April 4, 2016
Residential Sidewalls and Soffits
"Section 8.7.4.1.3.3 of NFPA 13, 2016 allows standard sidewall sprinklers to be
installed under a soffit when both the minimum distance from the sprinkler
deflector to the bottom of the soffit and maximum distance from the sprinkler
deflector to the high ceiling is maintained. There is no applicable section or
provision in NFPA 13, 2016 for residential sidewall sprinklers. Are
residential sidewall sprinklers permitted to be installed under a soffit if
both the minimum distance from the sprinkler deflector to the bottom of the
soffit and maximum distance from the sprinkler deflector to the high ceiling is
maintained?"
We have reviewed NFPA 13, 2016 edition that you indicated as the applicable
standard. Our informal interpretation is that the soffit requirement for
sidewall spray sprinklers should also apply to residential sprinklers.
Although the allowance for a sidewall sprinkler to be installed beneath a
soffit is identified only in section 8.7, this does not mean that the
underlying reasons for its allowance applies only to spray sprinklers. This
just means that the public input was submitted on section 8.7 and the committee
did not consider its broader application. This is a common consequence of
having to process such a large number of public inputs. The basic evaluation
for this issue as identified in 8.1.1(3) is whether there is satisfactory
performance with respect to activation time and distribution. Considering that
the thermal link is the same for both sprinklers, the activation will
effectively be the same. The committee obviously considered the impact on
activation time to be negligible. Considering that the soffit is not in the
path of the water discharge, the performance regarding discharge is unaffected.
As such, there is no logical reason not to extend the same criteria to
residential sidewall sprinklers. Since this is not explicitly identified in
NFPA 13, concurrence by the AHJ is required.
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 PE registered in fire protection engineering. 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 2016, American Fire Sprinkler Association. All Rights Reserved
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