Perspective: 1. *This conversation was ever about fire control or suppression. It is about code compliance. The two are sometimes confused*. --- yes they are confusing. One seems to effect real world results, the other seems to effect whether we
get paid or not. At the end of the day, if Code compliance is most of what we care about (and I know it is not since we believe our job is to save property and lives), then don't read another word. The fire will not, either. *common sense and the code coinciding with your initial reaction. *We must comply with the Code, but the Code already got batted aside the head by the gal or guy that wrote the specs with the OH vs LH designation. We can call an office LH, but that don't matter none to the fire. We can put in QR sprinklers, even if they are not needed (relative to SR) for life safety or property protection in this occupancy. It was adroitly pointed out that QR sprinklers will activate sooner than SR. It was also well-explained how CO levels are lower in QR vs SR controlled fires. But with this occupancy-sprinkler configuration, both types of response-sprinklers will easily put the fire out. *Perspective: *This is not a residential, hospital, hotel, or apartment where QR sprinklers are keenly advantageous. This is an office occupancy. We can call an office occupany LH with an exclamation point, and the Code can prescribe QR sprinklers in all LH occupancies. But that doesn't mean in this hybridized Code application, in this office occcupancy, that QR are needed for life safety.* * What does history say about fire safety in office buildings? I know, it does not matter what Nature, history or the fire says, when we are being Code compliant, but I still wonder, what is the fire safety record of sprinkelred offices? At 1200 ppm CO ...... a conservative STEL, but but at 1200 ppm CO, most of us with reasonable health can not just breath this for 20 minutes, we can do jumping jacks in it for 10 minutes. In an office occupancy with this delivery density and MRA, using a QR or SR will make virtually no difference in life safety-- the CO concentrations in either case is low enough to allow everyone ample exit time, if they even need to exit. Firefighters have chronic exposure to smoke. Office occupants almost surely, will not have long-term measurable detriments to their health from exposure to smoke from a sprinklered fire (SR or QR controlled), in the remote chance that they are exposed in the first place. *Yes, we must be Code compliant. *But if the original thread was, "can I breath easy and sleep soundly knowing I installed SR sprinklers in an office occupancy which is covered with OH1 density?" ... the answer is yes.* *Where the Code prescriptions fall on a specification that is hybridized, is another question.* * QR sprinklers are great. So are Code prescriptions. Common-sense in this particular hybridized Code application also deserves mention. scot deal excelsior fire engineering _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.org http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: supp...@firesprinkler.org To Unsubscribe, send an email to:sprinklerforum-requ...@firesprinkler.org (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
