ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion Building Codes for Electricians Sprinklers in 1&2 family?

NFPA just added a sprinkler requirement to NFPA 101 for 1&2 family (new construction).
Thoughts? Do you think your AHJ will adopt this rule? That would be the only metal pipe iun a house around here, assuming they won't let them use PVC. I usually think of black iron when I think of sprinklers.

Greg there is a Town within 5 miles of me that passed a local ordnance that all newly constructed buildings will be sprinkled.

The single family residential systems use a plastic type pipe.

It is hard to argue against it as sprinklers do without question save lives and property.

I find the plastic interesting. I put sprinklers in my house in Md because it had some obvious fire traps. I ended up with 4 heads in the garage, 2 in the split level foyer 2 in the utility room under that and 1 in the hall outside the utility.
Folks (including the insurance company) beat me up because I ran everything in 3/4" copper. They said it should be black iron.

I guess that thinking has changed.

Do they just use garden variety CPVC?

In my house I have a well. Can I call this a firepump ;-)

I think the CPVC that is used for residential sprinkler is compliant with NFPA 13R or D. http://www.blazemaster.com/featuresBenefits/ul_listing.asp

Moist people do not adopt the NFPA 101. There is a rule in the IBC that requires multifamily dwellings to be sprinklered, but it does not apply to single or two family. There were proposals for this, but they were rejected.

Sprinkler systems once were rather involved systems, seemingly designed for perfection, rather than as a bare minimum for safety. Some argued, with great success, that they were aimed at protecting property rather than lives.

This all changed when a separate code was written for dwellings. This greatly simplified standard made household sprinklers practical.
In NFPA 13D, the requirements for alarms, fire pumps, reservoirs, etc., are greatly simplified. Many things you "assume" are required are not required for dwellings.

And not a moment too soon; the homes of today are nearly twice as large as the homes we grew up in. Our posessions- the things that do most of the burning- have increased exponentially. Long gone is the day when a family can put all their belongings into a push-cart!

I cannot speak to the use of copper pipe; I do know that plastic is allowed. I also cannot say whether the sprinkler code allows for "normal" plumbing to be used; in industrial settings, it is required that specially rated pipe be used.

Yet- assuming there is no legal requirement for any sprinkler system at all- I applaud any attempt to increase protection. Any system is better than none, and most fires are controlled with the tripping of only a head or two.

As a side to this I work at a facility that test sprinkler heads before approval.

I was lucky enough to watch them start a 15' x 15' x 1' deep 'pan' of ester (sp?) on fire to demonstrate the effectiveness of the sprinkler heads.

The building they do this in has a 65' inside height and the control room commentator reported that the flames where reaching 45' at 2 minutes in.

By 5 minutes into the test about 25 sprinkler heads where open creating quite a rainfall.

At 8 minutes the flames where close to out but the pan was also close to overflowing with water at that point so a air horn sounded signaling their in house firefighters to snuff the rest with foam.

But even still the effectiveness of the sprinkles could not be argued.

Fires cool when it is under control.

Does your insurance cover hooking up electrical to the sprinkler alarm system? Most policies exclude fire alarms. But is there an exception for residential systems???

Wirsbo makes PEX tubing and components for sprinkler systems. They don't require anywhere near the volume of water as a large commercial installation does and are still effective. It makes a lot of sense to have a sprinkler system installed, particularly in a new home.

Our new home will have a LOT of PEX tubing as we'll have radiant heat and the plumbing lines will also be PEX tubing. It's very easy to run, connection time is small, and it's better than dripping solder down your arm!