UW Mechanical Engineering Building Fire Protection Design

FSi provided fire protection design to extend the existing automatic sprinkler system serving 3500 s.f. in the basement of the Mechanical Engineering Building (MEB) at the University of Washington.

The goal of the design was to provide coverage for the entire 35,000 s.f. of the basement and ground floors and to serve part of the Engineering Annex Building. The extension of the system consisted of wet sprinkler protection throughout most areas, with the addition of a dry sprinkler system to serve the electrical transformer vault. The scope included evaluation of the adequacy of existing fire water service to the building, design of a new service, evaluation of the feasibility of connecting the existing dry standpipe to the wet system and subsequent design of connection as well as design of new dry standpipe. The project was later extended to include design of the replacement of a water-cooled chiller in the basement of the MEB with a rooftop air-cooled chiller. FSi provided design for the demolition of an existing 40-ton city water-cooled chiller and pumps and the addition of two new 40-ton roof top air-cooled chillers and pumps, the second for future expansion. The design included a new chilled water distribution piping system with floor valves for future chilled water tees to serve each floor. Fan coils served by the existing chiller were repiped to the new piping distribution system and balancing valves and three-way valves were added to the existing piping as required. FSi also assisted the University in determining water savings and procuring appropriate rebates from the Seattle Public Utilities Water Smart Technology program.