sprinklernotes
Floor Control Assemblies on Multiple Floors “I have a four-story apartment building with 47,000 sq. ft. on each floor. The building has a full fire alarm system and the sprinkler system supply piping is separate from the standpipe system piping. Are separate floor control valves required on each floor?”
We have reviewed NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, 2016 edition as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that floor control valves are required on each floor. The base requirement is section 8.2.4.1 that multi-story buildings exceeding two stories in height shall be provided with a floor control valve, check valve, main drain valve, and flow switch for isolation, control, and annunciation of water flow on each floor level. The annex clarifies that it is not the intent of this section to require floor control valve assemblies in all multi-story buildings. Where small buildings such as multi-level condominiums or apartments are under the control of a single owner or management firm, a single control valve should be adequate for isolation, control, and annunciation of water flow. The following sections describe situations where floor control valves are not required. Section 8.2.4.2 says that the floor control valve, check valve, main drain valve, and flow switch required by section 8.2.4.1 shall not be required where sprinklers on the top level of a multi-story building are supplied by piping on the floor below. This is typically applied where there are open breezeways separating the building into different sections. The sprinkler pipe is routed on the first floor and vertically rises to the upper floors. This is beneficial since freeze protection would be required only on one level rather than every level where piping transverses the open breezeways. It would be cumbersome to provide freeze protection for breezeways for piping on every floor. If you have this arrangement, then floor control valves would not be required. The last option is section 8.2.4.3 where the floor control valve, check valve, main drain valve, and flow switch required by section 8.2.1 shall not be required where the total area of all floors combined does not exceed the system protection area limitations of section 8.2.1. As such, the four floors combined cannot exceed 52,000 sq. ft. in area. It appears that this application does not meet the exceptions to avoid floor control valves on each floor since there is an area of 47,000 sq. ft. per floor.
