One of the biggest problems I've seen with flexible drops here in California is that they may be installed perfectly within the listing, in terms of hydraulic calculations, number of bends, radii, and so forth. Then, the other trades are making changes to them, inducing tighter radii, or more bends than are allowed, with the thinking being that "it's flexible, like flex-duct, no problem to move it out of our way." That very situation is what resulted in several municipalities here denying their use outright, and several others allowing them on a "case by case" basis.
The other issue where it comes into play here, and I suppose any where else in the country where seismic issues take a seat in the front row is the ASCE7 requirement for oversize escutcheons for sprinklers in drop ceilings which have not been rigidly braced. The escutcheons are out there, but they're decidedly ugly, and the architects go absolutely ape when they see them. Flexible drop fittings are considered an equivalent to the oversize escutcheons, which is why I've seen more and more of them on designs coming across my desk. As an aside, there is some confusion on the part of AHJ's out there on this issue, with many of them believing the "rigidly braced" language in ASCE7 is talking about fire sprinkler system branch lines, rather than the ceilings themselves. Ron Greenman sent me some information a while back from (natch) the ceiling manufacturing group that suggested it is indeed applicable to the ceilings rather than the pipe, but I've not been able to get any confirmation from the people at ASCE on that. You'd think that as the paragraph is in a section on "ceilings" that it would be natural, but I guess not. Have a great weekend, everyone. -- PARSLEY CONSULTING Ken Wagoner, SET 760.745.6181 voice 760.745.0537 fax [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> e-mail www.ParsleyConsulting.com <http://www.ParsleyConsulting.com> website Chris Cahill wrote: > We haven't really found a use for them. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.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)
