CHAPTER 2
Overview of a Basic Sprinkler System
Design (Getting Started)
T HIS chapter will take you through one fire sprinkler system
design project. This will be done as briefly as possible and
will cover simple basics. The layout and design for this project
is detailed on page 141, labeled Figure A-2. The depiction of
this hypothetical office/warehouse facility is naturally drawn
on something that can be mailed or carried around and is by
necessity two-dimensional. However, you must remember to
think of the layout and design in realistic three-dimensional
terms. The rate at which your job gets easier directly corre-
sponds to how well you can visualize the system layout as a
three-dimensional picture, and how that picture relates to the
finished structure and the structure’s other mechanical sys-
tems. Every component of the fire sprinkler system drawn on
the two-dimensional plan needs to be visualized effectively,
so that the engineer is assured that these components can, in
fact, be installed where shown.
As a fire sprinkler system designer for a particular job, the
job description could be chronologically listed as follows:
(1) Review building plans, and collect facts.
(2) “Block out” the building plan.
(3) Lay out the system.
(4) Calculate system piping for pipe sizing.
(5) “Cut” the pipe.
(6) Complete system details and add notes.
(7) Field check the job construction.
(8) Stocklist the job.
For our example, we will assume that this building is of
non-combustible construction: consisting of steel bar-joist
and I-beam structural materials. The best way to begin any
such new construction job is by patiently leafing through
all the architectural and mechanical plans that you have at
your disposal, to get a good feel for the job. This is done to
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familiarize yourself with the project, and to help you visua-
lize what the building is actually going to look like. Of utmost
importance is understanding how this building will be struc-
turally supported, for you will need to know where the bar
joists and solid beams are to be located. This information,
as we will see, is critical, and you cannot proceed without
it. You will also need to know where the air handling sys-
tem ductwork is going to be routed. Ideally, this information
will be obtained from the shop drawing made by the HVAC
contractor. However, the HVAC contractor often uses the ar-
chitect’s engineer’s preliminary HVAC plan as his own shop
drawing.
PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS
The architect’s job specifications must also be reviewed.
These should include a section (normally numbered any-
where from 15,300 to 15,700)1 reserved for the fire sprinkler
system installation. The specifications are often “canned,” or
just copied from an old job, and hence may not relate exactly
to or in entirety to the project that you will be working on.
But since the intent of the specifications must be adhered to
in your system design, any obvious divergences referred to
are typical discrepancies that the engineer will have to clarify
with the architect before proceeding, or as soon as possible.
The source of the building’s water supply is noted, usually
from the civil or plumbing drawings. The HVAC drawings
will let you know the whereabouts of the larger air handling
units and if any unit heaters are to be installed. On all draw-
ings, any noted elevations will give you the best information
possible for deciding on the optimum fire sprinkler pipe ele-
vations. But for the most part, the detailed information nec-
essary for the ideal situation, derived from the architectural
plan package, is limited and generally imperfect. “Mechani-
cal/ electrical engineers do design drawings, which are not the
installation drawings we work with daily. Plumbers and elec-
tricians do not do shop drawings as a rule, they use the design
drawings for installation. So these are the contract documents
we are expected to use to create our drawings” [1]. Prelimi-
nary fire sprinkler plans, if available, are a recurring enigma.
More often than not, they are either incomplete, or have been
prepared by someone inexperienced in fire protection engi-
neering to the extent that the plans contain numerous errors
and contradictions with regard to the specifications and/or the
hazard level of the building occupancy. Usually, these plans
should be ignored altogether.2 The point of this discussion
should be clear: the first phase of your work, the gathering of
information, is of top priority and cannot be bypassed. This
brings us to the first important rule for engineers:
IF YOU DON’T KNOW, PLEASE ASK!
A sprinkler contractor or his salesman has already con-
tracted to install this fire protection work for a specific dollar
amount. In doing so, he became a professional gambler: he
decided that if paid “X” thousand dollars, he could have this
job designed and installed completely, and make money be-
sides. He is the first person to ask, when you need to know
what type of materials should be used for the job, what the
building will be used for, if the specifications are pertinent
to the job, if expensive hanger materials have been figured
in the cost estimate, if sprinklers are to be located in the
geometric centers of drop-ceiling tiles, where the fire depart-
ment connection should be placed, what the available water
pressure is, and so on. The secondary source of inquiry to ob-
tain the answers that you need is traditionally the architect’s
office.
STARTING THE WORK ON YOUR PLAN
Tracing, or “blocking out” the building plan, is a vital
step in the engineering process if this hasn’t already been
done for you. Sometimes a mylar or vellum copy of the
building background can be obtained from the architect. If
an uncluttered print is not available, then blocking out is
necessary. Many engineers, who have access to a tracing
table, will block out the building on the reverse side of the
sprinkler plan, so that the subsequent drawing and erasing
and re-drawing of the system components is a less messy
task. Nevertheless, tracing the building plan on either side of
your mylar or vellum sheet is quite common and acceptable.
Choosing which of the architect’s plans to trace, and what
size sheet you should use for this work, is dependent on the
recognition of this principle:
DO NOT SCALE THE PLAN TOO SMALL!
An architect’s plan has its own syllogistics, but your
blueprints will be read in the field. Sometime when you
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are physically at a field installation, take a good look at
the blueprint that a fitter is using. It is typically covered
with thread-cutting oil fingerprint smudges, grease, and other
lovely dirt. And it is being read by a fitter in poor light who
doesn’t want to bother to put on his own prescription read-
ing glasses. This experience will help to make you aware
of the importance of not only keeping everything that you
draw as legible as possible, but also scaling the drawing large
enough so that there is room for all your notes and dimensions
to be readable.3 On a typical retail office project involving
piping concealed above a ceiling for example, a 1/8 = 1 0
scaled print is usually too small. The minimum scale for a
fire pump and bypass layout is generally considered to be
3/4 = 1 0 . A good scale to use for details and elevation sec-
tions is 3/8 = 1 0 . As a rule-of-thumb, a 1/8 = 1 0 scaled
print is typical, if the majority of piping shown is to be ex-
posed pipe.
A fire sprinkler plan by definition is what you see when
you look up. What goes on every blocked-out plan is the fire
sprinkler piping and sprinkler-heads, structural steel, and/or
ceiling grid layout. If time allows and if the designer can help
himself out by their inclusion, the drawing then must also
include possible obstructions such as lights, duct diffusers,
speakers located in ceilings, smoke detectors, medium and
large runs of ductwork, and track lighting. Obviously, we al-
ways need to show the locations of all walls, stairs, columns,
elevators, and the like, as well as all components of the sprin-
kler system itself. Potential sprinkler spray obstructions such
as baffles, soffits, crane rails, and overhead garage door tracks
need to be included as well.
An inked or CADD-generated drawing is generally re-
quired in instances where the plan must be on permanent
record. Government projects are notorious for this require-
ment. For various reasons that involve marketing and com-
pany image, there has been increased use of CADD-based
sprinkler system design products. But this trend has been
growing slowly, mainly because the CADD programs uti-
lized for the sprinkler industry have yet to show (with the
exception of the chore of stocklisting) any proven engineer-
ing labor time-savings. Users of CADD software maintain
that “with the shortage of good designers, sprinkler contrac-
tors must consider any alternative that holds the promise of
allowing the contractor to improve engineering efficiency.
CADD holds that promise, and properly implemented can
fulfill it. Improperly implemented, it may be both frustrating
and actually decrease design efficiency” [2]. Since this can be
debated elsewhere, this text will concern itself with designs
of typical, traditional projects drafted on paper, vellum, or
mylar.4 Since inks are commonly used, those who like to use
them will be able to understand how the following paragraphs
discuss the same principles, despite the redundant usage of
the “language” of various ink pen products.
Leads of differing hardness will make their image appear
lighter or darker on the print. For your purposes, it is best
to keep three mechanical pencils handy and loaded for use.
These would be used when drawing or tracing the different
plan elements. For instance, a 4H (harder) lead which will
appear lighter on the blueprint, would be used for: ceiling
grid lines, ductwork, diffusers, structural components, unit
heaters, or other items of lesser significance to the sprinkler
plan. Lighter lines are to be used at your discretion for ele-
ments of the actual building that you need to reference during
your phases of system design.
A 2H (medium grade) lead will be used extensively. Any-
thing drawn with the 2H lead, of course, will stand out a little
more on the print than the items used with the 4H lead. These
items should include pipe dimensions off of walls, details,
columns, point of compass, and so on; and definitely all of
the full-height building walls. An excellent article written
by Edwin Kotak discussing the day-to-day rigors of a fire
sprinkler designer, elicits his own personal technique [3]:
Shop drawings are done manually on 4 mil mylar. Piping,
partitions, and lettering are done with graphite leads. Ceiling
tile grid lines, ceiling mounted fixtures, structural members,
and the like are drawn in different colored pencils. This helps
to differentiate between bar joists and ceiling grid lines. When
the drawings are printed the colors come out as different
shades of blue making it easy to distinguish different items.
It is not necessary to include doors or doorway locations
on the print. As has already been stated, the sprinkler plan is
what you see when you look up and most doors do not extend
upwards to the ceiling. Usually, an open door is the same as
a wall for our purposes since the wall portion above a door
(above the lintel) will prevent the sprinkler from reaching
adjoining areas.
To achieve the greatest clarity and avoid reader confusion,
wall lines should not be shown crossing over each other:
It is obviously more difficult with the building-corner sketch
on the right to discern the distinct separateness of the rooms
as compared to those rooms depicted in the sketch on the left.
The sketch to the right will become a further complicated
mess when lines delineating ceiling grid, lights, and piping
are added.
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The softest (H or HB) lead that you are comfortable using
should be reserved for what you want stand out prominently
on your drawing; namely, sprinklers, sprinkler piping, and the
pipe size and length numerics. Whoever reads your plan, be it
the insurance company, fire department, or the field installer;
the whereabouts of the sprinkler-heads and the routing of the
sprinkler piping is always of the uppermost significance. This
lead is also normally used for header details, site plans, and
other building cross sections.
Every designer, over time, develops his own style and
methods in his plan preparation. These should be “user-
friendly.” The following example, again from Kotak, illus-
trates one time-saving procedure [4]:
Learning to use the copier for a lot more than just making
standard copies has been a benefit. I like to call it “selec-
tive xeroxing.” The copier can reduce, enlarge, darken and
lighten. This allows for many interesting possibilities. De-
pending on how much space is on the mylar and the scale of
the drawing, I reduce or enlarge the material and then copy
it onto an adhesive backed medium.
A reference table needs to be placed adjacent to the drafting
table in your office set-up. It should be large enough so that
architectural plans can rest on it wholly for reference. Since
I happen to be right-handed, I like to keep this table imme-
diately to the left of the drafting board. Any other means by
which you can organize your office to increase the efficiency
of your design operation, or to create a relaxed environment
in which to concentrate, will be greatly beneficial.
As previously mentioned, plan legibility is absolutely vital.
There is no great secret to achieving good legibility when
writing plan notes, except to write at a slower than normal
pace. The more time you take, the better your hand-scripted
words will look. I’m sure that you will find this to be true
if you try it out for yourself. While we are on the subject of
legibility, it is most imperative that all numbers are written
clearly. If your “4” looks like a “9,” the results could be
disastrous.
 To be fancy, or to delineate between different plan com-
ponents on the original mylar or vellum, some engineers like
to use different colored leads (or inks). But please take note
that some of these colors will reproduce better than others.
The lighter colors do not xerox very well at all. If you want to
draw something in color, and wish to play it safe, then only
use brown or red. Both brown and red blueprint and xerox
very well.
The blocking out of the building plan will complete the
“getting started” phase of your work. Immediately after com-
pleting this phase, it is necessary to jump right in to the task
of spotting sprinkler-heads on the plan. The reason I say that
it is necessary to jump right in to the next phase of the work,
is to avoid slacking off or procrastinating between phases.
All is well when you continue to proceed steadily.
CITATIONS
1. J. D. Harpole III, “Training & Design,” Fire Protection Contrac-
tor, Sept. 1990, p. 64.
2. Gayle Pennel, “Implications of CADD Based Sprinkler System
Design,” Fire Protection Contractor, Nov. 1990. p. 18.
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3. Edwin A. Kotak, Jr., “Fire Designs, Incorporated,” FPD Today,
Vol. 2, No. 3, May 1990, p. 9.
4. Edwin A. Kotak, Jr., “Fire Designs, Incorporated,” FPD Today,
Vol. 2, No. 3, May 1990. p. 9.
ENDNOTES
1
Recently, (September 1995), the Construction Specifications Insti-
tute has revised its master format. Under the new setup, the speci-
fications for automatic fire suppression systems would be found in
Section 13900.
2
The contractor’s salesperson responsible for selling the specific
contract is the individual best informed to ask about the actual
value of the prepared preliminary fire sprinkler plan, if there is
one.
3
In the interests of keeping referenced drawings compact for the
purposes of this book, please take note that some of the figures
displayed in the “Figures and Photos” appendix of this text are not
shown in actual scale, and have been “shrunk” to accommodate the
physical book size.
4
While at the time of this writing the use of CADD is rapidly becom-
ing widely utilized in the industry, it remains the designer’s option
to choose drafting or the exclusive use of the computer to produce
his work.