The IBC allows a certain amount (Maximum Allowable Quantities/ MAQs) of flammable liquids, per control area. The key being “per control area”. Here we will explain a strategy to use control areas to expand a distilleries MAQs. Codes referenced below are 2018 edition of the IBC.

A building is permitted up to 4 control areas on the main level. A control area is basically an area of a building separated by a fire barrier, generally rated for 1 hour construction. Below is the chart that tells us the number of control areas per level and fire rated separation:

In a sprinklered building, you are permitted to have 240 gallons of class IB or IC flammable liquid (alcohol above ~20% ABV) in each control area. You can read more about MAQs in this article: MAQs- Maximum Allowable Quantities . This is as an F-1 occupancy. If you need to exceed the MAQ’s, then it would be classified as an H-3 occupancies, which comes with many other requirements but allows unlimited volumes of flammable liquids.

So, in a sprinklered building, while still remaining an F-1 (medium hazard industrial occupancy), you can have up to 960 gallons on the first floor, which divided into 4 control areas (240 gallons each control area).

For many distilleries, this splitting into 4 areas may not make sense. But, for some it is and we have worked on several facilities where this method has been used. Essentially, we sometimes see that a distillery can remain under the 240 gal. MAQ, but then may need an additional ~200 gallon storage area or 2, for imported GNS, heads, tails, etc, storage.

Below is a plan example of a project that utilized the control area method. We created 3 small “closet” size storage rooms in the upper right hand corner. Each of these are a control area, with the 4th control area being the remaining space of the building. This allowed the process to expand their storage without doing costly upgrades to H-3. This building also remained un-sprinklered, so they had 480 gallons total (120 gallons per control area) of flammable liquid.