Healthcare Facility On Site Fuel Storage For Generators

[ed downey]

Does anyone know where I can find a requirement for On-Site fuel storage for an emergency generator at a healthcare facility.

I thought that I heard a requirement of 96 hours of o-site fuel storage but I was looking for the actual code that spelled out this requirement.

Thanks for any help.

-Ed

 

[qcroanoke]

Does anyone know where I can find a requirement for On-Site fuel storage for an emergency generator at a healthcare facility.

I thought that I heard a requirement of 96 hours of o-site fuel storage but I was looking for the actual code that spelled out this requirement.

Thanks for any help.

-Ed

Try NEC 700.12 B (2) or 701.12 B (2)
or NFPA 110 Standard for emergency and standby power systems

 

[steve66]

I don't see any hard and fast rule. NFPA 110 says fuel storage should be per that standard and per the AHJ. There is some stuff in the Appendix's about considering how much fuel is needed, and about the possibility of the fuel going bad if it sits too long, and considerations for how fast a fuel delivery can be made.

FEMA 577 may be where you got the 96 hours from:

http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=2739

But its not a hard and fast code requirement either.

 

[ed downey]

Thanks Steve.

That is the only location I can find the requirement for 96 hours (FEMA 577 - 4.3.5.1). I do not believe this applies to my situation since I am not in a Hurricane Prone area.

If anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them.

-Ed

 

[BJ Conner]

Health Care Fuel Storage

Health Care Fuel Storage

I recomend checking the IEEE White Book. It does not give you detailed design information. It may not tell you exactly how much fuel you will need but it has lots of references to other standards and codes.
In my experience the electrical engineer summerize the load and speced the generator.
The length of time it had to run came from others. It was determined by such things as availability of fuel, transport, locataion, weather etc. A hospital in the northern great plains may have a two weeks supply, somewhere further south 4 days. I do four days UNO.

I have found the CAT and Cummins Field Service engineers to be a big help. They know the codes and reasons for a lot of what applies locally.

 

[brother]

Im not sure but maybe NFPA 99 can help in this area. Most recent edition of course.

 

[skeshesh]

There is no regulation about sizing fuel storage and somewhat loose standards. As mentioned earlier in the thread this is due to the fuel requirements being based on location, availability, service in the area, weather etc. The type of building has nothing to do with the fuel requirement. Make a little list and figure out if its in a location where it may take a long time to bring extra fuel or service, if the weather will affect fuel consumption. Also make sure to check the client's specs, in-house standards or just ask for their preference. I'm not sure how helpful contacting the AHJ would be in this case.

 

[broadgage]

In the absence of any detailed codes or regulations, I would suggest that fuel be stored for the worst reasonably forseeable loss of grid supply and time without re-supply.

I would suggest that in many cases, about 105/115 hours would be required.

Consider if the grid fails at lunchtime on a Friday preceeding a holiday weekend. No fuel can be ordered for some hours, since the failure might be for only a few hours, with little fuel consumed, and therefore little room in the tank for more.
If line power is still off on Teusday morning, then additional fuel can be ordered Teusday morning, but probably cant be delivered until the afternoon, or at worst early on wednesday.

Power fails at 12-00 on Friday, fuel delivered at 16-00 on Teusday is 100 hours.
If the delivery arrives early on Wednesday, then that is about 115 hours.

That suggests a bit more than 100 hours as being prudent.

 

[ed downey]

Thanks for all of your replies.

I am working for the General Contractor on a Large Central Plant for a Hospital and we are very early in the Design and budgeting phase. I suggested that they have 96 hours (@ 100% load) worth of fuel for the generators (~150,000 gallons) and the engineer wants to only install 30 hours at 90% load (~50,000 Gallons).

I have never worked on a hospital that had less than 72 hours of on-site fuel storage and thought that it was somewhere in one of the numerous codes. But after a long search I can not find any hard & fast rule on the On-Site Storage.

-Ed

 

[BJ Conner]

Thanks for all of your replies.

I am working for the General Contractor on a Large Central Plant for a Hospital and we are very early in the Design and budgeting phase. I suggested that they have 96 hours (@ 100% load) worth of fuel for the generators (~150,000 gallons) and the engineer wants to only install 30 hours at 90% load (~50,000 Gallons).

I have never worked on a hospital that had less than 72 hours of on-site fuel storage and thought that it was somewhere in one of the numerous codes. But after a long search I can not find any hard & fast rule on the On-Site Storage.

-Ed

Unless your just down the road from your fuel supplier 30 HRs is not enough.
However i just finished a job where we used the 2,500 KVA 3500 series CATs and the fuel consumption was about 175 GPH at full load. 50,000 gallons will run one of those 285 hours, two for 142.5 etc. IT soundls like someone doesn't know whats going on or wants to keep the cost low untill later. I have never seen that before <%^)]

I still recomend the White Book "IEEE Standard no. 602 IEEE Recommended Practice for Electric Systems in HeEalth Care Facilities"
IT will help sort out what should be on which generator systems( Emergency, standby, critical).

 

[topgone]

IEEE Whitebook is not so clear on this but it's going to be decided by how long one expects a certain disaster (that will interrupt fuel delivery) will be and the availability of re-supply. The book "noted" a fuel storage of not more than 30 days but not less than three days of fuel. But it mentioned recommending 14 days of fuel storage capacity.
Or take the lower (3 days), it's going to be 72 hours of fuel! You will have to weigh things out.

 

[steve66]

Its really a decision for the hospital. I don't see anything at all wrong with 30 hours. Most hospitals are just down the road from a fuel delivery place (at least any in larger towns and cities). And I think they could probably have a contract that would allow fuel delivery even on a holiday weekend.

I don't think the hospital I've seen has ever had an outtage that lasted more than a couple of hours. They have redundant utility feeds to the facility, and the utility gives them priority during outtages.

How many years is that 96 hours of fuel going to sit there before it gets used??

 

[ed downey]

Thanks for the info. I just Downloaded IEEE 602 and will review it this weekend. This is a facility that will have (9) 2500 kW diesel generators.

In the end the Hospital & the Engineer will make the final call I just want to make sure they have covered all of their bases since we have time during the design process.

-Ed

 

[steve66]

That's one big hospital.

Steve

 

[Ragin Cajun]

Thanks for the info. I just Downloaded IEEE 602 and will review it this weekend. This is a facility that will have (9) 2500 kW diesel generators.

In the end the Hospital & the Engineer will make the final call I just want to make sure they have covered all of their bases since we have time during the design process.

-Ed

Mercy! Where is that??!!

RC

 

[dbuckley]

The problem with really huge quantities of diesel is its going to go off before it gets used in anger, you need to burn the stuff off in a reasonable timeframe with the regular testing...

 

[Maders]

The 2006 AIA Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities requires 24 hours of stored fuel capacity for emergency generators [2.1-10.3.4.1 (2)]. These guidelines are enforced by the Joint Commission who is responsible for the accreditation of health-care organizations. Hope this helps.