Here is what the Illinois Plumbing Code says:
Section 890.1130 Protection of Potable Water
d) Fire Safety Systems. The installation of any fire safety
system involving the potable water supply system shall be protected
against backflow as follows:
1) Backflow protection is not required for fire safety
systems constructed as follows:
A) The system shall be looped, with no dead ends, to
allow circulation, to prevent the stagnation of water in the line;
B) The system shall not have any non-potable
connections, or a fire department hose (Siamese) connection;
C) The system shall have 20 sprinkler heads or less; and
D) The system shall be constructed of potable water
supply quality pipe in accordance with Appendix A: Table A of this Part.
2) A double detector check valve or double check valve
backflow preventer assembly shall be installed at the fire safety
system's point of connection to the potable water supply when a fire
safety system has no chemical additives or non-potable connection, but
has one or more fire department hose connections (for boosting pressure
and flow to the fire safety system) that are served only by fire
fighting apparatus connected to a public water supply or a fire
department that does not use chemical additives or rely upon any
non-potable water supply.
3) A fixed air gap with a break tank or other storage
vessel or a reduced pressure principle backflow preventer assembly (RPZ)
shall be installed at the fire safety system's point of connection to
the potable water supply when:
A) The fire safety system contains additives such as
antifreeze, fire retardant or other chemicals. (The RPZ may be located
at the point of connection to that section of the system containing such
additives when the system's connection to the water supply is protected
by a double detector check valve backflow preventer assembly); or
B) Non-potable water flows into the fire safety
system by gravity; or
C) There is a permanent or emergency connection
whereby water can be pumped into the fire safety system from any other
non-potable source; or
D) Fire department connections are available that
could permit water to be pumped into the fire safety system from a
non-potable source capable of serving the fire safety system. (A
non-potable source of water shall be considered capable of serving the
fire safety system under the following conditions: It must be capable
of year-round use, maintained with at least 50,000 gallons of usable
water not subject to freezing, accessible to fire fighting pumper
equipment, and located within 1,700 feet of the facility.)
What we do is require a DDC unless it meets 3 A-D above, but we see
RPZ's about 50% of the time without asking for it.
Jake
Land of Lincoln
John Drucker wrote:
Roland
Take a look at this;
2006 NSPC 10.5.9 - Exception (3) "Where fire protection include a fire
department connection, double check valve assemblies shall not be
permitted."
John
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Roland
Huggins
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:04 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Backflow: Sprinkler System
One of the aspects that drive an RPZ is when the fire dept draft from
non-potable sources (anytime).
Roland
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