Where does it say that no protection is needed if the siding has a flame spread of 25 or less? Is this situation related to a requirement for protection under a canopy of combustible construction, or if there is combustible storage under the canopy? Generically speaking, vinyl (PVC) when heated releases chlorine compounds that inhibit combustion. This is why rigid PVC is treated as a Group C plastic, rather than Group A, like most plastics we deal with. But when exposed to an adjacent fire, vinyl siding will burn and fire will go right up to the canopy or soffit. If there are soffit vents that lead to a wood frame attic, you can have a disastrous fire.
Dave David A. de Vries, P.E., CSP Firetech Engineering Incorporated 2715 Harrison St. Evanston, IL 60201 Tel: 847-733-0944 Fax: 847-866-6255 --- On Tue, 9/7/10, Greg McGahan <[email protected]> wrote: From: Greg McGahan <[email protected]> Subject: vinyl soffits To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 8:15 PM In the past we have installed systems for vinyl storage and been met with very mixed assessments of the criteria it should fall under by members of this forum and various Engineers of Record. Recently we posed an RFI to an Arch and Eng design team that stated that at least one vinyl siding product had a flame spread of 25 or less and therefore would not create a need for protection under an exterior canopy. I have never heard this before now. So the question is that if there is an exterior walkway covered with typical everyday plain old vinyl siding at the ceiling: would sprinklers be required if this were the only questionable component? There are a myriad of existing such situations in which we happen to find ourselves at the present time and determining the manufacturer and exact material would be virtually impossible. Thanks for the help as always! -- _______________________________________________ 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)
