Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards Council has banned the use of antifreeze solution in residential fire sprinkler systems for new construction until further action by NFPA consensus standards committees, and NFPA has issued a follow-up to its July 2010 safety alert to provide updated guidance on the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems. The council action and updated alert follow new research that was conducted after a fire incident raised concerns about antifreeze solutions in residential fire sprinkler systems. The incident involved a grease fire in a kitchen where a sprinkler with a high concentration of antifreeze deployed. The fire resulted in a single fatality and serious injury to another person.

“Fire sprinklers are one of the most effective ways to save lives and property from fire,” said James M. Shannon, president of NFPA. “We have acted quickly to conduct additional research in order to provide the public and our technical committees with as much information as possible regarding the use of antifreeze in sprinkler systems.”

According to NFPA, the home is the place where most fire fatalities occur, and when sprinklers are present, the risk of dying in a home fire decreases by 83%.

Shannon said the key findings from the new report were:

* Antifreeze solutions with concentrations of propylene glycol exceeding 40% and concentrations of glycerin exceeding 50% have the potential to ignite when discharged through automatic sprinklers.

* Both the 40% propylene glycol and 50% glycerin solutions demonstrated similar performance to that of water alone for fire control throughout the series of tests.

* Based on the results of this research, antifreeze solutions of propylene glycol exceeding 40% and glycerin exceeding 50% are not appropriate for use in residential fire sprinkler systems.

* Consideration should be given to reducing the acceptable concentrations of these antifreeze solutions by an appropriate safety factor.

New Systems

NFPA standards prohibit the use of antifreeze in residential fire sprinkler systems in new construction following the August 16, 2010 issuance of tentative interim amendments (TIA) to NFPA 13, 13D and 13R. If you are putting in a new residential fire sprinkler system (including all NFPA 13D applications and the dwelling unit portions of NFPA 13 and NFPA 13R systems), refer to the latest editions of NFPA 13, 13D and 13R, as amended by TIA numbers 1000, 995, and 994.

Existing Systems

* Fire sprinklers are extremely effective fire protection devices, significantly reducing deaths, injuries and property loss from fire. These systems should not be disconnected.

* Residential fire sprinkler systems, whenever possible, should not contain an antifreeze solution.

* If you have, or are responsible for, an existing residential occupancy with a fire sprinkler system, contact a sprinkler contractor to check and see if there is antifreeze solution in the system.

* If there is antifreeze solution in the system, determine if other means, such as insulation, can be used to provide adequate freeze protection.

* If there is no viable alternative to antifreeze solutions, NFPA recommends the following:
- Use only propylene glycol or glycerin antifreeze solution.
- The antifreeze solution should be the lowest possible concentration required for the needed freeze potential but under no circumstance should the antifreeze solution exceed a maximum concentration of 40% of propylene glycol or a maximum concentration of 50% of glycerin. Consideration should be given to reducing these concentrations by an additional safety factor.
- The antifreeze solution should only be a factory pre-mixed; use of factory pre-mixed solutions is essential to ensure the proper concentration level and solution integrity.
- Antifreeze solutions should only be used with the approval of the local authority having jurisdiction.

The full NFPA Safety Alert Regarding Antifreeze in Residential Sprinkler Systems and more information on this topic can be found at http://www.nfpa.org/antifreeze.

The Commonwealth Court of PA has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the PBA and other petitioners against the PA Department of Labor and Industry (L&I). The lawsuit, filed last year, was an attempt to stop the enforcement of the adopted 2009 IRC requiring fire sprinklers in one- and two-family homes and townhomes. The court had previously denied an injunction filed by the PBA to stop the enforcement.

In an opinion issued on August 25, 2010 the court cited The Pennsylvania Construction Code Act (PCCA) enacted by the General Assembly in 1999 and its application to “construction, alteration, repair and occupancy of all buildings in Pennsylvania. “ The court affirms that Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code (UCC) is “an effort to insure uniform, modern construction standards and regulations, and to promote safety, health and sanitary construction throughout the Commonwealth.”

In its lawsuit the PBA claimed that “the new and amended provisions of the 2009 codes, especially the sprinkler requirements, have the effect of increasing the cost of an average newly-constructed home by approximately $15,000.00 and that “the additional costs will have a significant impact on the demand for their home building and remodeling services, and will adversely affect the availability of financing of homes.” Their claim additionally asserted that the PCCA action is unconstitutional.

Citing the intent of the PCCA, the court ruled that “ultimately, the rules, regulations and standards of the regulatory agency must be reasonable, understandable, available, and must not violate the constitutional rights of any citizen.” The court found that “petitioners were represented at each stage of the process of L&I’s adoption of the 2009 version of the UCC. The fact that their input failed to carry the day…does not make the process unconstitutional.” They found “their argument disingenuous.”

This action by the court represents a great victory for the people of PA. All new homes will be built to meet the standards of life safety now included in all model codes.

View Court Document

Maria Figueroa, NFPA
www.firesprinklerinitiative.org

On September 21, 2008 the International Code Council (ICC) adopted amendment RB64-07/08 to the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC). This amendment mandates that beginning January 1, 2011 all new one and two family residential dwellings along with townhomes be equipped with fire sprinklers.

First and foremost, I have to admit that I’m a passionate fire and life safety guy who believes these changes are long overdue. The fact of the matter is that the fire losses in the United States are staggering in terms of the lives and property we lose each year. Because the losses occur in one’s and two’s every day, rather than a few catastrophic events each month, they go largely ignored by the national media and under the radar of most Americans. Over a decade ago I heard a keynote speaker address a sprinkler trade association’s annual convention where he noted that the national yearly losses caused by fires in single family dwellings alone is the same number of people we would lose if two 747 jet airliners collided over the U.S. every month. He asked rhetorically if we thought there would be a change in the way flights were scheduled or flown if that actually happened twice in a year, let alone every month for years. You could have heard a pin drop.

In my twenty plus years lobbying for and promoting fire sprinkler installations, I’ve heard opponents talk about the cost versus the benefit and focus on the fact that today’s construction is safer than older homes with more electrical outlets and better circuit breakers, etc. Let’s be clear and factual, the three greatest causes of fires in the home are men, women and children. Yes, there are electrical fires and they account for about 15% of fire ignition sources according to statistics. However, unattended candles, smoking materials and cooking equipment account for the lion’s share of ignition sources; In other words people driven, not mechanical.

At some point along the way, society accepted the fact that we were going to wear a seat belt while driving our cars. Many of us hated that and some people still don’t buckle up today.

Regardless, our laws caught up with the financial reality that way too many people were dying or injured beyond where they would be had they just buckled up. The cost was too great not to impose this new law in the face of proven factual data. There can be no mistake that we are at the same point with residential fire sprinklers and all of the fighting, legal wrangling and attempts to roll-back the codes to avoid accepting the inevitability of this new mandate are ridiculous. Fifty years from now, no one will want to live in a home without fire sprinklers.

Pennsylvania has been a leader in this effort, becoming one of the first states to adopt the 2009 IRC, which includes the residential fire sprinkler requirements that will take effect January 1, 2011. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) have made several attempts to block the sprinkler requirement. When voted on by the Uniform Construction Code (UCC) Review and Advisory Council the sprinkler requirements were upheld. Further legislative attempts by NAHB and PBA have been denied. The latest attempt is PBA’s filing of an application for summary relief which will be heard during a June session. Despite these attempts, the 2009 IRC is in effect today in Pennsylvania and the residential fire sprinkler requirement is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2011.

Realistically, we should expect the majority of these systems to be plumbing systems as opposed to stand alone fire sprinkler systems in the traditional sense of the term. By that I mean that many piping systems will be multipurpose piping systems supplying water to plumbing fixtures and fire sprinkler nozzles, through a shared plumbing system. As such, the work is more likely to be performed by the residential plumbing contractor than a stand-alone fire sprinkler contractor.

With the current state of our economy and the market conditions, most plumbers will be happy to accept the challenges and opportunities this new legislation brings to their doorsteps. But, what is it they say about no free lunches? Business related considerations such as licensing and insurance must be addressed and proper training must be obtained to ensure this work is performed correctly. Fire Smarts and Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) association are working together to deliver training programs geared to take experienced plumbers and add the skill set for residential fire sprinkler installation. As you consider this opportunity for your business invest in training to understand these systems and the codes that govern them. While these systems are pipe and fittings, there life safety application includes requirements and liability beyond typical domestic plumbing.

Bob Caputo is a Fire Smarts Faculty member with more than 25 years experience in the fire protection community. He has been an instructor since 1989, teaching seminars for NFPA and the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA). He holds a Certified Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS) designation, fire sprinkler contracting licenses in multiple states, and serves on the NFPA 13 Installation and NFPA 25 Committees.