[AT] sprinkler systems

[Steve W.]

Richard Fink wrote:
> I agree with what insurance is for. I have wondered what would be done in 
> areas like where i live, [rural] if the well pump is not running there is no 
> water. And from what i have seen the fireman cut the power as soon as they 
> can at a fire. I don't think they are that big a safety item. I would say 
> comon sense will work better in a lot of fires. some are acidental no 
> dought, but the wood burner installed wrong , i think that is the biggest 
> cause in our area. JMO
> R Fink
> PA

The problem is that you are wrong in your assumption of what residential 
sprinklers are for.
They are meant to stop the small fire in the kitchen/bedroom/wherever 
BEFORE the FD is even called or on scene.

The way most systems are set up involves either a standing tank of water 
with a connection to your normal home water system that fills it OR a 
booster pump and connection to a well or town water supply. Which is 
used depends on initial design and water availability.

These are usually triggered on by simple thermal items on the sprinkler 
heads themselves. Only in the area where the heat is high enough to melt 
the links.

Now IF the fire does get to the point where the FD is actually fighting 
it we will cut the power ASAP. However if it has gotten to this point 
the power being cut to the sprinklers is the least of your problems. The 
fire has spread to the point where those sprinklers are not going to 
help anyway.

Most residential systems don't even have FD connections on them.

Take my area for instance. We are a typical rural FD with all volunteer 
members. I am a Captain in the dept. I can see the station from my front 
window. if I called 911 right NOW and reported that my house was on fire 
and left to grab a rig it will be at least 3 minutes before I can get to 
the station, put on my gear and respond with one engine. This is getting 
just the engine and ME to this fire. Many members work out of the area 
and won't be available to assist. So I will also start a mutual aid 
response from the next closest two departments (who also have very few 
members who work local)
So from the initial call to the time I can start dumping water on the 
fire = at BEST 5 minutes
A typical R&C fire (room and contents) fire will double in size every 
minute.
Care to guess how much of my home will be left when I get back? How 
about the wait for more water which will take about 15 minutes.

However if I have residential sprinklers they would go off when the 
temperatures get to ignition point. This will dump a lot of cooling 
water in that area and 99% of the time stop the fire in that room. This 
takes about the same amount of time that it will take me to call 911 in 
the first place!!! The fire is OUT. The FD response is then to kill the 
power (precaution in case of wiring issues) and clean-up and salvage as 
needed.

As for the cause of most fires - The common failure that starts fires is 
electrical,  then accidental (cooking, forgetting that they left a heat 
generating device on), next is things like stoves/fireplaces and the like.

The reason electrical is so high - How many on this list have gone 
through the house and pulled the outlets, switches, fixtures and 
tightened them to remove the clearance that gets caused by the constant 
thermal cycling., To remove any corrosion or bad wires. As well as 
insuring that the wiring is correct.  Now add in the folks who plug in a 
couple high draw items and cause even more problems. Or the lovely 
rodents who enjoy climbing into panel boxes or chewing on wires.

We had a fire about two years ago that started in the front corner of 
the house right next to the door. When we were done with the 
investigation the cause was determined to be a shorted doorbell 
transformer that caused the stud it was mounted on to smolder and ignite.


-- 
Steve W.