Can jockey pump be used as potable water pump?

[Adnan86]

I am working on a project which involves multiple facilities. We have a water tank and a pump room on site. Our client needs only one single water line in the site which will be common to both fire water and potable water. At every building inlet point, there are 2 lines entering the building, one for potable water and other for fire water. Can anyone tell me is it okay to go with this.

 

[cdafd]

Is this in the united states??

not sure about using a jockey pump.

But the set up you are proposing is kind of like a city water main, where you tap for domestic and fire.

 

[stookeyfpe]

How is a jockey pump going to meet fire flow? I understand this project is overseas but even at 500 GPM, you're not going to find a jockey pump to meet that demand. A jockey pump is only for pressure maintenance.

 

[DavidCR]

Could you provide more data or description of the systems. It is not easy to see the case. I can not understand a jockey pump that keeps a pressure that is the base for the start of a fire pump ( if there is one) and also feeds potable water at low pressure.

 

[chicopee]

Stookeyfpe has the right answer but did not give the reason. A jockey pump is to eliminate undue tripping of the sprinkler alarm check valve if the municipal water pressure fluctuates widly.

 

[cdafd]

chicopee (Mechanical)


Stookeyfpe has the right answer but did not give the reason. A jockey pump is to eliminate undue tripping of the sprinkler alarm check valve if the municipal water pressure fluctuates widly.


How about maintain pressure on a system with a fire pump so the fire pump does not run , unless needed.

 

[chicopee]

Well said cdafd.

 

[GeorgeMech]

well it depends upon your location and AHJ, here in the middle east, it is not allowed to use the fire water supply for any other services except for the fire fighting services.

 

[MechProjectEng]

Can you provide more details about your site, and the type of facilities?

What equipment is proposed to be in the pump room?

Will each facility have its own skid mounted fire pump?

What are the requirements of your AHJ?

 

[SprinklerDesigner2]

Stookey,

The way I understand it is a jockey pump, the way we are used to seeing it anyway, isn't required.

From the 2013 handbook

It is important to note that pressure maintenance pumps (also called make-up pumps or
jockey pumps) are not required by NFPA 20. NFPA 20 provides requirements for jockey pumps
only when they are installed; however, some method of maintaining system pressure, other
than through the fire pump(s), should be provided.

snip

For systems that use the
underground piping for both domestic and fire protection purposes, the operating pressure
must be coordinated, and the domestic pumps can operate as pressure maintenance pumps.
Since pressure maintenance pumps are not required, this section was revised for the 2010
edition to indicate that valves and other components are not required to be listed. The suction
isolation valve no longer needs to be an OS&Y, and isolation valves are not required to be
supervised. These changes were made because failure of the pressure maintenance pump will
not compromise the fire protection features of the fire pump system. Therefore, the level of
protection required of a fire pump is not necessary for a pressure maintenance pump.

As one example of where a jockey pump would not be needed is when a flow test in the hills of West Virginia produced 120 psi static, 30 residual @ 600 gpm but the project required a density of .25/3,900+500 hose.

Obviously the public water wouldn't do the job but from a tank with a 100 psi pump we could use the domestic water to maintain pressure.