Pullstation location
Pullstation location
(OP)
My firm is designing a storage facility for hydrofluosilicic acid used in water treatment. The project manager says the fire alarm pull station should go on the outside wall near the door, but I want to put it inside the building. He says it is a fire code requirement to put it outside the building. I cannot find a fire code requirement that the pull station go outside. Can anyone help with this?





RE: Pullstation location
This specific chemical is not treated with its own paragraph in the fire alarm code or the more general fire codes as far as I know. You need to talk to the local AHJ to see if there are specifics that he/she wants to enforce -- after all, it's his/her interpretation that counts.
I can give you info on why I would recommend putting a pull station outside, though -- if a fire broke out and it threatened to cause a release of this acid (especially a boiling release), my only priority would be to get hell out of there! No way would I stop to yank a pull station, even if convenient. It's incredibly caustic and would probably blind a person in an instant with very small quanitites vaporized. There may be a general guideline in one of the hazmat codes from NFPA that grants discretion for buildings storing really dangerous stuff.
If somebody can give chapter and verse, I'd love to make a note of it for future reference! Come out of your hiding, code gurus!
Old Dave
RE: Pullstation location
RE: Pullstation location
I have two points of view:
1. I reckon that a safety inspector would not like people inside a dangerous place without an iniciating device that can be reached by eyesight from inside when something goes wrong.
2. It is important to have an aditional device in a safer place than inside such a dangerous site.
So I´d agree with you about locating it inside, but also recomend to locate another in a near place safe from an accident related to your acid in the scape path of that place.
RE: Pullstation location
RE: Pullstation location
Providng a outdoor pull station is optinal and not against the code, imho.