Sprinkler head proximity to heating?

[SamFIRT]

Do you FRA / Technical FAS people out there know of legislation / regulations that restrict the distance a wall mounted electric fan heater (over a door angled downwards) should be spaced from a red bulb’d sprinkler head?

Obviously if the heater is angled to heat the bulb there may be practical reasons for not mounting a heater too close to a bulb but is there any guidance as to distance that you people know of?

Thanks in anticipation

 

[Mike Buckley]

The only guidance I know is that there should be no obstructions within 500mm of the sprinkler head, but this is just the general guidance.

[SamFIRT]

Thanks Mike.

 

[Phoenix]

This is not directly addressed in the LPC rules but I don't know about other standards. 

It's not just the heat from the heater but also the air movement that might be a problem (stopping hot gases getting to the head).  Without knowing the exact configuration it's tricky to be precise.  You might need to consider actuation temperature (red or yellow? or even green?) and possibly even the RTI of the head.  The objectives you should keep in mind are, will it go off if there's a fire, can the heater make it go off, and, if it does go off when there's a fire, will the water go where it's meant to?

There might be some guidance about it because there's stuff about HVAC systems and detector locations, but I don't know of any.

Stu

[kurnal]

The FM datasheet 2.0 covers the control of air velocity in the vicinity of sprinkler heads but I envisaged this as one of those old wall mounted electical fan heaters. It needs to be considered in respect of whether it is an obstruction to the umbrella spray pattern of the nearest sprinkler head.