Mark, I had a project about 3 years ago with an large open office area, and the FM guy wanted it calced as OH1 at 3,000 sf. We could reduce that to 1,500 sq. ft if they owner would split the area into two spaces with walls that went to the deck. When asked, this was one of those "unwritten" standards. didn't make much sense but this job had lots of surprises like that. We had sprinklers in process areas at the deck, below equipment and in the high bays at the 15ft elevation around certain pieces of equipment. The equipment didn't require vessel protection per NFPA. We had more sprinklers per cubic ft than on any job I'd ever seen.
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 Mark Sornsin Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 10:12 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: Inadequte Water Steve: Which UFL standard is requiring the 12 psi drop across the backflow? This is the second time I've heard of this but have not yet had to deal with it (I don't know why not). I would LOVE to have a sit-down with the 'powers that be' responsible for the UFC standards. E.g. where do they get the 3,000 sq.ft design area crap? They say it's common HPR requirements in the civilian world - except I worked for FM and we NEVER required 3,000 sq.ft. design areas for light or ordinary hazard-equivalent occupancies. Maybe they just want to cover themselves in case a combustible concealed space appears... Mark A. Sornsin, PE Fire Protection Engineer Ulteig Engineers, Inc. 3350 38th Avenue S. Fargo, ND 58104-7079 Direct: 701. 280.8591 Fax: 701.280.8739 Cell: 701.371.5759 [email protected] www.ulteig.com Confidentiality Notice This message may contain privileged and confidential information. If you think, for any reason, this message may have been addressed to you in error, you must not disseminate copy or take any action in reliance on it, and we would ask you to notify me immediately by return email to [email protected]. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Kowkabany Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Inadequte Water I have the single most frustrating water issue I have ever had going on right now Greg. I am working on this small commercial entrance facility at a military base in Georgia. We are only sprinklering a small 3,800 sqft cargo transfer building and getting the water from the local utility rather than the base. We designed based on modeling data that was the only thing available at design (there was no water within a mile then) and had no problem making the small light hazard wet system work. Last week the underground was finally finished and we had our main run up to the building and some nearby hydrants to test, so we tested them - 55/25 at 750 gpm. Bad water but still enough to make an little light hazard wet system work right? Not once you take a 3,000 sqft design area, a 500 gpm hose allowance due to the presence of 300 sqft of OH1 rooms, and a mandatory 12 psi pressure across the BFP regardless of the fact that it is actually a double-check - all mandatory per UFC codes. After all that, you need 850 gpm at 40 psi to make this system work and we are looking at a pump and a tank! It's a very frustrating situation, so feel free to tell your AHJ he is not alone. Steve Kowkabany, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Neptune Fire Protection Engineering LLC 616 Davis Street Neptune Beach, FL 32266 904-652-4200 Phone 904-212-0868 Fax _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.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 [email protected] http://fireball.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)
