Fire o' matic valves

glide106

Having a tough time finding the codes, does anyone know if fire o' matic valves are required in New York state? I know they are advisable, just wondering the code side. Thanks.

billtwocase

best advice

 would be to use them. Better  to hold your installs, repairs to higher standards than code dictates. They are code here in Mass-at the tank and burner. It also make sense

Ed N.Y.C.

fire matic

not in N.Y.C.

captainco

Safety valve

I was told by an industry expert, in fact an article ran in Air Conditioning News that stated contractors should not be concerned in making equipment any safer than it is, so why bother? 

icesailor

Safety:

Air Conditioning News should stick to Air Conditioning. Down here in Florida, it's code where I live that you have to put child proof Schrader valve caps on the AC connections outside so the little shippers don't come around and connect a hose to the line set and get baked. It won't pass inspection unless they are on.

I thought that whatever NFPA regulation covered oil burners, had "Firomatic" fusible links in the requirement. Maybe NY doesn't require them. Leave them out when there is another jurisdiction that does, and have some deaths by fire that a Firomatic fusible valve MIGHT have stopped the oil that was leaking and led to a fire where a family was killed. See what some expensive Tort Lawyer representing the dead family has to say to the jury about it. "Cheap @$$ Sob was too cheap to install a less than $10.00 valve that would have shut the fuel off and saved lives". .

It sounds like the same argument I had with the Town when they passed a regulation that said that young children who couldn't swim, weren't allowed to wear USCG approved properly fitted life preservers. The Life Guards were afraid that they might have to swim after one that floated away. "At least they are floating and not dead on the bottom". One of my daughters was found crawling underwater on the bottom while the Life Guard was chatting with a stud muffin. USCG approved life preservers for children became approved. That day.

So, can I ask. A Tigerloop comes with a fusible valve to go in the bottom. In NYC, do they make you leave them off?

glide106

code

Just to go a touch further, I am an advocate for them, and have never installed a tank with out one. Came into a situation where an other company had installed a non oil approved valve that had leaked, and while discussing the subject with a couple other techs, one mentioned that it was nfpa code to have one. After looking online I did not find anything in nfpa31 suggesting it was mandatory and it didn't seem right to me. Will continue to install them, and replace any valve in the fuel line with them, but the question was more to have a solid answer to whether it was code. Thank you all for your info and help.

icesailor

NFPA Valves:

NFPA may not require them, but they also don't say that you can't use them by omission. Massachusetts requires them. In Massachusetts, only large cities had "City Gas", Manufactured Gas. The rest was Oil. All kinds of oil. Kerosene stoves with carburetors that flooded and caught on fire with gravity tanks. What better way to shut off the fuel.

Listen to the Gas Crime Syndicate scream if there was ever a call to install gas detectors on their gas lines that would shut off the power and gas to a gas appliance or shot off the whole house. The Lobbyists would be descending on Washington like a herd of rats looking for the cheese.

For some, they don't want no Gub'mint telling them what to do. Especially if it means spending someone's money. Even if it was to save a life.

Like seat belts in Automobiles. A cop can give you a ticket for not wearing one. Most cops don't wear one because they have an inner fear of having to unhook them in an emergency.

billtwocase

valves

I  go with a positive shut off, first in line, at the tank. Either a ball or gate valve, then the inline fireomatic, then filter. Thankfully inspectors around here also dabbled in the oil delivery and service end, so they can also see the benefit of safety devices

Pughie1

Firomatics

It's been a while, but if I recall here in Utica, NY the code called for one firomatic at the tank/tanks and one at the burner. The tank/tanks had to be no closer than 10' from the boiler/furnace. If there were two tanks or more they had to be enclosed in a masonary wall. We've even seen the area containing the tanks enclosed in sand, the outlet from the tanks piped through this wall then a firomatic installed. Often thought that this was one of Steamheads "disasters waiting to happen".

Also, Ice could add to this, but, I seem to recall that the Mass code called for a Firomatic electrical switch installed directly above the oil appliance to shut off the electrical supply to the appliance in the event of overheating.

                                                     Pughie