For remote FDC’s NFPA 24 (2013) Section 5.9.4.2 requires the automatic drip to be located in a location that permits inspection and testing as required by NFPA 25.
In industrial applications, ball drips not used on FDC’s are routinely used to drain daylighted FW piping that extends above grade for various applications. Good design will typically include a manual drain along side a ball drip since all ball drips I know of have a relatively low ‘seal pressure’. Many applications exceed the this ‘seal pressure’ in head to the necessary configuration of the system. Thus, the manual drain is required to drop the pressure below where the ball drip will then open. It must be considered that any underground drain should be located inside a lined drain-field with ample volume so that any water being drained from the stack actually has somewhere to go and silt/mud does not plug the drain rendering it inoperable. Water table elevation must also be considered. Good luck, Ryan L. Hinson, PE*, SET** \ Burns & McDonnell Senior Fire Protection Engineer O 952-656-3662 \ M 320-250-5404 \ F 952-229-2923 [email protected] \ burnsmcd.com<http://www.burnsmcd.com/> 8201 Norman Center Drive, Suite 300 \ Bloomington, MN 55437 *Registered in: LA, MD, MN, PA, TX, & UT **NICET IV - Water-Based Systems Layout From: Sprinklerforum <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dewayne Martinez Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2018 9:11 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Dewayne Martinez <[email protected]> Subject: buried fdc ball drip? I have a contractor that is telling me that it is ok to run FDC piping trapped under ground and burying the drain 90 w/ ball drip at the bottom of the vertical pipe going up to the FDC above ground. I was always taught that a pit was needed for the ball drip but I can’t verify it in NFPA 13 (13ed). Can it be buried? Thanks, Dewayne Martinez Fire Protection Design Manager TOTAL Mechanical Building Integrity W234 N2830 Paul Rd. Pewaukee, WI 53072 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Ph: 262-522-7110 Cell: 414-406-5208 http://www.total-mechanical.com/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.total-2Dmechanical.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=pgTKN5yjcEYSPUPpeP-zuA&r=NcyRL-K75Is7l5iUo7UtKsal2WbPG4sAR-BrZExi8dA&m=qblIJNsVUVbh_NH9UINW5irZtdHu2idUAjiwV0y_Mfk&s=5r55ANRX2TTtd8gWqs4ZtJwivi662CILk3VmGUe_y_w&e=> [A close up of a sign Description generated with high confidence]
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