X
LET'S TALK: 303-765-1295
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dalkita

Architecture & Construction - Distilled Spirits Plants

  • About
    • Our Portfolio
    • Our Team
    • Our Process
  • Courses
  • Distilling Craft Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQs
  • Contact
  • Consult
  • Documents
    • Property Due Diligence Checklist 
    • Distillery Supplies
    • My Account
    • Shopping Cart
You are here: Home / News / MAQs- Maximum Allowable Quantities

Feb 19 2019

MAQs- Maximum Allowable Quantities

MAQ’s (Maximum Allowable Quantities) are an important concept when designing and building a distillery. The concept of MAQ’s comes from the International Building & Fire Codes (IBC & IFC). These codes regulate the safety of design and operations within buildings. The MAQ’s sets limits for different materials used or stored within building to determine at what point additional safety features should be required. 

Table 307.1 (1) in the IBC and Table 5003.1.1(1) in the IFC is the MAQ chart (same chart in both), which lists over a dozen types of classes of materials that pose hazards. Ethanol, over about 16% ABV is classified as a 1B or 1c Flammable liquid. On the MAQ chart, the amount in storage is 120 gallons, and in use (closed systems) is 120 gallons. You can not add storage and in use together. For instance, you could have 100 gallons in storage, and 20 gallons in use and you’d be at the max.  Ultimately, if you exceed this volume of >16% ABV, then the room or building shall be classified as an H-3 (Hazardous) occupancy. 

An excerpt of the MAQ chart with class IB & IC flammable liquid ( for ethanol) highlighted is shown below:

A very important footnote is “d”, which essentially allows you to double the MAQ’s in a fully sprinklered building.  That footnote is shown below:

You may have noticed that the title of the MAQ chart is “maximum allowable quantity per control area….” The control area is a concept that allows you to compartmentalize your building in order to catch some safety breaks. In this case, you can have up to 4 control areas on the first floor of a building, and each of those areas can have 120 gallons of flammable liquid. So, 120 gallons can become 480 gallons in a non-sprinklered building, or 960 gallons in a sprinkled building. The control areas are achieved by a 1 hour fire barrier separation. At first this sounds great, but it often becomes unrealistic to separate your facility into several rooms. If you’re bringing in a 200 gallon tote of GNS, it might not be too easy to slice that in half ! The control area method is not commonly used to increase MAQ’s. 

So, when not utilizing the control area method, you can have up to 120 gallons of flammable liquid in a non-sprinklered building, and NOT be required to be H-3 (Hazardous) occupancy, but would rather be classified as an F-1 (Factory) occupancy, which has less restrictions. In a sprinklered building, the magic MAQ number is 240 gallons. 

A summary of the requirements for H-3 are listed below, but please see other blog posts which dive deeper into this subject:

There are many distilleries that will need to exceed that MAQ’s, and that it just fine,  it just needs to be anticipated. If you are right on the threshold of the MAQ’s, it may be worth considering to change your process, or store bulk alcohol or barrels in a separate “H-3 room” in order to not need to make your entire facility H-3. 

The MAQ’s might seem like a nuisance, but try to remember that it is intended to keep people and property safe. High proof alcohol in bulk storage can be very flammable. Another important note, is that once your alcohol is in bottles, it is no longer applicable to the MAQ’s. 

Article By:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

 

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Print
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Written by Matthew Taylor-Rennert · Categorized: News · Tagged: building, building code, design, distillery, fire code, IBC, IFC, MAQ, MAQ's, maximum allowable quantity, maximum allowable quantity per control area

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Cart

Dalkita Blog

  • Three Types of Distillery Occupancies Explained January 10, 2023
  • Insulation Code Requirements For Metal Buildings September 20, 2022
  • Dalkita’s latest design and GC project is complete! August 18, 2022
  • FDNY Code is first to address the scale of micro-distilleries August 16, 2022
  • Is bottling required to be an H-3 occupancy? August 8, 2022
  • New Mountain Home Design May 24, 2022

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Footer

Dalkita Newsletter
Sign-up to receive email updates from Dalkita Architecture and Construction.

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Distilling Craft Podcast
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • My Shopping Cart Account
  • Careers

Copyright© 2023 Dalkita Construction Inc. · All Rights Reserved · Terms of Service · Privacy Policy

Powered by Accendo Digital