Fire sprinkler tagging in Revit: pipe tags, sprinkler tags, and clean layouts

Fire protection drawings are dense by nature. Sprinkler heads sit on a regular grid, branch lines run between them, and mains cross the ceiling above. A fabricator or an authority reads the sheet to check pipe sizes against the hydraulic calculation. The tags are how they do it.

What a sprinkler sheet tags

• Sprinkler pipes. The size, often the system, and sometimes the elevation. Mains, cross mains, and branch lines carry different sizes, so a tag has to follow each change.
• Sprinkler heads. A type or K-factor on firms that tag heads individually.
• Valves and accessories. An identifier, so the reader can match them to the schedule.

What makes placement hard

Branch lines run in parallel at regular spacing. A tag on each line fills the gap between them. A tag in the wrong gap labels the wrong pipe. Heads along the line add more obstacles. The reader wants the size at the start of each line, and again wherever the size drops after a head.

How RayCAD approaches it

RayCAD is a Revit plugin for MEPF tagging and annotation, and it works the same way on every pipe system.

• Tag where the size changes. Not on every segment. See information-based tagging.
• Bundle parallel lines. One tag block, a row per pipe, leaders that leave each pipe square to it. The method is described on the piping tagging page.
• Place clear of everything. Tags avoid the pipes, the heads, and the other tags. See intelligent placement.
• Follow your standard, in your families. See firm standards.
• Show what needs a person. Anything RayCAD could not place cleanly goes to the review panel.

RayCAD tags HVAC and piping today, and fire sprinkler tagging is coming soon. Write to founder@raycad.in to move it up the list. Fire protection contractors can see what's planned for them.