#ALFRED STEELE HIGH RISE PLUMBING DESIGN CODE#

Subsequently, this will be used to determine how much demand can be eliminated or reduced in noncritical areas during an emergency.

The first step in planning emergency storage within an existing hospital is for the building's facilities team to use current meter readings to determine how much water is being used on a daily basis.

#ALFRED STEELE HIGH RISE PLUMBING DESIGN CODE#

Adding all this extra water to the building's storage may require additional structural support, thereby increasing costs.Īlthough NFPA 14 specifies 30 minutes of fire suppression system storage in case of an emergency, it's important to check the hospital's insurance rider as well, because the requirements of insurance carriers can be above and beyond the code minimum. For example, a large hospital with five staircases that is not fully sprinklered will require a 1,250-gpm fire suppression system. Once the number of stairwells in the health care facility has been determined, the amount of fire suppression water in gallons per minute must be multiplied by the 30 minutes of fire suppression required.

If a building is not fully sprinklered, NFPA 14 will max out at 1,250 gpm. The engineer must design for 500 gallons per minute (gpm) for the first stairwell and for 250 gpm for all subsequent stairwells, with a maximum of 1,000 gpm for hospitals that are fully sprinklered. The NFPA 14 code minimum for fire suppression systems is based on the number of stairwells in the building. Also, in both existing and newly constructed hospitals, an estimate of the water required to maintain HVAC systems for the eight-hour period based on reduced cooling in noncritical areas and the fire suppression water storage can be determined based on the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 14, Standard for the Installation of Standpipes and Hose Systems. When planning for exterior emergency storage in existing hospitals and during the design phase for new hospital construction, it's important to estimate the minimum flow rate per bed and per hour to determine the amount of water that will be required for an eight-hour period.

Thus, it is crucial that every hospital have an emergency plan for potable water. This means that the average 200-bed hospital in the United States can use as much as 80,000 gallons of water per day. The American Society of Plumbing Engineers' (ASPE's) out-of-print publication, High-Rise Plumbing Design by Alfred Steele, P.E., CIPE, estimates the minimum hourly flow rate of domestic water for a hospital to be 3 gallons per bed, per hour, with an average daily consumption estimated between 235 and 300 gallons per bed, excluding HVAC systems. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Water Works Association have published an Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities (see sidebar on page 37) to assist in planning for a disruption of water and suggesting that health care facilities maintain enough water for eight hours of emergency distribution. The Joint Commission's required emergency operation plan for hospitals includes provisions for emergency generators, the relocation of patients, sheltering and the shutting down of air-handling equipment in the case of chemical attack, but does not clearly address requirements for an emergency potable water system.

Alfred steele high rise plumbing design