Barriers and Incentives Related to the Installation of Home Fire Sprinklers

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

2. Introduction • 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

3. Residential Fire Sprinklers and Water Conservation 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

4. Study Tasks – Water Usage • 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

5. Water Usage Results • 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

6. 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

7. Study Tasks – Water Usage • 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

8. Water Usage Results • 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

9. 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%

10. Meter Performance-Study Tasks • 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

11. Water Meter Performance • 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

12. Water Meter Performance

13. Meter Performance Results • 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

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

15. Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities Importantfactors: • Time specific • Single issue • Futureconsiderations

16. Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities Researchobjectives: • Identify incentives/types • Characterize incentives • Estimatethevalue of incentives

17. Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities Types of incentives: • Financialtrade-offs - Developer - Builders - Homeowners • On-sitedesignflexibility • Off-sitedesignflexibility • Indirectvalue

18. Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities 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

19. Incentives for the Use of Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems in U.S. Communities Future research: • Identify the most influential types of incentives • Identify the most impactful stakeholder group to target with incentives.

20. 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