existing pump had not failed, continuing to operate and pass annual testing ?. Unless theres something retroactive in your code or the existing installation did not comply with the codes and standards at the time, the work is traditionally classified as a repair and not an upgrade.
What we don't want is to drive this work underground. Building owners fearful of being to forced to upgrade an otherwise repair will do so without the permits, licensed contractors and without a reacceptance test. The situation actually gets worse. The opinion of one AHJ. John Drucker Fire Protection Subcode Official New Jersey Safe Buildings Save Lives -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Todd Williams - work Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 7:24 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Pump Replacement Tom, I'm dealing with a replacement for a cooked fire pump down in CT. The local AHJ is OK with keeping the 65 psi (thinking of this as a replacement and not an upgrade), but the state FM has said it may be considered an upgrade and we would have to meet the 100 psi. There is presently a request for modification to allow the 65. We'll see what happens. To make matters more of a mess, the town increased the pressure in the street by 25 psi and before the pump fried, it was churning at 210 psi. Todd At 07:01 AM 5/31/2007, you wrote: >I have an older residential high-rise that needs a new fire pump. >It was built roughly 40 years ago and retrofitted with sprinklers 5 years >ago under and ordinance change. >The fire pump I believe to be original. >Standpipes in the end Stairwells are 4" class 3 to the top (8th) floor and >even has a third standpipe in the elevator core with an FDV and cabinet. >It has a 500 gpm end suction pump that received a new controller-transfer >switch when the sprinklers were installed. >It's obviously a 65 psi design but the pump won't make it and hydraulically >appears to be undersized back to day one. > >I want to replace it with another pump under the same residual requirement >as the original design but I can't seem to find any documentation to tell me >if I'm following the language of the standard or code. I know its probably >a code question (we're boca '93 with some amendments) and there's verbiage >in our building code about making modifications and alterations but this is >about maintaining a design versus adopting current (100 psi) requirements. > >I have issues with attempting to redesign it to current standpipe >requirements like the size of the supplies and standpipes, they'll need more >HP than if they were 6". The building is only about 100' end to end and the >center one isn't required (not sure if it ever was). Plus, I'm getting close >to 175, maybe a little over if my rough numbers are right. That opens up >another potential can of worms. > >I haven't approached the FD or ISD but I think they'll probably want full >current conformance and I'd probably say the same in their position. > >Has anyone done this lately? > >Tom Duross >Go Red Sox > > >_______________________________________________ >Sprinklerforum mailing list >[email protected] >http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > >To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) Todd G. Williams, PE Fire Protection Design/Consulting Stonington, Connecticut 860-535-2080 www.fpdc.com _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
