Electrical rooms NFPA 13

[Ahmedbadr87]

I have been searching for the right Fire suppression for Electrical room through NFPA , IBC , articles in internet talking about Electrical Equipments fire protection and i went through some posts here in the forum which discussed the same topic.some forum members suggest gaseous fire extinguishing system as some articles do.But that proposal of gaseous fire extinguishing system contradicts what NFPA 13 mentioned clearly as NFPA 13 mandates the use of fire sprinklers in Electrical room unless some certain conditions are met. I'm confused and not able to reconcile those 2 opposite points of view together.Plz advise as i face alot of electrical rooms in the projects I'm working on and it's always designed as Fm 200 which I find costly without need for the owner.


8.15.11 Electrical Equipment.
8.15.11.1 Unless the requirements of 8.15.11.2 are met, sprinkler protection shall be required in electrical equipment.
rooms.

Sprinklers shall not be required in electrical equipment
rooms where all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The room is dedicated to electrical equipment only.
(2) Only dry-type electrical equipment is used.
(3) Equipment is installed in a 2-hour fire-rated enclosure
including protection for penetrations.
(4) No combustible storage is permitted to be stored in the
room

 

[cdafd]

So do your buildings normally have a wet fire sprinkler system in your buildings or all clean agent ??

If all clean agent and that is accepted, than installing a wet fire sprinkler system seems like adding a lot more cost.

You do not say what the average size electrical room is.

Plus what is in it breaker boxes, big transformers, batteries, etc?????

 

[Ahmedbadr87]

yes most of the building I'm working on have wet sprinkler system but they still install clean agent in Electrical rooms as they believe that water can damage the electrical equipment.The average size of electrical room is 30-40 m2. I'm talking here about electrical room with breaker boxes not transformers or switchgears

 

[cdafd]

Fire can also damage the electrical

So unless a critical Building just use the sprinklers

Or do a precaution, might give a little delay to seee what is going on

And probably cheaper.

 

[LCREP]

My experience with gas systems they require someone to pay attention to wall and ceiling holes where the gas can escape resulting in the fire not being controlled. One small hole or a door left open will defeat the gas system. In electric rooms someone is always adding a new wire drilling a 4” hole for a 1” conduit and never fills in hole in. On a small room it does not take much of the for the gas to escape and not control a fire.

 

[Jon.M]

AquaMist or "fog" systems supposedly do no/minimal damage to electrical components while still being a 100% water based system. The AquaMist ULF system is even FM Approved for Data Centers. The Downside is the systems pressures required are high 7-12bar (100psi-175psi) and may not be reachable without good infrastructure and/or tank and pump.