American Fire Sprinkler Association
12750 Merit Dr., Suite 350, Dallas TX 75251
Ph: (214) 349-5965 Fax: (214) 276-0908
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TECHNICAL UPDATE
FEBRUARY 4, 2009
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“Does the presence of the fuel fired equipment (gas fired water
heaters) in an otherwise unused attic as referenced in NFPA 13R,
Section 6.9.6 require the attic to be designed and calculated for
other than light hazard occupancy?”
We have reviewed NFPA 13R, 2007 Edition that you indicated as the
applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that the attic
space will have to be protected to the spacing and hydraulic design
criteria of NFPA 13 for Light Hazard Occupancies.
NFPA 13R Section 6.9.6 will require the protection of attics that
contain fuel-fired equipment. The design criteria for the attic are
set by 6.8.2.1 that directs you to NFPA 13 and it states, “For areas
outside the dwelling unit, the design discharge and design area
criteria shall comply with NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of
Sprinkler Systems, unless permitted by 6.8.2.2 and 6.8.2.3." This
clarifies that the requirement for the protection of the attic will
have to be to NFPA 13 requirements. The area will have to be designed
to light hazard occupancy if it does not meet any of the allowances of
NFPA 13R, Section 6.8.2.2 and will have to be a minimum of 1500 sq. ft
with a density of .10 gpm/sq. ft. Regular mechanical rooms in NFPA 13
occupancy with gas-fired equipment are typically ordinary hazard
occupancy. Two primary reasons are that the equipment is typically
large and we expect the owner to use the space for storage and
collected combustibles. Mechanical rooms without gas-fired equipment
typically get kicked into an ordinary hazard classification for the
later reason. In this case of water heaters in an attic, not only are
the units small, it does not add to the fuel load but it is an
ignition source. Thus, the definition for light hazard “where quantity
and/or combustibility of contents is low” does apply.
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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 © 2009, American Fire Sprinkler Association. All Rights
Reserved
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