The last time I looked into fusible links for something like this I found they are typically not strong enough to carry much of a load and they are not created by top notch Italian industrial visual designers. In this case the interiors designer wants to support the fabric horizontally which means catenary style- flat. The flatter the catenary the larger the force. I have my doubts the designer understands the forces required. As for posing no threat, this is an early childcare center.
Allan Seidel St. Louis, MO On Apr 15, 2009, at 5:54 PM, Thom McMahon wrote: > Since falling lycra fabric poses no threat to anyone below it, why not > suggest installing fusible links on the fabric tension wires where > they meet > the ceiling. They could be all on one side, which would allow the > fabric to > hang straight down, or on all but one so the fabric would hang like > a drape, > or on all wires, supposing that they will not all fuse at the same > time, and > thus cover anyone making it difficult to exit. > > Thom McMahon, SET > Firetech, Inc. > 2560 Copper Ridge Dr > P.O. Box 882136 > Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 > Tel: 970-879-7952 > Fax: 970-879-7926 > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Allan > Seidel > Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:26 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Is there test information that shows whether or not > obstructing > lycra fabric ceiling elements are an issue? > > The interiors architect plans to populate an open structure ceiling > condition with many Lycra "kites" stretched horizontal at 11 foot in > an 18 > foot ceiling deck area above a light hazard space. The kite sizes > are many > times larger than 48" and there are so many of these in an overlapping > pattern that one cannot even start to argue that these are not gross > obstructions. Conditions are such that is not possible to install > sprinklers > underneath the fabric without penetrating vertically through the > fabric. The > architect wants to convince the AHJ that the Lycra will "disappear" > in a > fire condition, citing the fact that none of the product > installation photos > show sprinklers. Is there test information that shows whether or not > obstructing, horizontal Lycra fabric ceiling elements are or are not > an > issue for sprinklers. One would assume such tests would indicate > fabric > thickness, installed tension and other factors. This question will > be posed > to the manufacturer. If anyone would know something about it, it is > probably > someone on this forum. One can make up all sorts of plausible things > the > Lycra might do in fire condition but nothing would compare to some > actual > tests. > > Looking at this another way, is there merit in insisting the design > area be > large enough to include all the kites in a plausible event area, > perhaps > with a 30% penalty, and if so should the application rate be > increased? Is > there supporting information for that line of thinking? It would be > nice to > propose a defensible equivalency to the missing protection other > than sales > brochures where the sprinkler protection has been photoshopped out. > > Allan Seidel > St. Louis, MO > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
