Fire suppression system?

[shredGnar]

Couldn't find any threads on the topic.

Has anyone built one of these? Or had one installed? Can't be that difficult in a commercial area where I don't care about appearance or hiding pipes? Just one large rectangle, approx 23' x 36'. I read a sprinkler head covers a minimum of 12' x 12', would only need 6 heads to cover the entire unit. Could I use cpvc if it would be exposed and just secured to the roof joists? Or would this require copper, or something else?

There has been talk in my area about regulations regarding fire Marshall inspections and I am certain they will pass, so I'd like to be ahead of the curve here.

Any insight or info is appreciated, thanks folks.

 

[queequeg152]

Couldn't find any threads on the topic.

Has anyone built one of these? Or had one installed? Can't be that difficult in a commercial area where I don't care about appearance or hiding pipes? Just one large rectangle, approx 23' x 36'. I read a sprinkler head covers a minimum of 12' x 12', would only need 6 heads to cover the entire unit. Could I use cpvc if it would be exposed and just secured to the roof joists? Or would this require copper, or something else?

There has been talk in my area about regulations regarding fire Marshall inspections and I am certain they will pass, so I'd like to be ahead of the curve here.

Any insight or info is appreciated, thanks folks.

its one thing if the system will not be inspected, and QUITE another if it is to be inspected.

fire suppression systems are very tightly regulated. generally, there is no wiggle room with the code like there is with say... electrical, or plumbing. you might get a pass when you forget to get 'plenum' cable for your low voltage or some shit like that, but they will not fuck around with fire suppression systems.

you need to start with the code being proposed. if there is no code available to review... i would recommend you consult the current commercial code to familiarize yourself.

most of the time they use regular black iron pipe suspended at x feet, with x gpm heads spaced on such and such centers.
but there are shit loads of sprinkler heads, and shit loads of piping materials you can use. pex included.

copper is a terrible idea though... considering its non potable water, very high flow, and very expensive. yes copper prices are low at the moment, but its still going to be ass rape to build a copper sprinkler system.

if you are going to build it yourself, id recommend renting a good pex expander and running pex if its allowed.

pex is stupid easy. uponor has all sorts of documentation for the fire sprinker system they sell.

ive never fucked around with pipe threading machines though. that might be just as easy. i do not know.

 

[queequeg152]

oh yea... fire sprinker systems require insane flows. if you are on a well system, you will need a stupid huge ground storage tank and pump to comply with any fire supression regulations.

this will cost a shit load, and honestly it would be cheaper to relocate to a building that has a fat fire flow rated muni water tap. or hydrants.

around here... it doubles/triples maby even quadruples the cost of a small private water plant to provide fire flows. there is no requirement to do so, so many are not designed to supply huge amounts of water to fight fires. its possible your water supply is likewise unable to supply the code mandated fire flows.

i worked on a job wherein we had to design an entire water plant with this lovely 10" well just to get this private school into compliance.

the school had this existing 100hp split case pump just to get the flows necessary for this big ass school. when we built the plant, they had the pump repainted firetruck red when it was relocated to the new pump house. never seen anything like that since.

 

[shredGnar]

Thanks queg, figured you would have some input.

The sprinkler system is actually not part of the proposed regulations, just an inspection of the set up in general.

Figured I would be ahead of the game if I had sprinklers though, but perhaps having homemade ones might be worse than none in the marshal's eyes.

My water comes from the city, no well. But the pressure is only about 50 psi.

Thanks again

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

You get automatic dry/gas systems that just hang a stand free extinguisher above the electrical control zone iirc, water does put out fires, but does not play with electrical kit so well

 

[shredGnar]

You get automatic dry/gas systems that just hang a stand free extinguisher above the electrical control zone iirc, water does put out fires, but does not play with electrical kit so well

I saw those. The ones that are on amazon and such get mixed reviews. People are saying they can lose their charge pretty quickly. Most of my stuff is gfci outlets anyhow so I think I'd be okay with the sprinklers.

Thanks for the input

 

[queequeg152]

Thanks queg, figured you would have some input.

The sprinkler system is actually not part of the proposed regulations, just an inspection of the set up in general.

Figured I would be ahead of the game if I had sprinklers though, but perhaps having homemade ones might be worse than none in the marshal's eyes.

My water comes from the city, no well. But the pressure is only about 50 psi.

Thanks again

well if its not required, dont do it.

fire sprinklers are a major hassle for the uninitiated.

you need inspections every now and then... most people choose to leave the piping exposed because of this. what can then happen is someone throws a Frisbee... and shatters the heat vial thing, and you get a sprinkler dumping like 1.5gpm of water on the third floor, people freaking out not knowign where the isolation valves are... or the valves are in an equipment closet. the water then accumulates and runs down then running down through the sub floor and ruining shit below.

this happened in my dorms way back. then they had a condensate leak like a month later too, ruining some of the same rooms.

the sprinkler requirements are based on occupancy and type of building use(from what i vaguely recall). the reason that school needed a huge ass sprinkler system was because it held like a thousand protestant children. likewise, warehouses containing flammable shit also need fairly agressive systems.

i dont see much of a reason why they would ever make grow room have big sprinkler system in the future though. nobody is living in there... and hopefully no flammable shit is being stored.

they DO make houses have sprinker systems... but only those above a certain square foot... 10,000 i think? in my area at least.

 

[Phaeton]

I worked many years in warehouses. Most had standard sprinkler systems with eight inch feed pipes.
Two of the smaller warehouses had the hanging dry extinguishers that needed checked yearly for pressure maintenance.
The lift gate on a truck shorted out late at night and the extinguisher over the truck put out the hydraulic fire engulfing cargo in the truck bed.
Powder was over a half inch deep in the immediate area and a coating stuck to all four walls as well in a 60' X 80' room.

If a shorted light ballast had ignited bud room shelves and/or supplies the extinguishing powder would have destroyed every plant in the room, the powder is toxic.

If the purpose is to save the building and equipment the dry powder extinguishers will kill the fire and can be vacuumed up after.

Wet systems further damage electrical equipment and warp structures. The clean up is quite labor intensive.

If regulations allow the dry system, less expensive with yearly maintenance, it would be my first choice.