Sprinkler System Without Fire Alarm

[Npstewart]

I have a sprinkler system in a multiple tenant building. Our new tenant is taking a portion of the building and does not want to install a fire alarm system. They don't require a fire alarm but im sure there is something that is required to notify the occupants if there sprinkler system goes off.

Does anyone have any experience with this? The only thing I found in my building code is 903.4.2 in the IBC.

Thanks

 

[construct]

I am not on the fire side of code inspections but according to the IFC, certain types of uses require retroactive alarm systems in existing buildings. I think that automatic sprinkler systems require occupant notification. Alarm systems would be covered in NFPA 72 and sprinkler systems in NFPA 13. I would talk to your Fire Code Official.

 

[petersonra]

They don't require a fire alarm but im sure there is something that is required to notify the occupants if there sprinkler system goes off.

Wouldn't the water coming down from the ceiling be adequate notification?

I don't know if it is a code requirement but it might be a requirement of the insurance company. I was remotely involved in the installation of a single sprinkler head over a gas fired water heater located in a utility closet once. It had to be monitored by local code. I can't tell you how much that single sprinkler head cost. When I heard about it, I suggested just replacing the gas water heater with a 5 gallon electric water heater. It only supplied the sinks in two bathrooms and a small kitchen at a club I belonged to.

 

[marti smith]

The last sentence of 903.4.2 cover it: the sprinkler system actuates the fire alarm system. (petersonra=smartypants!)

 

[chris kennedy]

Wouldn't the water coming down from the ceiling be adequate notification?

(petersonra=smartypants!)

Pretty funny stuff right there.:lol:

 

[hurk27]

Here with the over 5k sf requiring a building to be sprinkled code, many buildings are sprinkeled, but it is not required to be monitored, but it does have to have local annunciation, it is very common to have just one inside bell or horn and one outside bell or horn, which is also used for the tamper side in many of them, all done at line voltage.

 

[hurk27]

Pretty funny stuff right there.:lol:

I can see the warning sign on the wall: "If raining inside leave building immediately"

 

[RICK NAPIER]

If your using NFPA 13 than an alarm is required when you have more then 20 heads. This could be a water gong. This is found in 8.17.1.

 

[gadfly56]

If your using NFPA 13 than an alarm is required when you have more then 20 heads. This could be a water gong. This is found in 8.17.1.

Rick, just so I'm clear, I believe you mean "alarm" in the sense of notification that water is flowing, not "alarm" in the sense of a fire alarm control panel.

I am amazed when I look at NJ's edition of the IBC as to how little fire protection you can get away with. If the building is fully sprinklered, a manual pull station(s) and notification appliances are all you need.

 

[petersonra]

Here with the over 5k sf requiring a building to be sprinkled code

We have some kind of firewall between our office and shop that apparrently makes them effectively two seperate buildings for the purposes of requiring sprinklers.

The shop area is something like 100 SF smaller than the maximum area that is allowed to be unsprinklered. I suspect that is not a coincidence given the expense of sprinkler systems.

 

[MadWulf]

Typically all you would need is an audio alarm on the outside of the building. Most local jurisdictions I have dealt with across the US require an external horn/strobe connected to the flow switch.

Some jurisdictions will require you to have a dialer and monitoring. All depends on what the local AHJ desires.

 

[Npstewart]

Whenever two spaces are separated with a four hour fire wall, they are effectively considered two separate buildings.

 

[RICK NAPIER]

Responding to an earlier post yes I meant alarm as in a notification device not as an alarm system.

And Four hour fire walls are generally required only for certain H use groups. Fire walls can be as little as two hours in some circumstances. You can find the requirements for this in the IBC 706 if your jurisdiction uses the IBC.

 

[Npstewart]

If this is in a MULTI tenant building with multiple building entrances, would this tenant need their OWN exterior horn/strobe on the exterior of the building that is connected to the flow switch? Or if there was a existing one on the exterior of the building would that suffice?

 

[gadfly56]

If this is in a MULTI tenant building with multiple building entrances, would this tenant need their OWN exterior horn/strobe on the exterior of the building that is connected to the flow switch? Or if there was a existing one on the exterior of the building would that suffice?

In a multi-tenant building, the riser room for the sprinkler system is going to reside inside the space of some random tenant, unless it's a separate cutoff room accessible only from the outside of the building. The riser is no more the property/responsibility of that tenant than any other tenant, unless the lease says otherwise. Unless the AHJ says otherwise, only one (1) notification device is installed to indicate water flow, usually on an exterior wall of the riser room. Whether the device is part of the fire alarm system or a separate 24 vDC/AC, 120 vAC, or water motor gong, it has to keep sounding as long as water is running.