Installing a Fire Sprinkler System in my garage

[dogdas]

I constructed a stick build 30 x 35 x 11 detached garage. I used 5/8 sanded plywood for all the interior walls and lid mainly because I didn't want to search for a stud all the time when mounting something.

I am going to stain the walls a light oak color and paint the lid solid semi gloss white.

Due to the extreme combustable nature that plywood is and the fact that I am a piping guy I will be installing a dry fire sprinkler system in there with a feed below ground from my main house water supply. The garage is heated and has emergency power supply run to it.

Does anyone else on here have a wet or dry fire sprinkler system in their garage? The cost is pretty cheap for me, about $600 total and I figure that is cheap insurance since we have a volunteer FD out here.

 

[MFortie]

Yes. Not by choice though. The County made me put a system in my 40'x60' red iron 'storage' building.

I have a neighbor (elderly gent) who installs sprinklers. He quoted me $4500 (first time around) for a system and insisted I needed a 4" line to feed the system! I already had a 1-1/2" line stubbed to the building from my 10k gallon storage tank. The booster pump is a variable speed 3HP at the tank.

I told him he was crazy (at 86 years old, maybe he is?) He came back and said he re-calculated and said I could get away with a 2" line (and the price came back higher!)

I ended up finding another company that does commercial work (family owned) and one of the family members designed it with the 1-1/2" line, did the install, got me through the County BS, and did it all for $2200.

Can't say I'm a fan of having to install the system, but am more than pleased with the young man who took care of it for me!

Mark

 

[Milton Shaw]

Last year we had a freeze that was much colder than any we had for several years and lot of sprinkler systems froze and flooded a lot of apartments. One complex had 134 apartments with busted sprinklers and flood damage. Even worse because the sprinklers were disabled the complex had to hire off duty firemen to be present in each building until the sprinklers were working again. That was over $20,000 in expense just for firewatch. So make sure you have plans to keep the heat on and have emergency heat available to keep it from freezing.

 

[Chris705]

dogdas - will your dry system have backflow protection and a dry valve with compressed air? If you have to buy parts I doubt you can do it for $600 but you may have access to used parts. I don't have a system in my garage but if I had the money I see in many of the really nice garages in GJ I would do a small dry system or perhaps just install a backflow and use glycol as an antifreeze. As a volunteer fireman and a facility architect I have seen first hand how good a fire protection system can be (at both containing or putting out fires).....and while large systems need big suppy lines small residential systems often use much smaller mains. Dry systems take bit longer to flow the water to the fire but all in all getting water on a fire until the FD arrives can surely slow down its advance. Good luck and it would be good to hear more of your systems details as you get it engineered. Folks may not know how easy it is to install such a system like a residential system.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Hey, Chris, I hate to disagree with you about dry systems taking longer to get the water out, but I have to. I was standing in a loading dock at a local large company, watching an electrician change light fixtures in the dock, because I was getting to old ones.

He drove the lift into a sprinkler head, which was in a dry system, and before he could say "oh ****" he was drenched. I was farther away, and ran like hell, and stayed dry, but it sure didn't take long for that pipe to fill and start squirting out water.


JBP


.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Just some thoughts-

ANY sprinkler system needs a backflow preventer if it's tied to the domestic water.

Feed line size is based on density and flow. You can't just make a blanket statement that **" feed lines are OK.

Tommy

 

[redmondjp]

Just some thoughts-

ANY sprinkler system needs a backflow preventer if it's tied to the domestic water.

Feed line size is based on density and flow. You can't just make a blanket statement that **" feed lines are OK.

Tommy

True this!

That's why there are registered, licensed professionals who spend their entire careers designing fire sprinkler systems. It is a very specialized profession that most people probably aren't even aware of. I work with a few of these people (my boss was one before he became the boss) - on our building project right now, we have had fire protection/life safety meetings every week for over a year now. And we're not doing the design, just the review.

 

[dogdas]

dogdas - will your dry system have backflow protection and a dry valve with compressed air? If you have to buy parts I doubt you can do it for $600 but you may have access to used parts. I don't have a system in my garage but if I had the money I see in many of the really nice garages in GJ I would do a small dry system or perhaps just install a backflow and use glycol as an antifreeze. As a volunteer fireman and a facility architect I have seen first hand how good a fire protection system can be (at both containing or putting out fires).....and while large systems need big suppy lines small residential systems often use much smaller mains. Dry systems take bit longer to flow the water to the fire but all in all getting water on a fire until the FD arrives can surely slow down its advance. Good luck and it would be good to hear more of your systems details as you get it engineered. Folks may not know how easy it is to install such a system like a residential system.

Yes Chris, it will have a RPZ (DCBP) and as for the dry valve I will use a simple teflon check valve. The water will come from a heated space in the home and I have compressed air to keep the system charged. I am a plumber that does commercial and industrial piping. The heads are the biggest cost and black pipe is pretty cheap. I also have a flow indicator that I will set up to an alarm so if I am home I know there is a problem. Once I get a firm layout design I'll post some pictures.

 

[bigpokie]

A RPZ ? I thought fire had to be a DC. And what device are you getting that cheap?