American Fire Sprinkler Association
12750 Merit Drive, Suite 350 Dallas, TX 75251
Ph: (214) 349-5965 Fax: (214) 343-8898
TECHNICAL UPDATE
FEBRUARY 8, 2007
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AFSA moving February 15-16, 2007. Please make a note of our new
address effective February 19th. Our phone and fax numbers will NOT
change. Informal interpretation requests during this time will e
answered as time permits; do to the move. Thank you.
12750 Merit Drive, Suite 350
Dallas, TX 75251
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"We have a small peaked warehouse protected with a dry system. The
cross main on one side of the peak drains to the riser. The cross
main on the other side is trapped and has a drum drip at the end of
the main. There is no heat in the building and the drum drip must be
installed for the trapped main. Is it against the requirements of
NFPA 13 to have a drum drip in a freezing area?"
We have reviewed the 2002 Edition of NFPA 13 that you have identified
as the applicable Standard. Our informal interpretation is that it is
acceptable to locate a drum drip in an area that is subject to freezing.
It is preferable to locate drum drips or auxiliary drains on dry
systems in a heated area. This is not always possible to accomplish
this in a dry pipe sprinkler system. NFPA 13:8.15.2.5.3 discusses the
size and type of drains for dry pipe systems in areas subject to
freezing. The 2002 Edition of NFPA 13 is not as clear as the 2007
Edition on the issue of these drains being located in an area that is
subject to freezing. The 2007 Edition in Subsection 8.16.2.5.3.1
helps to clear this issue up by stating: "Auxiliary drains located in
areas subject to freezing shall be readily accessible."
Therefore, NFPA 13 does allow drum drip drains on dry pipe systems to
be located in areas subject to freezing. This will put an additional
responsibility on the user of the system to keep the drum drips
properly drained during the freezing seasons. The owner/user of the
dry pipe system needs to be informed of the location of all low point
drains in the system. The 2002 Edition of NFPA 25 "Standard for the
Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection
Systems" also address requirements for low point drains in dry
systems in Table 5.1 and in Subsection 12.4.4.3.3.
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Technical Update is prepared by the Technical Services Dept. of the
AFSA: Vice President of Engineering and Technical Services Roland
Huggins, a PE registered in fire protection engineering; Phill Brown,
a NICET IV certified automatic sprinkler technician and NFPA
Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS) and Tom Wellen, a degreed
fire protection engineering technologist. This is provided with the
understanding that the AFSA assumes no liability for this opinion or
actions taken on it and they are not to be considered the official
position of the NFPA or its technical committees.
Copyright (c) 2007, American Fire Sprinkler Association. All
Rights Reserved
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