(a) Every wet standpipe required by this Fire Prevention Code shall be permanently connected to an approved primary source of water supply which will furnish water at each hose connection when the valve on the supply is open or automatically opened or, in special cases, when the valve on the supply is opened by the operation of suitably located thermostats. Such primary source shall provide a sufficient flow of water at the highest outlet and at any other outlet and shall be one (1) of the following:
(1) A direct connection to a City water main; provided that the Division of Water and Heat certifies that such main is capable, between 5:00 a.m. and 8:00 pm. on a normal working day, of maintaining a flowing pressure of at least fifteen (15) psi at the highest hose outlet when a street level hydrant supplied by the main, and located within two hundred fifty (250) feet of the connection, is discharging through two and one-half (2-1/2) inch open hydrant butt at the rate of five hundred (500) gallons per minute;
(2) A gravity tank of not less than five thousand (5,000) gallons capacity with bottom not less than twenty-five (25) feet above the standpipe outlet in the top story of the building. When the tank which supplies the standpipe system is also used for domestic water supply, the outlet to the domestic supply shall be placed sufficiently above the bottom of the tank to maintain a reserve of not less than five thousand (5,000) gallons for standpipe use. When a tank which supplies a standpipe system also supplies an automatic sprinkler system, the tank shall have a capacity of five thousand (5,000) gallons in excess of that required for sprinkler use. In the latter case, the connection of standpipe use shall be made to the upper part of the tank so that the tank will retain the required reserve for sprinkler use;
(3) A pressure tank of not less than four thousand five hundred (4,500) gallons capacity (three thousand three hundred (3,300) gallons of water) located in the top story or at a higher level of the building;
(4) Automatic pumps having a combined capacity of not less than two hundred fifty (250) gallons per minute.
(b) Wet standpipe installations with first-aid hose shall be designed on the basis of seventy (70) gallons per minute flowing simultaneously at any two (2) first- aid hose stations at a pressure not less than fifteen (15) psi.
(c) When the pressure at an outlet exceeds fifty (50) psi, an approved reducing disc, adjustable reducer or regulator, set to maintain a pressure of fifty (50) psi on the discharge side with a flow of two hundred (200) gallons per minute through two and one-half (2-1/2) inch hose and nozzle, shall be provided.
(d) Automatic pumps shall have an adequate source of power and shall be supplied from street mains or from well systems, or from other storage systems furnishing not less than one (1) hour’s supply at the rated capacity of the pumps.
(Ord. No. 991-49. Passed 6-27-49, eff. 6-27-49)