As most always, there has been a very interesting mix of responses and ideas, so based on the information given during this posting, we are going with what Mike and Thom gave as helpful info. "Where construction features or other special conditions exist that are outside the scope of sprinkler listings, listed sprinklers shall be permitted to be installed beyond their listing limitations" and "If you read the white paper for slope Beam ceilings exceeding 8/12 you'll see that the concealed sprinklers responded slightly better when in the beams than in the pockets". The situation we have has ceilings that vary in slope from 5/12 all the way up to 10/12. The other situation, as I mentioned in other posts, is that the beam spacing is less then the published guideline of 3'4" o.c. So, in the smaller rooms we are going to place the sprinklers at the bottom of the beams and use a 3 head calc. While in the larger areas, due to multiple beam depths of 6" to 24" we are going to be using a combination of sprinklers at the bottom of beams and sprinklers in the pockets, then we will use a 3 head calc. The trouble I see with this is not placing the sprinklers at the bottoms of the beams, but rather the heads that are in the pockets. According to the "White Paper" during there testing the sprinklers that were in the pockets performed the worst since they were not able to provide coverage outside of the actual pocket width that they were placed in. So, basically, if we were to place a sprinkler in every pocket the coverage is greatly limited and the chance increases that too many sprinklers would operate and thus overwhelm the supply. Based on this information, my judgment says when possible place the sprinkler at the bottom of the beams and calc the additional head. As well, the AHJ and the contractor both like this alternative arrangement. So, thanks to all who helped with this post your answers have once again provided valuable help and incite.
Bob Knight, CET (208) 495-2057 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.firebyknight.com _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
