Scott (and others), I agree with you that this is not a matter of “actually” providing any equivalent fire protection to a 2 hr wall. This is checking the box on a Code requirement. That being said, I don’t see this provision significantly reducing the hazard of a fully sprinklered skywalk running through a fully sprinklered open parking garage, but it will make our political leaders and AHJ happy by doing “this” and not installing fire doors at the property line.
Just trying to have a defensible(?) position on the way I approach this by looking at the “wetting of the entire wall” portion of this. I appreciate the feedback and all the interesting discussions that I usually just lurk around on! David Toshio Williams, PE/FPE, LEED-AP O+M (218) 279-2436 direct | (218) 310-2446 cell LHB, Inc. | PERFORMANCE DRIVEN DESIGN From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@lists.firesprinkler.org] On Behalf Of Scott Futrell Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 1:20 PM To: sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org Subject: RE: Wall Wetting per IBC - 2012, Chapter 31, 3104.5 Exception 1 David, I’ll stand by what I wrote, to the best of my knowledge there hasn’t been testing to prove sprinklers as an effective strategy or an equivalency for rated construction. Window sprinklers for glazing are the exception, but to use a ‘water curtain’ in any manner in lieu of a required fire barrier, fire separation, whatever has not been tested. And then there is still the what if they are out of service for any reason scenario? It has been used and published, but not tested. I apologize if I’m not following… Scott Office: (763) 425-1001 x 2 Cell: (612) 759-5556 From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@lists.firesprinkler.org] On Behalf Of David Williams Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 10:52 AM To: sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org<mailto:sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org> Subject: RE: Wall Wetting per IBC - 2012, Chapter 31, 3104.5 Exception 1 I will note we don’t even have glazing in the walls in question. On a previous job at a community college for an after the install wall upgrade, we used Firelite in the entry doors where we couldn’t get sprinklers to work, window sprinklers where we have glazing and “closely spaced” sprinklers as that was the Code language we were working with.. David Toshio Williams, PE, LEED-AP O+M (218) 279-2436 direct | (218) 310-2446 cell LHB, Inc. | PERFORMANCE DRIVEN DESIGN From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@lists.firesprinkler.org] On Behalf Of Roland Huggins Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 10:38 AM To: sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org<mailto:sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org> Subject: Re: Wall Wetting per IBC - 2012, Chapter 31, 3104.5 Exception 1 look at NFPA 13:8.15.26 - Sprinkler Protected Glazing. The wetting of the entire surface is rather important (in order to avoid failure of the glazing (barrier) from thermal shock. It, I believe, originated in the Life Safety Code (which long ago allowed an exception using sprinklers with glass but limited to Atriums) with the said ENTIRE SURFACE specified. Roland Huggins, PE - VP Engineering American Fire Sprinkler Assn. --- Fire Sprinklers Saves Lives Dallas, TX http://www.firesprinkler.org<http://www.firesprinkler.org/> On Nov 4, 2016, at 12:44 PM, David Williams <david.willi...@lhbcorp.com<mailto:david.willi...@lhbcorp.com>> wrote: We have an newly constructed open parking garage with a surrounding skywalk. The building official is now asking for fire barriers complying with Chapter 31 between the two and the owner and architect want to deal with this using the exception that uses fire protection sprinklers for equivalency. It appears to me that the Code is asking us to protect the parking garage from the skywalk as the Code says to install fire protection sprinklers on the “interior” of the wall (which is the garage side) that fully wet the wall as a compliance path. We already have a fully sprinklered structure, with a row of dry sprinklers eight feet and eight feet on center away on the garage side, but the published spray pattern for the Reliable F1FR56 upright installed by the contractor would leave the top 3 feet of the wall unwetted. It appears to me I would have to install an additional row of heads right along the wall, but even then, it looks like the spray pattern shows drop off at any sort of reasonable spacing so some parts of the wall remain unwetted. What have others done in this situation? [cid:image001.png@01D238FC.69F6C620]<http://www.lhbcorp.com/who-we-are/our-history/> David Toshio Williams, PE, FPE – Senior MEP/FP Engineer 21 West Superior Street, Suite 500, Duluth, MN 55802 Direct 218.279.2436 | Cell 218.310.2446 LHBcorp.com<http://www.lhbcorp.com/> LHB, Inc. | PERFORMANCE DRIVEN DESIGN. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org<mailto:Sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
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