Typically conveyors will have a break at a rated wall to allow for a shutter, often they will also have interlocks to stop the conveyor if a fire signal is sent from a sprinkler system or if a shutter closes (when the shutters have closure switches on them, not all do). I've seen some where there was no break in the conveyor and the opening was "protected" by someone putting a sprinkler head on both sides of the wall opening. Unfortunately there was never any documentation proving this had any equivalency to a 2 hour fire separation or if it would even work. But someone "thunk up the idea" and someone else signed off on it. Keep in mind that if you improvise a protection scheme, be sure you can prove it by some sort of recognized calculations or modeling. Can you defend it in court, is the mindset to have.
Passive fire protection has it's place and purpose just as active systems such as sprinklers. They protect occupants and facilities in different ways but with the same end goals in mind. They are not in a contest of superiority as some would like to portray. If you read some of FMG's documentation they had given some verbiage about the purpose of MFL walls for instance being there to provide for delay in fire spread when active systems fail. We had a perfect example of this here locally several years ago with a tire warehouse. A severe thunderstorm damaged the building and took the fire main out of service, the lightning started a fire but since the sprinklers were now off-line, there was no protection. 3 hour fire walls separate parts of the warehouse and kept the fire from spreading. The fire dept. did finally extinguish the fire. Section 712 of the IBC deals with requirements of penetrations in rated walls and barriers. Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Specialist Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [email protected] http://www.ch2m.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Travis Mack, SET Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: rated wall opening We have the same thing in a 2 hr wall. However, this opening is for a conveyor to pass through. I don't think I can get a shutter there. Any ideas? -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dewayne Martinez Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 8:10 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: rated wall opening Not sure, one of my PM's came to me with the question. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: rated wall opening We've discussed this before and the answer is no there is no published data of an equivalency. Fire shutter is your best bet. What is the opening for? Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Specialist Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [email protected] http://www.ch2m.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dewayne Martinez Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: rated wall opening Is there any testing or criteria in regards to equivalent rating for a water curtain or deluge curtain when protecting an opening in a rated wall? I have a 3' opening in a 3 hour wall and the architect is trying to see if this can be accomplished with a water or deluge curtain. Thanks, Dewayne _______________________________________________ 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) _______________________________________________ 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) __________ NOD32 4007 (20090414) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ 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)
