The requirements for using antifreeze in a sprinkler system have been constantly changing over the past few years. For New Englanders (or anyone willing to drive/fly/ski to New England) looking for a comprehensive look at the "how and why" behind these changes and an update on where NFPA 13, 13R , 13D and 25 landed on this topic, I will be presenting this information at the 11th Biennial Fire Protection Systems Product Show held in Randolph, MA this thursday at 3:00 PM. For more information, or to register for this event, visit the New England Association of Fire Protection System... Continue reading

NFPA 13, The Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, along with the other sprinkler installation standards, NFPA 13R, NFPA 13 D, NFPA 24, and NFPA 291 are currently open for public input. Public input is the term now used at NFPA to address a code change proposal to a technical document. Submitting public input can be done in three easy steps. 1)Log in to the document information page of the standar d you would like to submit public input too. (for NFPA 13 use www.nfpa.org/13). 2)Find the code section you would like to modify and enter your changes in... Continue reading

It would be nice to think that we have answers to all of the worlds fire protection problems. Unfortunately, as the world evolves, new challenges and new questions arise that drive the fire protection community into problem solving mode. Some of these new challenges will be addressed at SUPDET 2013 during the Suppression Research Charrette. Topics from IBC storage of flammable liquids to sloped ceilings in warehouses will be up for discussion during the charrette that will take place on Wednesday February 27 from 1 pm to 5 PM. This event is free to all SUPDET attendees and will be... Continue reading

One of the highlights of the first annual NFPA Eurocon conference in Amsterdam was the interaction between the attendees and the instructors. Whether it was during a coffee break, an Ask the Expert session, or the networking event, the attendees had constant access to the NFPA instructor staff (Kristin Bigda, Guy Colonna and Ron Cote) and NFPA technical committee members and technical committee chairs (Robert Caputo and William Koffel). This interaction was of benefit both to the attendee, who got to ask technical questions about NFPA codes and standards to the people who develop them, but also for the instructors... Continue reading

Well we have the answer. Join me this Friday at 2 PM ET for the latest edition of NFPA Office Hours where I will be discussing the latest on NFPA 4, The Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Testing. The technical committee responsible for this standards is in the process of wrapping up their first draft meeting and the document is taking shape. During this session, I will be addressing the following information which is included in the NFPA 4 First Draft (and answering your questions too): The Scope of NFPA 4. Who is involved in the... Continue reading

The2011 Edition of NFPA 25 is being considered for adoption by jurisdictions across the country. This latest edition has seen significant changes from prior editions (2002 and 2008 editions) and is the considered the industry standard for ITM activities associated with water-based fire protection systems. Changes to this edition include modifications to fire pump operating test frequencies, owners requirements and procedures for dealing with antifreeze in existing systems. NFPA will be providing a webinar to discuss these changes and dozens more. The webinar will follow the 2011 edition of NFPA 25 chapter-by-chapter identifying what has changed and more importantly why... Continue reading

The NFPA 25 Technical Committee on Inspection, Testing and Maintenance (ITM) of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems has spent the last three days tackling public and committee comments as part of the A2013 code revision cycle. Not unlike previous revision cycles, the NFPA 25 technical committee was faced with many challenges to further refine the industry-standard on ITM activity for water-based systems. During the ROP stage, there were several important items addressed that resulted major departures from the 2011 edition of the standard. Through the hard work of the technical committee members, who have put in a tremendous amount of time... Continue reading

NFPA 13 and 13R each had only a handful of Certified Amending Motions(CAM) that were heard by the NFPA general membership at June's NFPA Annual Technical Meeting(ATM). While the number of CAMs was fairly limited compared to past ATM's when sprinklers were on the docket, there was one major change that was made to the committees ROP/ROC work. The most significant change was to the new code language laying out requirements for "CPVC" compatibility. Both NFPA 13 and 13R, NFPA 13 R with the help of the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee, added language at the ROP and ROC that requires... Continue reading

The Technical Committee on Commissioning and Integrated Testing (TC) is meeting in San Diego this week and is knee deep in NFPAs new code development process. The TC is in the middle of their "first draft" meeting as they work towards developing the 2015 editions of NFPA 3 Recommended Practice on Commissioning of Fire Protection Systems and NFPA 4 Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Testing. The new software that is used to execute the new process allows the technical committee to resolve multiple public inputs with a single committee action, all while providing the TC with... Continue reading

At the August Standards Council meeting, the Council approved four Tentative Interim Amendments (TIAs) dealing with the use of antifreeze in sprinkler systems. The TIAs approved for NFPA 13 and NFPA 13R require the use of a listed antifreeze solution for all new systems. The listing for the antifreeze solution must indicate that the solution will not ignite when discharged from a sprinkler. A similar TIA was also approved for NFPA 13D systems. The baseline requirement in the NFPA 13D TIA requires all new 13D antifreeze systems to utilize a listed solution. The difference between the NFPA 13 and 13R... Continue reading

In addition to the traditional sprinkler seminars that NFPA offers year round, there is a new one day seminar that will be offered starting in September to address the changes to the 2013 editions of NFPA 13, 13R, 13D and NFPA 20. This seminar is great for designers, installers, AHJs and insurance Representatives who have a grasp on the concepts and structure of the NFPA sprinkler standards and are looking for the latest and greatest info from the technical committees. The NFPA sprinkler standards saw the reorganization of several chapters, including the two rack storage chapters in NFPA 13 and... Continue reading

NFPA will be publishing a new handbook which will be available to the public on August 24, 2012 dealing with commissioning and integrated testing of fire protection and life safety systems. This new handbook will contain traditional commentary to the sections of NFPA 3, to guide the user through the commissioning process. The handbook is especially helpful as commissioning is relatively new to the fire protection of life safety industry and this book is written to help provide a foundation of knowledge for those new to the commissioning world. NFPA 3 is the first fire protection document of its kind... Continue reading