Barriers and incentives related to the installation of home fire sprinklers

Kathleen Almand- Executive Director
Barriers and Incentives Related to the Installation of Home Fire Sprinklers

Fire sprinklers reduce fire death risk
All model safety and building codes require fire sprinklers in all new homes
Community based barriers
Additional benefits of sprinklers - water conservation
Incentives to increase use of fire sprinkler systems
Introduction

Water usage and water meter performance during residential sprinkler system actuation in residences and to provide guidance information on this topic in a format suitable for water utilities and local jurisdictions
Residential Fire Sprinklers and Water Conservation

Study of water consumption during fire events and resulting impacts on water infrastructure demand:
Estimation of water used per home fire by responding fire services
Calculations of the expected water discharged by fire sprinklers per home fire
Estimation of the reduced water infrastructure demand when fire sprinklers are present in all homes within a community
Study Tasks – Water Usage

Water used by fire service:
- Average of 3,524 gallons per fire
- An approximate 10-times increase when
Fire extended beyond the room of origin
Increase of fire involvement from visible flame and smoke to fully-involved fire
Water Usage Results

Related studies and results:
Scottsdale, AZ –Automatic Sprinklers: A 15-Year Study
-Average 2,935 gallons per fire used by fire services
-Sprinkler discharged up to 341 gallons per fire
Available here: http://www.homefiresprinkler.org/FS/FSMunicipalRports.html
FM Global – Environmental Impact of Automatic Fire Sprinklers
-Reduction in water usage by fire sprinkler system could be as much as 91% compared to manual suppression
-Approximately 10 times increase - similar to this study
Available here:
http://www.fmglobal.com/page.aspx?id=04010300
Water Usage Results

Calculations of the expected water discharged by fire sprinklers per home fire:
- hydraulic calculations on fire sprinkler designs for typical one- and two-family homes
- calculations assumed a one- or two-sprinkler operation of highest water flow and greatest system pressure demand
Study Tasks – Water Usage

Calculations based on most probable scenario based on actual sprinkler design plans:
- single sprinkler operation
- average system discharge 28 gpm
- exceeds required minimum flow of 18 gpm
- system discharge up to 280 gallons per fire
Water Usage Results

Estimation of the reduced water infrastructure demand when fire sprinklers are present in all homes within a community:
- projected infrastructure demand is reduced at least 47%
Water Usage Results

Evaluation of the performance of water meters when used to supply residential fire sprinkler systems
Series of experiments on commercial residential water meters under a range of flow conditions to investigate:
- pressure loss profiles
- metering accuracy
- functional integrity
Meter Performance-Study Tasks

Failure of water meter components
- Observation of water meter
- Failure based on reduction in flow rate and/or pressure
- 20 minute test per flow condition
Water Meter Performance

Water Meter Performance

No water meters failed resulting in flow obstruction during any tests
Post test visual inspections indicated no signs of physical water damage to any meter
All tested residential water meters are capable of handling the minimum fire sprinkler flows required by NFPA 13D
All tested meters are capable of handling the expected 28 pgm for single sprinkler operation without failure and with metering accuracy
Meter Performance Results

Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities
Whystudy incentives?
Toidentifytheirvalue
Tounderstandtheimpact of thesevalues
Toincreasethe use of firesprinklers

Importantfactors:
Time specific
Single issue
Futureconsiderations

Researchobjectives:
Identify incentives/types
Characterize incentives
Estimatethevalue of incentives

Types of incentives:
Financialtrade-offs
- Developer
- Builders
- Homeowners
On-sitedesignflexibility
Off-sitedesignflexibility
Indirectvalue

Estimatedvalue of incentives:
Homeowner-Oriented Incentives $145
Builder-Oriented Incentives $1,949
Developer-Oriented Incentives $1,271
Typical incentives to home builders offset 33% of system cost

Future research:
Identify the most influential types of incentives
Identify the most impactful stakeholder group to target with incentives.

Thank you!
Questions?
Maria Figueroa – Regional Director
Fire Prevention Field Office
mfigueroa@nfpa.org
Jonathan Hart – Assoc. Engineer
National Fire Protection Association
jhart@nfpa.org

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Barriers and incentives related to the installation of home fire sprinklers

by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) on Jul 11, 2011

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Barriers and incentives related to the installation of home fire sprinklers — Presentation Transcript