Designing A Design Services For Sprinkler Systems

You asked the following questions: â€Å"We have a storage arrangement of large wooden boxes stored on top of each other to approximately 20 ft. The boxes are filled with household items of Class III commodities. Section 5.6 does not specifically address this commodity. Would Class III be a proper description of this commodity? Would Chapter 14 be appropriate to determine density? Specifically Figure 14.2.4.2 with high temperature sprinklers?† In response to your questions we have reviewed NFPA 13, 2010 edition that you indicated as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is that there are few questions that we are unable to answer; unfortunately, yours is one of them. The protection criteria will have to be discussed with†¦show more content†¦I hope you understand our dilemma regarding basic design for facilities. To date, we ve answered over 2000 written requests for interpretations and countless numbers of verbal requests. I hope we can assist you in the future. The following is some guidance to help get you started. First, A.3.9.1 indicates that a six-sided portable storage container can be a combustible or noncombustible enclosed storage unit with varying dimensions ranging from small portable rental storage units to large freight containers. The Technical Committee on Sprinkler System Discharge is unaware of fire tests, and no design guidance is furnished. A table was also added as Table A.5.6, Examples of Commodities Not Addressed by Classifications where one item listed is Storage Container - Large container storage of household goods. That applies to your scenario. To get you started, check with the client on the commoditi es that will be stored inside the portable moving containers. Typically, household items have a range of commodity classifications from Class I through expanded Group A plastics in the form of foam cushions or mattresses. Since the commodities may vary, the worse case scenario of expanded Group A plastics may be a starting point. The container storage would not qualify as rack storage and would match closer to solid pile storage arrangement. The decision tree in Figure 15.2.2 provides guidance on selecting a density in Table 15.2.6(a) for Control Mode