limited area sprinkler system from well?

[SPKR]

Here is what got dumped into my lap.
A convenience store wants to install 4 sprinklers, 1 for the domestic water room, one for a trash room, one for two separate storage rooms.

This particular store is supplied by a well.

I am getting information on the well pump now, but I am sure it does not produce the gpm or psi to supply the sprinklers.

Any thoughts on the design?

 

[cdafd]

is some one requireing them???

maybe do a self contained system???

 

[SPKR]

The Fire Marshal stated "we will not accept a well".
I figured as much, just needed to confirm.

A quick calc yields an 83 GPM flow requirement.

I guess I will need an 8,000 gallon underground storage tank and some type of pump.

 

[cdafd]

why are the heads required???

 

[SPKR]

OK,
Did some more leg work.
The General contractor installed a "40,000 underground fire suppression water storage tank".
I have the feeling this is for fire dept. use, not sprinklers, as there is no pump attached to it.
The reason the sprinklers are required, is that the the storage rooms are not separated by 1 hour rated walls.

All of the rooms are less than 100 sq. ft. The Head County Fire Marshal says that if the rooms are 100 sq. ft. or less and have 1 hour rated walls and ceilings, the sprinklers are not required. The rooms are already designed with Gypsum board walls and ceilings.
Makes a lot of sense to me to add another layer of gyp.bd.
instead of installing a pump, underground and sprinklers, not to mention the electrical involved.

I have a meeting at the job tomorrow.
All of this for 4 sprinklers.Ugh!

 

[SprinklerDesigner2]

Just a thought.

Ohio was big on limited area sprinklers like this when I was there so I got a little experience with this type of situation.

We only had to hydraulically calculate the most hydraulically demanding room. With each room less than 100 sq. ft. and (most likely) Ord. Haz. Group I the maximum demand would be 15 gpm.

With heads activated in all four rooms the building is lost anyway.

You might get his from the domestic water system though it may take a 1" line into the building in lieu of the standard 3/4" line. A 3/4" or 1" meter instead of the 5/8" meter perhaps?

If you could prove it they would even take a well pump.

Under 20 sprinklers so alarms and FDC not required.

 

[firepe]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents....

SprinklerDesigner2 said "With each room less than 100 sq. ft. and (most likely) Ord. Haz. Group I the maximum demand would be 15 gpm."

Look at the general storage provisions in NFPA 13.. I hear so frequently that a janitor's closet or a small storage room is only OH1, yet OH1 does not protect above Commodity Class II. Are you telling me in this age of plastics that there are no paper products, wood products, plastic products, cleaning supplies, some possibly combustible or even flammable, or perhaps even aerosols? These are FAR greater that OH1. I don't care how small the room is, storage is storage, and we have the commodity classification definitions for a reason. These should be considered OH2, not OH1.

 

[SPKR]

Just got back from a meeting on the site with the Fire Marshal.
Unless the General Contractor can get approval from the Building Inspector to delete the sprinkler requirement by increasing the hour rating of the walls and ceiling, we have to put the sprinklers in.

If the Building inspector wants the sprinklers, this will mean a complete pump house and a 2" line from the pump house to the building. At least I can use the existing 40,000 gallon underground water storage tank, set there for fire dept. use.

At this point no one knows exactly why the Architect/Engineer indicates sprinklers for these rooms.
My only notion is that they are all unoccupied spaces only accessible from the exterior of the building. If a fire were to start in these rooms no one would know right away.

 

[stookeyfpe]

Spkr,

Is this in the US and have you asked for a copy of the code section that requires this? Is the area of the building < 12,000 square feet?

 

[ContractorDave]

If it's an inspection to NFPA 25 then it's a code violation. That the building isn't required to have sprinklers due to it's construction, occupancy or size, is irrelevant if it DOES have a system, and that's what you are inspecting. Even if it's old enough to be grandfathered it is still a code violation that you write up and leave to others to hash out. If an equivalency has been granted by an AHJ, that is their problem to deal with. Anyone and everyone involved in the project better have a copy of the equivalency issued by this AHJ and hope that it will stand up in the courts should it come to that.

Where once an equivalency might have been an acceptable way of doing things, where it was permitted to look at the big picture and take the obvious into consideration, now it is just another rogue element (for lack of a better term off the top of my head) that may come back to haunt you. Common sense would dictate that you try to limit your exposure to equivalencies as much as possible.

Regards
Dave