I looked very hard into this a year or so ago and was told by NFPA that originally the concern was that the heat tracing would fuse the sprinklers. Therefore, they just prohibited it.
We have had engineers override 13 and require the heat tracing in certain situations. In these cases we have had no issues whatsoever, freezing or fusing. My understanding is that much of the heat tracing available that is self-regulating will not exceed a moderate temperature if it fails completely. Something to do with the basic construction of the material. Greg McGahan Operations Manager Living Water Fire Protection 1160 McKenzie Road P.O. Box 877 Cantonment, Florida 32533 (850) 937.1850 | Fax (850) 937.1852 | Cell (850) 554.3231 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Don Lowry Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:36 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Not Insulating Branchlines What is the main reason we cannot insulate and heat strip Branch lines, I have always pointed out to every owner, AHJ and engineer that it is "unacceptable practice" per standard, however several authorities here in Texas have been allowing and encouraging this practice. I need to give them a good reason other than the standard says so. The handbook doesn't quite explain this. Thanks Don Lowry, R.M.E. Vice President Dickerson Fire Protection, Inc. (254) 662-3777 office (254) 379-1442 Cell www.dickersonfire.com P Be Responsible! Print this email only when necessary. _______________________________________________ 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) _______________________________________________ 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)
