But what about the paper, and therefore combustible, labels that tell folks 
what kind of ball bearing it is, its part number, size etc. ?. 

All kidding aside the "base the design on the actual hazard" simply doesn’t 
work in the real world. I cannot tell you how many times we see the hazard 
change with no one, let alone a tenant, saying hey we better get the FPE in 
here to reevaluate our sprinkler protection.  

Hence Mercantile;

 IBC 309.1 Mercantile Group M. Mercantile Group M occupancy
includes, among others, the use of a building or structure or a
portion thereof, for the display and sale of merchandise and
involves stocks of goods, wares or merchandise incidental to
such purposes and accessible to the public. Mercantile occupancies
shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
Department stores
Drug stores
Markets
Motor fuel-dispensing facilities
Retail or wholesale stores
Sales rooms

NFPA-13

A.5.3.2 Ordinary hazard (Group 2) occupancies include occupancies
having uses and conditions similar to the following:
(15) Mercantile

M = OH2

John Drucker, CET
Assistant Construction Official
Fire Protection Subcode Official
Building/Fire/Electrical Inspector
Borough of Red Bank
Red Bank, New Jersey
Email: [email protected]
Cell/Text: 732-904-6823



-----Original Message-----
From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:[email protected]] On 
Behalf Of Roland Huggins
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 12:28 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: showroom vs mercantile.

That would be a tough sale to a literal AHJ since you said Sales Counter in the 
area.  The reality is that mercantile is one of the few places that 13 does NOT 
base the classification on actual contents  but on what MAY be there in the 
future.  This must have been done due to the high rate of changes in typical 
stores.  As such, it you have a steel ball bearing manufacture that also sells 
their product in a building out front, the metal 4 ft shelves with nothing but 
metal boxes with steel ball bearings would be an OH design.  Now I may be out 
in right field (I’ll leave the left field for congress), but I’d be whipping 
out my PE and having a discussion about the why’s and what’s along with some 
kind of assurance that any changes will actually be evaluated beforehand and 
sprinkler modifications made if needed like the IFC requires but no one does.

So - how well do you dance?

Roland


Roland Huggins, PE - VP Engineering
American Fire Sprinkler Assn.       ---      Fire Sprinklers Saves Lives
Dallas, TX
http://www.firesprinkler.org <http://www.firesprinkler.org/>





> On Apr 30, 2015, at 9:10 AM, Todd - Work <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> I am working on a project where the customer is constructing a small showroom 
> to display electrical fixtures and similar products. Approximately 60% of the 
> space will have these displays and the other 40% will be sales counter. Their 
> "store" is located in the another part of the building so there will not be 
> any aisles with parts, etc in this space. Would this space be considered 
> mercantile? 
> 
> Unfortunately we have a marginal water supply, are at the diagonal opposite 
> side of the facility from the riser and have a dry system with no option of 
> converting to wet. Consequently, I can't get OH2 to work hydraulically. 
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> _______________________________________________
> Sprinklerforum mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org

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