Kitchen hood requirements in classroom

[bjack1100]

I am in South Carolina and have a project where the design professional has provided Residential Type hoods (with an integral fire suppression system) for a high school classroom (not a cafeteria). The architect indicates that there is no code requirement that requires them to provide a fire suppression system in the range hood of the Consumer Education Lab since the 2018 IBC does not require domestic cooking systems in Group E to be protected by a fire extinguishing system, only commercial cooking systems. The architect says that this is Occupancy Group E, therefore a fire suppression system is not required.

Is anyone aware of any code (IBC, NFPA, etc.) that would contradict his assumption? I haven't been able to find anything in the building code.

 

[Sifu]

First I would try to determine if this was a commercial cooking operation. The frequency, volume, appliances, and menu would come into play. If it is not cooking for sale, and/or on a large scale like a restaurant, the accumulation of grease may not warrant a suppression system. Think about the use a typical restaurant gets, from morning until late at night, without breaks, cooking all kinds of foods that produce lots of grease laden vapors, 7 days a week. A cooking lab probably does not rise anywhere near that level of use. If it is determined that a commercial cooking operation isn't being conducted then move to the question of the residential hood. And I don't know of any suppression requirement.

But maybe I don't understand what is going on. Are you saying he provided it, but he doesn't have to? I would make two observations: 1) People don't usually spend lots of money when they don't have to, so good on them, and 2) you should take yes for an answer since it is installed anyway, exceeding the minimum.

And hey, maybe in this E occupancy, they can teach a class on how to service and clean the ducts. Win-win.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

Simple, if they are domestic stoves go to IMC 505 if they are commercial stoves got to IMC 506. Just did an inspection at a group home that had 2 Residential Type hood (with an integral fire suppression system). It passed the plan review but they ended up installing commercial stoves. (Funny thing is these stoves had a shelf built over then that blocked the fire suppression.) Had to fail it because of the commercial stoves and then they went to domestic stoves to get passed. I don't think the integral fire suppression is required, it might be required by the insurance company or owner. Also the commercial stoves were installed on a wood floor and label on stove said to install on concrete floors only.

 

[klarenbeek]

The only place IBC/IMC would require fire suppression in a hood is either:

1. A Type I hood in a commercial kitchen. Required if you have either ranges listed for commercial use or if you have residential ranges being used for commercial purposes. If this is a Consumer Ed lab and not a culinary arts class in my opinion this is not commercial purposes.

2. Residential ranges installed in corridors in I-1 and I-2 occupancies require hoods listed to UL300A. These are the hoods that look like residential hoods on steroids, with grease filters and a built in fire suppression system. This type of hood may not be a bad idea in this case but definitely not required, at least by the I-codes.