James,
With an apology, I should have looked at the latest edition of NFPA 13…. The 2022 edition provides some guidance that addresses your situation: *20.17.2.2.4.3 * Plastic pallets shall have no impact on the required sprinkler protection when stored as follows: - (1) Storage shall be piled no higher than 4 ft (1.2 m). - (2) Sprinkler protection shall employ high temperature–rated sprinklers. - (3) Each pallet pile of no more than two stacks shall be separated from other pallet piles by at least 8 ft (2.4 m) of clear space or 25 ft (7.6 m) of stored commodity. - (4) Minimum ceiling design of OH2 shall be used. Your AHJ should be able to accept this under section 1.5 of whatever edition you’re using *Bob Caputo, CFPS* *President* *American Fire Sprinkler Association* c: 760-908-7753 p: 214-349-5965 ext124 w: firesprinkler.org <https://www.facebook.com/firesprinkler.org/> <https://twitter.com/afsa/status/1039528345367732224> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-fire-sprinkler-association-afsa-/> <https://www.instagram.com/firesprinklerorg/> *Enter your apprentices to win a trip to Las Vegas! * The deadline to enter to compete in the 29th Annual National Apprentice Competition is April 29, 2022. Don't miss this opportunity to be recognized for your training efforts! *It’s free to enter online at **https://www.firesprinkler.org/competition <https://www.firesprinkler.org/competition>* *More than a check-box! Enrollment in AFSA’s Apprenticeship Training Program prepares your trainees with a long term career path and the proper eduction to limit your company’s liability, by ensuring your installation team is properly trained! * *From:* Bob Caputo <bcap...@firesprinkler.org> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 6, 2022 7:01 AM *To:* 'James Crawford' <jcrawf...@phaserfire.ca>; ' sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org' < sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org> *Subject:* RE: [Sprinklerforum] Idle Plastic Pallet Storage James, Your AHJ is technically correct, assuming the plastic pallets are not chemically treated or listed. (Chapter 20) The rules for Miscellaneous storage or Low piled storage (2019 edition Chapter 4) do not apply because they’re defined specifically and Idle Pallet Storage is section (20.14). Since the receiver doesn’t control what pallet types they receive from the shipper, your client is likely to have multiple types of pallets. >From a practical perspective, the idle pallet storage rules are based on a lot more than a dozen pallets, but the standard doesn’t offer an alternative for a limited number of pallets. IF your AHJ would consider the pallets to be Miscellaneous Storage of a Group A plastic, Table 4.3.1.7.1 would allow up to 5 ft high storage with a design criteria based on OH2. It is within the AHJ’s purview to allow an alternative if you could convince him/her to accept it as an equivalency under section 1.5 but idle pallets can be (likely to be) a much faster and hotter fire than just plastics – again, a lot depends on the pallet construction and chemical makeup. *Important Notice:** Any opinion expressed in this correspondence is the personal opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the official position of the NFPA or its Technical Committees. The American Fire Sprinkler Association does not offer consultation services. This correspondence is neither intended, nor should it be relied upon, to provide professional consultation or services.* *Bob Caputo, CFPS* *President* *American Fire Sprinkler Association* c: 760-908-7753 p: 214-349-5965 ext124 w: firesprinkler.org <https://www.facebook.com/firesprinkler.org/> <https://twitter.com/afsa/status/1039528345367732224> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-fire-sprinkler-association-afsa-/> <https://www.instagram.com/firesprinklerorg/> *Enter your apprentices to win a trip to Las Vegas! * The deadline to enter to compete in the 29th Annual National Apprentice Competition is April 29, 2022. Don't miss this opportunity to be recognized for your training efforts! *It’s free to enter online at **https://www.firesprinkler.org/competition <https://www.firesprinkler.org/competition>* *More than a check-box! Enrollment in AFSA’s Apprenticeship Training Program prepares your trainees with a long term career path and the proper eduction to limit your company’s liability, by ensuring your installation team is properly trained! * *From:* James Crawford <jcrawf...@phaserfire.ca> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 5, 2022 7:08 PM *To:* sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org *Subject:* [Sprinklerforum] Idle Plastic Pallet Storage We have a client that we are trying to help out and are getting push back from the AHJ System is designed to Ordinary Hazard Group 2. Some of the product they get in comes on unreinforced plastic pallet and the need to store them until they get enough to have picked up, normally about 12 pallets. If they store them in one pile due to limited space this works out to about 5’-0” high. They would only have one pile or about 16 ft², and the AHJ has said they need to upgrade the roof system or reduce the storage height as code only allows 4’-0” high storage. The way we were looking at it is that the total amount of plastics is much less then what would be allowed by an Ordinary Hazard system. Any comments. Thank You James Crawford Phaser Fire Protection Ltd. Phone 604-888-0318 Cel: 604-790-0938 Email jcrawf...@phaserfire.ca Web: www.phaserfire.ca
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