When process equipment passes through the floor of a fire compartment, does the area of that fire compartment need to be added together?
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As the title suggests, due to process requirements, the equipment needs to pass through the floor slabs of fire compartments; if the floors are stacked on top of each other, the area of the fire compartments exceeds the allowed limits. I would like to ask everyone, how is this situation handled in such cases? When the equipment passes through the floor of a fire compartment, is it possible to avoid adding the areas of fire compartments between floors?
Relatively loose regulation: It is sufficient to ensure proper sealing around the equipment, provide insulation for it, and install cover plates at the edges surrounding it; however, this is not a long-term solution. Stringent supervision: Both the upper and lower sections are included in the same fire compartment; a full-sprinkler system is employed, which increases the area of a single fire compartment. At the same time, the design is appropriately adjusted and optimized to meet regulatory requirements. This represents the best solution and a reliable guarantee for long-term stable operation. However, this approach will result in higher investment costs for fire protection measures.
In fact, regarding the layout of equipment and pipelines, as well as the convenience of operation, material transportation, and equipment maintenance, as long as there is proper sealing between the different floors, each floor can be considered a fire compartment. The drafting unit of the Building Code also explained it in this way, but many local regulatory authorities and experts, based on a mechanistic understanding of the code, require that the fire compartments for each floor be calculated separately. In fact, the most crucial aspect is a design based on risk assessment; as long as true intrinsically safe design is achieved, it’s no problem to treat each floor as a separate fire compartment. Relying on limiting distance or the area of a single region only provides temporary solutions, not a permanent fix.
Thank you very much for your reply. May I ask that as long as there is proper sealing between each floor level, each floor can be considered a fire compartment? This is also how the drafting unit of the Building Code explained it......... Do you have any document or basis for this explanation? Thank you very much
Thank you for your reply. We have installed sprinklers, and the fire resistance rating of the building is grade 1; yet when performing the cumulative calculation for fire compartments, the requirements are still not met. What should we do in this situation? Is expert review through performance analysis the approach, or are there other methods?
This is the oral response from Mr. Wang Zongcun of the Tianjin Fire Research Institute, the organization responsible for drafting the Building Code; they are unwilling to provide written materials. In fact, most accidents can be attributed to issues related to intrinsic safety, but many experts and regulatory bodies in China bring in these non-critical factors as well. . .
The device itself has passed through the firewall; in other words, the two areas are now connected, and the calculations for these two areas should be performed together! Disposal options: 1. Install an automatic sprinkler system. 2. Reduce the fire hazard category of the factory building. 3. Re-establish fire separation by enclosing all equipment within a single compartment
Don’t confuse civil construction with industrial building.
Re-separate the fire compartments; please have the process team optimize the design parameters.
Does the equipment contain Class A or Class B substances? If so, a separation needs to be made between the upper and lower layers