That is a poor design -- that means that when serious sprinkler work needs to be done (like replacing a floor control valve or the like) the whole building (including the standpipe risers) needs to be shut down and drained... Leaving the entire structure with no fire water supply...
~~ Evan
@TDD:
The different designs of the "little metal umbrella" on the sprinkler head is to control the pattern of the water discharge from the head...
The different shapes create different patterns of spray from the head (like the different heads for a pressure washer) as sprinklers installed in different positions need to spray the water in different directions... Overhead sprinklers versus sidewall mounted, facing downwards versus facing upwards from the piping...
~~ Evan
te:
@Oren:
ROFL... ROFL... ROFL...
Really man... I know of accreditation and the concepts of what sort of elements/conditions/procedures/training that are required to be adhered to in order to attain them... Such accreditations are entirely voluntary (meaning they are NOT required by any law) and cost a lot of money to maintain...
Perhaps the jails and prisons in your area are able to fund themselves to become accredited -- but given the general condition of overcrowding in prisons and the budget cuts in rehabilitation programs the actual number of accredited prisons and jails is going to be very low...
There is a similar organization called CALEA that accredits law enforcement agencies... The number of police departments accredited by CALEA is shockingly small, but maintaining an accreditation costs a lot of money and requires that the criteria be followed at all times...
Examples:
State of Massachusetts -
There are 400-ish local/college police departments... Only 4 agencies have been awarded accreditations... The Massachusetts State Police is NOT accredited...
3 additional agencies are in the process to become accredited...State of Rhode Island -
There are 50-ish local/college police departments... Only 6 agencies have been awarded accreditations... The Rhode Island State Police IS accredited...
2 additional agencies are in the process to become accredited...You can look up CALEA certified agencies in your local area on their website... But the number of accredited agencies is still a very very small percentage...
A "safety audit" at a prison is much much less than an accreditation and usually refers to ensuring the security devices in place are operating properly and that staff safety is as high as it can be and that prisoner safety is also good...
Internal "Safety Managers" (most prisons call this position the "Director of Security" or Safety, etc.) document conditions and make budgetary recommendations... What monies are actually realized in the budget based on the requests/recommendations is nowhere near was requested and not in the same ballpark of what would be required to achieve and maintain an accreditation...
So examples can be used and twisted -- yet it seems from what HarryK stated in his replies here that some lack of proper care and attention went on with the sprinkler system in the specific correctional facility he was describing...
~~ Evan
That's no ampersand, THIS ('&') is an ampersand. ;-)
'@' is an "at sign", "commercial at", or "atmark".
On Jun 28, 10:56=A0am, snipped-for-privacy@rochester.rr.com wrote: Also, even if your
In my experience (admittedly not with any recent computers) that isn't necessarily true.
If it is powered up when it gets wet, damage can occur as jolts flow where they shouldn't. But if not powered up, you can usually dry them out and they work fine.
We used to take keyboards apart and flush them with distilled water, back in the days when they were expensive.
They have tools out there to stop the water from flowing. Check out
You might check in with the local fire inspectors. It has been about
30 years since I dealt with residential sprinklers (and even then only peripherally) but it sticks in my mind that the first responders just used a wooden shim like you use to level windows. I could be VERY wrong, though.
Doubt you can turn it off. If the sprinkler does go off, you have more problems than losing a computer.
In most cases, the valves are locked in the open position. This is to avoid people turning them off and rendering the sprinkler system useless when needed. You can even be arrested in some jurisdictions.
The fire department or the building maintenance can turn them off.
Hi, Why OP worry about that? That is FD business unless he is worrying about accidental trigger of the sprinkler. Think Murphy's law. If accidents hppens, that is when you are not home....,LOL!
Actually, you speak with firefighters (many of my friends are firefighters) and many of these activations happen when people are home (kids throwing balls in the house, remodeling being done, burning food on the stove and the fire gets put out but water is still flowing, etc). Plus, some fire departments don't have these tools yet and resort to using wood chalks if the head is still intact. But if its been completely damaged and they don't have the proper tool, they're going to let that system drain. You can check with your local fire dept to make sure they have the tools necessary, or you can have your own back up plan. Just depends on how valuable your property is. And yeah, renters/homeowners insurance will replace items, but you have your deductible and there could be items you can't get back. Having a fire sprinkler shut down tool is like having a fire extinguisher in your home.. Just food for thought.
Most moments when the sprinkler is going off, the FD has control of the scene, and no one is allowed in. So, the device may sit in a drawer, until it's all over.
. Christ> Hi,
? Hi, Even if you have the tool there is no guarantee you can use it in time for restricted access to the valve. I never lived in a rented place.
I doubt very much if ?renters insurance? is going to pay-up if someone places a Christmas tree on top of their vehicle which hits the fire sprinkl er in the garage which destroys everything they have stored in their garage . Those are the perils of living in an apartment. This happened to someone I know. You would have to put me in a coma to have me live in an apartment.
Most of the things I want I couldn't get back. They're my and my family's personal history and they don't sell that anywhere.
Nothing comes with a guarantee (except death and taxes). I would certainly want one of those if I had sprinklers.
Rented or owned, you've never had sprinklers, right?
Most. May, may not. I'm as cheap as anyone here but if I had sprinklers, I'd spend the 85 dollars for the one posted, unless for some reason it wasn't going to work at all.
Actually, I've had more water problems than probably any of you. Just about everything that can go wrong has, And for the most part, the only things that got damaged were the cardboard boxes things are stored in on the basement floor. (I have two wood tool boxes on the floor but they sit on sections of fence picket. They've never gotten wet.) I used to try to replace the boxes but they were each of a different size, and some had thick walls and very hard to find. So now I just let the boxes sit there until they dry out. They stick to the cement floor a little, but not much. If any rust forms on what is inside, I'll use a grinder with a wire wheel later.
Another time, I had a whole set of DC and suburban phone books and yellow pages, that a friend in DC collected for me. They got wet and no good, and a few even got moldy, so I threw them all away but one.
If I had sprinklers first I'd hide my photo albums from them The electonic pictures I have muliple copies of, and probably woudl't be damaged anyhow.
>
He put the tree on his car's roof, and the sprinkler damaged his stuff?
Or someone else S put a tree on S's car roof and the water damaged your friend's stuff? They shared a garage but he still had space for a lot of stuff?
Was the garage excluded from coverage?
Hi, Our FD is less than 5 mins. away from where we live. Just up the hill. (may be 2 blocks?_ When I run to use the tool, fire engines will be here.
Oh, I thought you were advising *other* people not to buy one.
yes, quite possibly. You'd have to look at the sprinkler heads and determine how to stop the water from flowing once the element pops however. Some of them use a glass element that breaks, others use a metal fuse link.
If this is a multi-story building, there ought to be a valve in one of the stairwells feeding the entire floor, at which the water can be shut off. However, touching that valve in an other than official capacity can cause lots of (legal) problems. I would be very very hesitant to touch that valve under any but an emergency circumstance (e.g. someone knocked a head loose, you knew 100% that there was no fire, and you were on the phone with 911 or the fire dept. and they asserted that it was OK to shut that valve.) Additionally, it might be a looped system where you have to shut two valves in two different stairwells to isolate a floor.
nate
That's the old school way. Today newer buildings tend to have valve position monitor switches tied into the fire alarm system that will alert the building personnel if a valve is tampered with (in fact the common term for them is "tamper switches.")
My understanding was that there should be a "breakaway" somewhere in the chain or cable that would allow someone to shut the valve in an emergency by applying greater than normal (but not outside the range of normal human strength) to the handwheel. However I've seen plenty of valves locked open with what appeared to be ordinary chain.
Agree 100% with the above.
nate
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