Great question Jerry. I think there is some verbiage you can use that I meant to post yesterday.
First, it is interesting to note that according to NFPA 13 a soffit is “: the underside of a part or member of a building (as of an overhang or staircase); especially : the intrados of an arch” That not helping much, we can go back to the 2016 edition. 8.7.3.1.4 states “Sidewall spray sprinklers shall not be installed back-to-back without being separated by a continuous lintel or soffit.” Thought this doesn’t seem to fully fit your scenario. Further in we see chapters titled “Soffits and Cabinets” This is in the Commercial or Residential sections alike. The annex for these sections discusses a test performed by NFPA and Tyco ”Kitchen Cabinets and Residential Sprinklers”. A cursory search did not produce the test. I bet however, one of these FFM’s could produce a copy. In this test, modeling was conducted. I would be willing to bet they used full length “soffits”. Further into the annex paragraph, we see the list of best options. The 3rd best option being “the sidewall sprinkler on the same wall as the cabinets, on a soffit flush with the face of the cabinet.” I think the wording “on the same wall as the cabinets (plural) is key. Outside of 13, truth be told, a soffit is a ceiling for our use. Years ago, many building owners were removing tiles from their buildings and only leaving the tile in containing the sprinkler. I believe it is in NFPA 1, that a ceiling is a continuous item. There were some good papers on the negative effects of using this approach. Good Luck. R/ Matt Matthew J. Willis Design Manager /3-D Specialist Rapid Fire Protection Inc.<http://rapidfireinc.com/> 1530 Samco Road Rapid City, SD 57702 Office-605.348.2342 Direct Line-605.593.5063 Cell-605.391.2733 Fax:-605.348.0108 [cid:[email protected]] From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Roland Huggins Sent: Thursday, July 5, 2018 4:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Sidewalls in Partial Soffits Although not stated, it has to run the length of the space. It’s a heat flow / activation issue. Roland Huggins, PE - Senior VP Engineering American Fire Sprinkler Assn. Dallas, TX http://www.firesprinkler.org<http://www.firesprinkler.org/> Fire Sprinklers Saves Lives On Jul 5, 2018, at 10:03 AM, Jerry Van Kolken <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: I have soffits over cabinets. The GC is asking if they can do a partial soffit just at the sidewall location to pop over the cabinet instead of the entire cabinet length. Logically I’m thinking this is a no, but not sure I have any code verbiage to indicate either way. Is there a reference I can look at. This is project is turning into a really look at the code, or more what’s not stated in the code. Thanks Jerry Van Kolken Millennium Fire Protection Corp. 2950 San Luis Rey Rd. Oceanside, CA 92058 (760) 722-2722 FX 722-2730 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
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