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Wholly noncombustible contents

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I am constructing a water treatment plant approximately inside of a building, approx. 3,000 square feet. The building includes a large bay with a large horizontal steel tank. The building is a masonry building with drywall ceiling, wood trusses, shingled roof

I also have separate rooms for MCC, Laboratory, Generator, Office, Filter Room, Bathroom, and Chemical Feeds.

The local building official says that the building has to be sprinklered. He exempted the chemical rooms

I see there are exemptions for rooms with "Wholly noncombustible contents". What is the meaning of that phrase?

In this building, practically everything is noncombustible except the electrical wiring and tubing.
 
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the question to ask first is why and what section of what code is he requirement to sprinkle???

not to many buildings meet wholly non com
 
Municipal Code:

[F] 903.2.8 Group S-1. An automatic sprinkler system shall be provided throughout all buildings containing a group S-1 occupancy.
 
See NFPA 820, Standard for Fire Protection in Wastewater Treatment and Collection Facilities, 2008 Edition

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Fire Sprinklers Save Firefighters’ Lives Too!


 
This is a water treatment plant, not wastewater treatment. So that document is not appropriate.
 
will be monday before can check the code section

so who is calling it a S-1?? sounds like it may be a "F", more thane likely it will not help the matter
 
I do not know which state your building is located but to give you an idea about what my local fire department official asked me to do with a duplex (residential) before I could sell it, was to have all of my fire detectors hardwired instead of being battery powered. I checked out my state regulations and found out battery operated smoke detectors were fine. So I asked for a copy of the regulation that the fire department was using and I received a sheet of paper without any heading,code requirement or signature; so I disputed the request and won my case.
You should do the same thing but don't irritate the official(s).
 
I would call a concrete or toatal steel building with no combustibles in it ""non com""

Not to many buildings can meet that.

You do not mention if there will be any chemicals in this building??? cholrine, ozone generator, etc????
 
bimr,
What type of water treatment operation is being conducted?
We have two under construction in my jurisdiction. They are both iron removal plants with liquid chlorination. We have adopted the IFC and because of the quantity of hazardous chemicals, the storage area is required to be sprinkled and separated as an "H" occupancy.
Hope this helps.
 
byrnesf,

The water treatment operation is similar to an iron removal plant. There is a chlorine room with liquid chlorine. There is a chemical room.

The chlorine room should not be sprinklered in any case. The local building inspector just said that the electrical room and chemical room also do not have to be sprinklered.

I don't see any reason to sprinkler the filter room as there is limited combustible materials present. That is the reason for my question regarding exemptions for rooms with "Wholly noncombustible contents". What is the definiton of "Wholly noncombustible contents".

 
The fire area is < 12,000 square feet. The building does not need sprinklers, unless its a chlorine distribution building or it has other equivalent hazmats.

I'm not sure what liquid Cl2 is. A better understanding of the hazmats would help in resolving this issue.
 
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