Who defines the requirement: NBR 13714 or the Fire Department?
The requirement for each occupancy comes from legislation and from the competent Fire Department Technical Instruction. NBR 13714 provides the technical criteria for the required system. Therefore, system type, approval process and any complementary requirements must be checked in the state instruction and in the approved design.
In practice this holds for the vast majority of buildings requiring the Brazilian fire department certificate (AVCB) — residential and commercial condominiums, warehouses, industrial plants, schools, hospitals and malls. The designer works with both references together: the state instruction says "what" and the standard says "how" — the fixed piping network feeding hydrants and hose stations, supplied by the fire water reserve and, in most designs, pressurized by a pump set.
What is the difference between NBR 13714, NBR 10897, NBR 16704 and NFPA 20?
NBR 13714 covers hydrants and hose stations; NBR 10897 covers sprinklers. NBR 16704 and NFPA 20 cover the stationary pump sets used in those systems. The state Technical Instruction connects these references to the occupancy classification and the approval process.
The same development frequently needs all four references at once: hydrants for manual fighting, sprinklers for automatic suppression and the pump set pressurizing both systems — each block with its own design standard.
| Reference | Scope |
|---|---|
| NBR 13714 | Hydrants and hose stations |
| NBR 10897 | Sprinklers (automatic) |
| NBR 16704 | Stationary pump sets |
| NFPA 20 | Installation of stationary fire protection pumps |
| State Technical Instruction | Occupancy requirement and approval |
What are NBR 13714 system types 1, 2 and 3?
Type 1 uses a semi-rigid hose station already connected and was conceived for first response by occupants; types 2 and 3 use hydrants and attachable hoses for trained brigades and firefighters. Capacity grows from type 1 to type 3. Selection follows from the occupancy defined in the state instruction, and flow and pressure come from Table 1 of the standard.
In detail: type 1 is the hose station system — outlets with a semi-rigid hose already connected and an adjustable nozzle, designed to be operated by any building occupant without training in the initial minutes. Types 2 and 3 are hydrant systems, with attachable fire hoses and higher flows; type 3 is the most demanding, used in higher-risk occupancies.
| Type | Device | Intended operator | Selection source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 | Connected semi-rigid hose station | Untrained occupants | State instruction + Table 1 |
| Type 2 | Hydrant with attachable hose | Trained brigade | State instruction + Table 1 |
| Type 3 | Hydrant with attachable hose (higher capacity) | Trained brigade and Fire Department | State instruction + Table 1 |
How does NBR 13714 define design flow and pressure?
Each type has minimum flow and pressure in Table 1, verified with the two hydraulically most unfavorable outlets operating simultaneously. That flow–pressure pair is the input data for the pump set. Geometric height and network losses are added before equipment selection.
The most unfavorable outlets are typically the highest and farthest from the pump. It is this worst-case condition, not the system average, that sizes the fire pump: it must deliver the design flow at the minimum required pressure at the hardest point of the network.
Which components form a hydrant and hose station system?
The system has five blocks: fire water reserve, dedicated piping, hydrants or hose stations in cabinets, a fire department connection accessible to the Fire Department and, when gravity is not enough, a pump set. The reserve and the network meet the demand; the connection allows external reinforcement; the pumps hold the design hydraulic point.
A complete NBR 13714 system has five blocks. The fire water reserve (RTI) is the water volume exclusive to fire fighting, kept in its own tank or in a dedicated compartment of the building tank — the minimum volume follows from the system type and the state instruction. The piping network is exclusive to fire fighting and cannot be shared with building consumption. Hydrants and hose stations are the outlet points, installed in signposted cabinets with hoses, nozzles and wrenches.
The fourth block is the fire department connection (in Brazil, "registro de recalque"): the connection installed at the sidewalk, next to the building entrance, allowing the Fire Department to inject water from the truck directly into the building hydrant network. It is a classic inspection requirement — it must be signposted, accessible, with an identified cap and facing the public road.
Mind the vocabulary: this sidewalk connection is not a pump; what pressurizes the network day to day is the fifth block, the fire pump set.
- Fire water reserve (RTI) — exclusive volume, sized by system type and state instruction
- Dedicated piping network — independent from the building consumption network
- Hydrants and hose stations in signposted cabinets — with hoses, nozzles and wrenches
- Fire department connection at the sidewalk — for the fire truck
- Fire pump set — main, standby and jockey, per NBR 16704/NFPA 20
What is the fire department connection and what dimensions must it have?
The fire department connection is a passive connection for the Fire Department to inject water into the network; it is not a pump. Sidewalk installation uses a 0.40 m × 0.60 m box, set 0.50 m from the curb, with the inlet at 45° and maximum depth of 0.15 m. The configuration approved in the state instruction prevails.
The official name in the standard is the fire department connection device ("dispositivo de recalque"): the device for Fire Department use that allows pumping water into the system — in practice, the point where the fire truck connects its hose and injects water into the building network. The market calls it "hidrante de recalque", "registro de recalque" or "tomada de recalque".
Two vocabulary warnings: it is not the street pillar hydrant (which belongs to the public utility network) and it is not a booster pump — it is a passive connection.
Every hydrant and hose station system must have the device: an extension with the same diameter as the main piping, between DN 50 (2") and DN 100 (4"), with couplings compatible with those used by the local Fire Department. When the system flow exceeds 1,000 L/min, the standard requires an additional connection.
Installed at the sidewalk, it sits buried in a masonry box with permeable bottom or drain, hinged cast-iron cover identified by the word "INCÊNDIO" (fire), measuring 0.40 m × 0.60 m, set 0.50 m from the curb; the inlet points upward at a 45° angle, at most 0.15 m deep, and the valve handwheel sits at most 0.50 m below floor level.
The device valve is of the gate or ball type, allowing water flow in both directions — a surprising detail: hydrant systems do not use a check valve at the connection (the check valve is a fire department technical standard requirement for the sprinkler fire department connection).
The standard also allows installation on the main façade or boundary wall, with the inlet facing the street and downward at a 45° angle, at a height between 0.60 m and 1.00 m from the floor. In any position, the rule that decides inspections: the location must allow the fire truck to approach from the public road, without any obstacle requiring removal.
When is the fire pump necessary and which standard sizes it?
The pump is necessary when the available water column cannot hold the required flow and pressure at the two most unfavorable outlets. NBR 13714 provides the hydraulic demand; NBR 16704 and NFPA 20 guide the pump set. The model must be chosen at the flow–head point after including geometric height and friction losses.
NBR 13714 allows gravity-pressurized systems when the elevated tank is high enough to guarantee the minimum pressure at the most unfavorable outlet. In practice this is rare: most buildings do not have enough water column, and pressure must come from a dedicated pump set — the main fire pump, the standby pump and the jockey pressure-maintenance pump.
The sizing of that pump is not in NBR 13714 — it is in NBR 16704 and NFPA 20. NBR 13714 delivers the input data: the design flow (the two most unfavorable outlets of the chosen system type operating simultaneously) and the minimum pressure required at them.
With that data, geometric height and network friction losses are added, and a pump is selected whose characteristic curve meets the NFPA 20 envelope — 100% flow at 100% pressure, 150% flow at minimum 65% pressure, shutoff capped at 140%.
In buildings that also have sprinklers (NBR 10897), the pump set is usually sized for the combined demand defined in the design — which is exactly why fire pump specification must start from the demand standards data (13714 and 10897), never from the catalog. FB Bombas uses the FBCN series as the base of its FBFS systems and delivers the complete skid set: electric main, diesel standby when required, jockey, panel and documented bench test for the fire department certificate.
Maintenance, inspection and the fire certificate: the system must keep working
NBR 13714 does not end at installation: it requires the system to be kept operational throughout the building life. That means unobstructed hydrants, hoses within test validity, complete cabinets, accessible fire department connection, reserve at level and — the most neglected point — the pump set starting at correct setpoints, with documented periodic testing.
At certificate renewal, the inspector tests the hydrant system in practice — and the most common pump-related rejection cause is simple: a pump that does not start automatically on pressure drop, a jockey with the wrong setpoint or a panel left in manual mode. Keeping an active maintenance contract and test records is the legal responsibility of the building manager, with consolidated case law in Brazil.
Common specification mistakes in hydrant systems
Four mistakes repeat in the designs that reach application engineering. First: sizing the pump for the average outlet instead of the two most unfavorable simultaneous outlets — the system passes on paper and fails at the top-floor hydrant. Second: ignoring the state instruction and classifying the system type on one’s own. Third: forgetting the jockey pump, letting the main pump start at every micro-leak.
Fourth: buying the pump before the hydraulic design, from the catalog — when the friction loss calculation is done, the purchased pump does not meet the duty point.
The way to avoid all of them is the same: start from the state instruction risk classification, extract the design demand from NBR 13714, calculate the network and only then specify the pump set per NBR 16704/NFPA 20. FB Bombas application engineering runs this complete path from the building data and returns the skid specification within 48-72 business hours.