I have spent a considerable amount of time and effort on this exact issue and I have learned some cool things.
The pressure loss data provided by some of the manufacturers is and incomplete chart. i.e. a 5/8" meter cuts off at 20 gpm at a pressure loss of 8 psi. When pressed, the manufacturer sent me a complete chart that shows a curve in which the meter will actually flow all the way up to 50 gpm with huge pressure losses. More importantly however, is that the meter will flow 26 gpm at a loss of approximately 14 psi. Therefore you can get an existing meter to work sometimes for "easy" existing homes. You have to dig and push for this info though. We also learned that in the last several years, some Water Purveyors have started running their tap to meter line out of 1" tubing regardless of meter size in the event the owner wants to change them to 1" meters in the future. This was primarily started due to owners adding lawn irrigation I understand. That fact can sometimes make a tremendous difference if you have the service coming from the other side of the street so it is worth checking out. Also, we have had multiple homes in which there were service tie ins and meters of 3/4" pipe and 3/4" meters where the system will work if the fire main is immediately upsized after the meter to larger pipe. The meter will flow the water, and the 3/4" pipe will carry the water, just not over a great distance without losing too much pressure. We partnered with the Local City and County and just recently persuaded the largest water purveyor to waive the impact fees for the 1" meters when the sole purpose for the upsize is for fire protection use. Hope this helps. Greg McGahan Living Water Fire Protection (850) 937.1850 | Fax (850) 937.1852 | Cell (850) 554.3231 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Kowkabany Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 7:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Size of Residentail Water Taps, Fees, Meters, and Backflow Preventers The fire department and local water utility of Jacksonville are currently working together to figure out what will be required for the new residential sprinkler requirement. I've been invited to participate and they are looking to me to provide some guidance on what will be required for each new single family home in terms of water hookups to accommodate a new 13D system. Somehow, the water department got the idea that they will need 2" taps for each house. I know that is way too big, but I am curious - what have you been seeing for line sizes for single family homes? Also, has it typically been a single line or two separate taps. I would think that a 1" service would suffice for a two head calc and max flow of 30 gpm or so with average water supplies. It's pretty flat here and this utility is fairly consistent with water supplies that test at 60/50 at 1,000 gpm or so. I'm also curious about any special meter requirements, backflow requirements, or tap fees that your area is implementing. Any feedback would be great appreciated and helpful for us in setting the course for what will hopefully be the beginning a new era in Florida where each new house is sprinklered. Thanks for your help, Steve Kowkabany, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Neptune Fire Protection Engineering LLC 60 Ocean Boulevard, Suite 15 Atlantic Beach, FL 32233 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)
