Keep in mind that the maximum width of the opening is limited to 8 ft. This is not an issue of simply interfering with the heat flow along the ceiling since whether it's a lintel or a beam doesn't really impact the outcome. The underlying assumption (at least in my feeble brain) that differentiates the two obstructions is whether or not the fire ail likely be directly beneath the obstruction. For a beam certainly but for a lintel it is ASSUMED that the use of the location for access will keep stuff out of the area directly below the lintel.
Regardless of whether criteria is completely logical (what a novel concept), when plainly stated (with definitions from webster when not in chap 3), it is what it is. Roland Roland Huggins, PE - VP Engineering American Fire Sprinkler Assn. --- Fire Sprinklers Saves Lives Dallas, TX http://www.firesprinkler.org On Oct 2, 2013, at 5:09 PM, rongreenman . <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, I'm wrestling with that beam in, say, a living room. It's an > obstruction, it's kind of a compartment, it kind of compartmentalizes the > room, but...? So if it's a lintel, defined as a "beam" over a door it > doesn't compartmentalize one section from another if there's no wall to > either side, but it does if there is wall, no matter how short? If there's > a shower door does that count? What about that living room beam with two > feet of wall on either end of a sixteen foot free span, with the architect > calling one side living and the other dining? I think tis can be pretty > shaky stuff for literalists. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
