Duct Detectors

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gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
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Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
If duct detectors are rated to operate in units from 300-4000cfm, what do you do for a unit that is 15,000cfm? A detector is required, but the cfm exceeds the rated velocity for the detector.

You are confusing velocity (ft/min) with volumetric flow rate (ft3/min). The detector is listed for 300-4,000 ft/min. That 4,000 ft/min is equivalent to 45 miles/hr. If the supply duct coming off that unit were 20" x 40", the velocity in the duct would be 2.700 ft/min. Design guides (McGill, for one) suggest that a 15,000 cfm supply should aim for about 1,500 ft/min as a design. They don't show any units approaching 4,000 ft/min until the unit capacity is 100,000 cfm.
 
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