
In plumbing, we always learn the way to raise the pressure on a water piping system is to either have a raised tank or a pump and accumulator system. The nitrogen connection is the energy source that raises the pressure of the water on the sprinkler system.

Franz can assist you in obtaining the necessary controls for the system. One of the beauties of this system is that it will work when the power goes out. The nitrogen supply is controlled with regulators and special connections that Franz has designed. That’s right, he uses a nitrogen bottle you can buy from any welding supply house. Then he connects a nitrogen supply to the sprinkler system. Once the system is filled, Franz isolates the sprinkler system from the potable water supply with a check valve. Many times, the 10-minute supply controls the fire with little fire damage to the home.

That is considered enough time to get out of the building. Don’t forget that NFPA 13D requires a minimum of a 10-minute supply of water. Franz developed a system whereby the water distribution system fills the sprinkler system and the standby tank of water. For a well system, it is cheaper to run a separate piping system for the residential sprinkler system.” My initial thought was, two piping systems, two pumps, how could this be cheaper?Īs I told you, Franz loves to tinker.
LOOP FIRE SPRINKLER SYSTEM DESIGN HOW TO
So I thought he would have the perfect answer as to how to install a well system.įranz’s first comment was, “Forget about a multipurpose piping system.” This surprised me since a multipurpose piping system is the least expensive way to install a residential sprinkler system.įranz said, “It is the lowest cost if you have a public water supply.

Franz loves to design single-family dwellings using a multipurpose piping system. You can imagine, living in New Hampshire, there are many homes built with a well system. Besides being involved in design, Franz tinkers as an inventor. Franz lives in New Hampshire and has his own design firm that specializes in residential sprinklers. Then I started to talk to a good friend named Franz Hasse of Franz P. For normal operation of the plumbing system, the pump was so oversized that it would only run for a few seconds and constantly cycle.įriendly Help: That’s when I realized how stupid an engineer I really was. Unfortunately, the pump only needed to be that big when there was a fire. The first thing that happened was that the pump got real big. Then I started to design the pump and tank system.

This would mean the storage of anywhere from 90–260 gallons of water. NFPA 13D requires a 10-minute supply of water to be stored in the building when connected to a well system. “How can you install a residential sprinkler system on a well system?”īeing the smart engineer, I sat down to figure out this easy dilemma. About five years ago, I received one strong statement of concern that prevented certain contractors from entering the business. When I stand on the soap box, I am often met with weak resistance. While I have been harping on plumbing contractors for years to get into the residential sprinkler business, we still have only a handful of contractors actively involved in the work.
