Replies

1. 
   djohan | Sep 30, 2003 12:57am | #1

   In my area of california, sprinklers in high end homes are very common.  All multiple unit dewellings are sprinkled. In unincorporated areas of the county, they are required in homes larger than 4000 Sg. ft, or in areas where the fire department response time is long.

   The systems I have seen are designed so that only one head activates at a time, usually by temperature.  They do make a mess, but almost always save the structure from total destruction.  In our area, sprinklers reduce your oveall cost of fire insurance by about 20% and add around $2 per square foot to the bulding cost.

1. 
   ak373 | Sep 30, 2003 05:52pm | #7

   Dennis, my CA city requires sprinklers on new construction and on any renovation that adds more than 900 square feet.  But I'm curious about your statement that the sprinklers cut fire insurance by 20%.

   My good friend recently did a major renovation and had to add fire sprinklers.  He was surprised to find that his hazard insurance went UP.  When he asked why he was told that even though the sprinklers cut down on total fire loss the water losses from home sprinkler systems is bigger than the fire savings.

1. 
   BillHartmann | Sep 30, 2003 07:46pm | #9

   There is too different things going on with the insurance ratings.

   First each company has there experience with things like fires and water damage. So what one company sees as a problem another doesn't think anything about and the 3rd will give you a discount for.

   I remember someone in the forum asking about a siding material on old house that they wanted to buy. There current insurance company would be cover them unless they replaced the siding. They shopped around and found others that did not care.

   The other thing how much "need" is there for the sprinkers. There is an inurance group that rates fire protection based on a number of items such as nearness to hydrants, nearness to fire stations, size of the fire department and type of equipment, etc.

   So someone living in an area with a very high rating would be less probablity of major losses verse on living in a very low rated area.

2. 
   caseyr | Sep 30, 2003 04:12am | #2

   I used to design and inspect fire sprinkler systems.  The only systems that I have seen where all sprinkler systems go off is in cartoons...  In standard fire protection sprinkler systems, each sprinkler head is activated individually when either a glass vile breaks or a solder melts allowing the sprinkler head to open.  Sprinkler heads are typically designed to open at 135 degrees F or at 155 or 185 degrees F under special conditions. 

   To design a system where all heads operate when a fire is detected anywhere within the premises, you would probably need some type of separate detecting mechanism that would open a valve to activate a piping system feeding open sprinkler heads.  These days it would probably be a thermostat triggering a solenoid valve, however, it could also be done with pneumatics or hydraulics.  Just never seen one and I have seen and tested hundreds of systems. 

   However, there are some CO2 or dry powder system that trigger multiple nozzles.  I believe some guys got suffocated when a CO2 system went off in a computer control room in the early days of protecting computer mainframes - don't have first hand confirmation so it may have just been an urban rumor, though...

   Picture of a typical sprinkler head:

   http://shop.store.yahoo.com/academyfire/noname.html

   And, yeah, an activated sprinkler head can create a bit of a mess, but not nearly as much as letting most fires run unchecked...

   
   

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   Edited 9/29/2003 9:22:53 PM ET by CaseyR

1. 
   marv | Sep 30, 2003 04:19pm | #6

   I believe some guys got suffocated when a CO2 system went off in a computer control room in the early days of protecting computer mainframes - don't have first hand confirmation so it may have just been an urban rumor, though...

   Not an urban myth, I read an article about it in Popular science or Popular Mechanics.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.

   Marv

3. 
   AaronRosenthal | Sep 30, 2003 04:13am | #3

   In Vancouver sprinkler systems are required in all new houses and the inspector will often ask for them in renovated areas of the existing house as well.

   Quality repairs for your home.

   Aaron the Handyman
   Vancouver, Canada

1. 
   reganva | Sep 30, 2003 06:16am | #4

   I read somewhere that some towns that have required new houses to be sprinklered found that the homeowners don't maintain the systems and over time the systems are not functional in a lot of homes. 

1. 
   AaronRosenthal | Sep 30, 2003 08:18am | #5

   From calls I get from my customers, which I cannot handle because I do not have the approvals and licences, they have to be inspected annually.Quality repairs for your home.

   Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada

4. 
   sungod | Sep 30, 2003 07:04pm | #8

   Kareem Abdul Jabbar home burned down, he was located in the hills above Los Angeles, he needed fire sprinklers.  Lots of new tract homes have sprinklers required by the City of Los Angeles in the hills, cause Fireman want them.  Some smaller cities in Los Angeles County require them if you add an addition.

   Been more damage from movers breaking the heads off, than saved homes.