June 27, 2015
Distilled Spirits Manufacturing Occupancy ?We're currently in the design phase of a two building project split into several stages of processes of the manufacturing, barreling,and bottling of rye whiskey. The end product is shipped offsite to a separate warehousing facility in an adjacent county where there is no storage. NFPA 13 in A.5.3.2(6) indicates that distilleries are considered an Ordinary Hazard (Group 2) occupancy. Both the FM Global Data Sheet 7-74 for distilleries and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) design manual titled “Recommended Fire Protection Practices for Distilled Spirits Beverage Facilities” addresses each separate room/area within the whiskey manufacturing process within a distillery as very distinct and increasingly more hazardous occupancies. What exactly is the NFPA 13 standard’s definition of a distillery and is Ordinary Hazard (Group 2) satisfactory to use throughout all areas of the whiskey manufacturing process?? We have reviewed NFPA 13, 2013 edition that you indicated as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that assigning the hazard classification depends upon the function and or contents of each individual room. As you pointed out, the use of distillery by the NFPA 13 standard is generic in nature. This could involve a number of distillation processes and does not specifically specify distilled spirits for consumption. Additionally, the term distillery would not apply to the entire facility but to an activity within a portion of the facility. For instance, Education is identified in light hazard but there are many rooms within schools and colleges with other classifications (such as laboratories, kitchens, and storage). When a document by another organization such as FM Global and DISCUS have specific protection criteria greater than that specified by NFPA 13, using the higher protection criteria specific to the distilled spirits operation would be more appropriate. The occupancy classification by the NFPA 13 standard may have been established well before FM Global or DISCUS established the protection criteria. It would be prudent to investigate the differences in fire protection criteria between the documents due to the hazardous nature of the distilled spirits. Addressing alcoholic beverages can be a challenge. As identified in the 2016 edition of NFPA 13, the storage of liquids with greater than 20 percent alcohol (40 proof) is outside the scope of the standard. In non-storage situations, the definition of extra hazard (Group 2) identifies it can have moderate to substantial amounts of flammable liquids. Extra hazard (Group 1) allows little or no flammable liquids. Since there are reservations regarding the hazards in this application, this should be discussed with the Engineer of Record (EOR). The EOR is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the system is designed and installed according to the applicable codes and standards. ------------ Technical Update is prepared by the Technical Services Dept. of the AFSA: Roland Huggins, a PE registered in fire protection engineering, Vice President of Engineering and Technical Services; and Tom Wellen, a PE registered in fire protection engineering. This is provided with the understanding that the AFSA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.firesprinkler.org/private.cgi/sprinklernotes-firesprinkler.org/attachments/20160627/1d32b5fa/attachment.htm>
