July 18, 2015
CPVC Piping in Garages “We have a wood-framed NFPA 13R apartment building that has tuck-under garages located on the 1st floor. Each garage directly accesses a single dwelling unit. Per NFPA 13R, 7.3.3.1 (1), the garages can be protected with residential heads. Some garages exceed 400 sq. ft. in size. Can CPVC piping be used too in the garage areas that exceed 400 sq. ft., provided the piping itself is concealed by the minimums established by the CPVC pipe listing?” We have reviewed NFPA 13R, 2013 edition that you indicated as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that the CPVC should be allowed. Normally, we assign the occupancy hazard classification based upon the use of the room and its applied consistently in all situations. As with most things, there?s always an exception to a rule. In this case, section 7.3.3.1 assigns garages serving a single dwelling as part of the dwelling unit whereby even a quick response spray sprinkler can be used and is only required to discharge a density of 0.05 gpm/sf at any spacing allowed for a light hazard occupancy. As such, the piping material allowed for a residential dwelling unit should also be allowed. This is not predicated upon the allowance in 13R:5.2.3.6, whereby CPVC can be used in a room that is classified as ordinary hazard when up to 400 sf (although it does support use of CPVC in non-standard applications). As such, there is not a limit on the size of the garage. Since this is not explicitly addressed by NFPA 13R, discussing it with the AHJ is necessary. ------------ 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 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.firesprinkler.org/private.cgi/sprinklernotes-firesprinkler.org/attachments/20160718/def54678/attachment.htm>
