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Code change could make fire sprinklers mandatory in NY

Other anecdotal evidence, a man was frying chicken in an apartment in Truckee CA, a fire started in the grease, the sprinkler head was stupidly over the cook top and there was an explosion killing two and severely injuring two more, I linked the story 10 years or so ago. I used to eat lunch at a hamburger joint in Moraga CA while I was building a house there, one day when I showed up there was a big crowd gather around windows were covered with plastic and those big dehumidifier fans were running, there was no fire but a sprinkler went off during the night flooding two restaurants, several months later after the restaurant was rebuilt I asked the manager what happened, she said a HVAC unit overheated in the space between the dropped ceiling and the roof setting off the sprinkler below. Damage was somewhere between 1 and two million dollars, by getting the mold remediation people in immediately there was no mold, but remediation and remodeling cost that much, I linked that story at the time as well. BTW, when the restaurant was rebuilt there was much less seating, when they rebuilt they had to meet accessibility standards reducing the seating and profits in the restaurant, I stopped going there since there were long lines at lunch time.
 
Getting back on track...

NYS is considering updating to the 2015 I-Codes with a limited NYS Supplement for each document.

Previously NYS published NYS Codes based on the I-Codes, currently the 2006 I-Codes, except for Energy which is based on the 2009.

Notice the cycles used... 2006 IRC did not require them.

If we amend them out it would be surprising, though consideration was given to a phase in period.

The strongest opposition is, of course, the Builders Association. Surprise, surprise, NOT.
 
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Living in northern NY with long cold winters freeze protection may be a problem. The jurisdiction I work in has a small municipal water system that serves many about 35% of our homes but the other areas, where most building is occurring, will have private wells and I am unsure how these will be handled. Last time I asked about this issue I was told that a storage tank and auxiliary pump could be required to meet supply. .
 
jwilly3879 said:
Living in northern NY with long cold winters freeze protection may be a problem. The jurisdiction I work in has a small municipal water system that serves many about 35% of our homes but the other areas, where most building is occurring, will have private wells and I am unsure how these will be handled. Last time I asked about this issue I was told that a storage tank and auxiliary pump could be required to meet supply. .
One example of a typical system that has been around for a long time

http://www.raimondofiresystems.com
 
will have private wells and I am unsure how these will be handled
a 6 inch well casing holds 1.47 gallons of water per foot. My submersible pump is sitting at 150 feet and the water level in the pipe is between 20 and 25 ft. Basically 125 X 1.47 = 183 gallons of storage and a well that is capable of putting out 17 gallons per minute

IRC

Where a well system, a water supply tank system or a combination thereof is used, any combination of well capacity and tank storage shall be permitted to meet the capacity requirement.

A second pump is not needed if the storage tank is designed for pressure.

Remember it is either 10 minutes or 15 minutes depending on the size of the house. Fire departments should not be demanding more water because their response time is longer.
 
According to NFPA's report from 2007-2011, 99.62% survival rate with hardwired smokes and CO.......it rockets to 99.87% with sprinklers and hard wire........
 
Agree that a tank/pump system would likely be the choice if the private well can't produce adequate flow.
 
I know this thread is effectively 'dead', but offer an update...
NYS has adopted the 2015 IRC AS AMENDED by our 2016 Uniform Code Supplement. That supplement removed the IRC sprinkler requirement and left in place the NYS requirement for sprinklers in 3 story homes only.
 
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