Would sprinklers surrounding the hopper protect the hopper from damage if there was a fire inside it? If the sprinklers are only there to protect the building, could they just put up a heat shield (cinder block wall?) between the hopper and the building. Or exposure protection sprinklers?
Matt Grisé PE*, LEED AP Sales Engineer Alliance Fire Protection *Licensed in KS & MO 913.888.0647 ph 913.888.0618 f 913.927.0222 cell www. AFPsprink.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Duross Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 3:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Book binding Facility Got a call this morning and took a tour of a book binding facility that had a fire. It's a fairly large (60K SF +/-) plant with 2 dry systems, tapered steel beam, purlin construction, insulated and heated, 20' ceilings. It has a paper collection system running from about 20 of these stitchers and binders that exits the building to a hopper with the blowers next to it. The fire occurred in the hopper, outside the building but melt and deformed the purlin steel wall pretty good. Apparently, the sprinkler system never tripped. I was given a letter from their insurer suggesting when they replace the blowers and repair the hopper, then enclose them in exterior rooms and protect the spaces with dry sidewall heads from the overhead system. Has anyone ever done this? I walked around and talked to the workers there about how things work, what does what, etc.; they're still working without the functioning collection system, not happy about it, but it's work. They tell me the exhaust collection system can have anything from small particles from the stitching machines to larger sheets from when they trim pages. Should I just follow the insurers' recommendation, maybe write them a letter sighting possible standards that apply? They of course want to spend no money on sprinklers even though they had a fire. "How much for a couple of heads?" was the first thing the owner said to me. TD _______________________________________________ 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) _______________________________________________ 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)
