ESFRs do not replace smoke vents any more than ketchup replaces mustard
on a hot dog. . They are not compatible with any smoke vents that could
operate before the ESFRs. If a fire starts directly under a vent and it
opens before the first sprinker operates, the open vent could delay the
operation of surrounding sprinklers to the point that suppression will
not occur. Testing showed this to be true. Some codes allowed the
ommission of vents in ESFR buildings because of the incompatibility
and it was judged that, if one had to go, the benefits of ESFRs were
greater than the benefits of automatic vents. I won't argue the relative
merits of smoke vents here. It has always been possible to have vents
and ESFRs, by using manual vents or to use automatic vents with an
operating temperature well above the ESFRs operating temperature.
This belief that ESFRs functionally replace smoke vents is another
example of inferring "science" from a code when none is there.
_______________________________________________
Sprinklerforum mailing list
http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected]
To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected]
(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
