sprinklers in kitchen

[ss]

Has anyone ever thought about installing a sprinkler in the kitchen, (I am assuming this is the highest fire risk room)? Would it be difficult / expensive? What sort of work would be involved?

[Phil L]

reckon 1,500 quid, but are they really any better than a good quality smoke alarm?

[Bill]

In message , ss writes

So, the chip pan is on fire and the sprinkler sprays water onto it. Is that good?

Fire blankets seem to have gone out of fashion. Is there a reason?

[ss]

> They reckon 1,500 quid, but are they really any better than a good quality

From your link as they state.... The fire/smoke alarm wakes you up but you still have a fire. The sprinkler puts it out or at least delays it somewhat.

I take it £1500 for a professional made/installed system. I was thinking a DIY project.

[Alan]

In message , ss wrote

[ss]

Water on chip pan not good, but they were binned years ago never use them.

I was thinking more for at night when sleeping. I have alarms and extinquisher for daytime use.

[Bob Eager]

They were showing sprinkler systems on the news this morning. A nice neat cover plate (about the size of a BES box), held on with solder melting at

60 degrees Celsius. Drops off and sprinkler activates at 70 degrees.

My immediate reaction was "how long before someone paints over that?"

[SteveW]

Quite right. Thank God I bought a deep fat fryer years ago. I remember coming in one night, fancying some chips and then waking up in the morning to a strong smell of frying. I'd obviously felt tired and gone to bed forgetting that I'd turned the fryer on - probably saved my life.

Alarms should be fine for night time too. A sprinkler system would be more use for when you have gone out.

SteveW

[Dave Liquorice]

Far more important to be woken promptly and get out than save property. Property can be replaced, people can't. OK some property will have sentimental value but it's still only property.

Eventually.

at the time (4 mins plus) and size of fire before the sprinkler kicks in. They say minimal damage, well compared to the other room yes but none of the stuff in that room would be salvageable, smoke and water damage.

And they carefully avoid saying when a smoke alarm would have gone off...

[Woodworm]

But what if the smoke alarms have had their batteries removed or disconnected from the mains because they're' beeping' because of a fault and keeping the half-bake awake at night?

And a smoke detector won't maintain an escape route.

Quite quickly really

You worry about salvage while your lstile alive - and you have more chance of that with a suppressed fire.

It depends on the positioning of the smoke alarm as to how quickly it goes off, or even go off at all if its in the totally wrong position - or if its been disabled for any number of reasons.

The best combination for safety is an installation that uses both smoke/heat detectors and a fire suppression system (sprinklers)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Standard sprinkler heads on ebay for a fiver each (drop-down ones are more expensive, but sometimes a tenner, sometimes twenty quid); run a

15mm copper pipe to your mains (use compression fittings), with an isolating valve and a double check valve.

It really is that simple.

Sorted; good enough for a diy installation.

You'll find a real dearth of information on sprinkler systems in the UK - you want to read up from US sources for useful info on them. From what I see, the UK sprinkler companies want to keep it to themselves, so any move that cuts them out of it can be a good thing.

The main point of sprinklers is to hopefully put out the fire, but even if they don't they'll have contained it or knocked it back enough for you to either bale out or tackle it yourself. In my situation (as I've previously stated) I'd rather deal with some sprinkler water damage than stand at the side of the road watching my house burn, while waiting for the local part-time volunteer fire brigade to turn up from five or ten miles away.

[The Natural Philosopher]

sprinklers are appropriate for unmanned areas. Far better to get a POWDER extinguisher.

[Brian Gaff]

I'd have thought that any sprinkler there would need to cut the electricity before it started to spray water everywhere?

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I've just mentally designed a fireproof kitchen in my mind. Basically the cook has to have an oxygen mask and the room itself ois filled with an inert gas. Ingress and exit is through an airlock. chuckle.

Brian

[Fredxx]

An RCD would be a good alternative.

[dennis]

What if the arsonist has turned off the mains in the street?

That depends on what is on fire and what the water pressure is at the time. Not all mains can maintain enough pressure and/or flow for cheap domestic sprinklers.

The best way is to have many alarms and many escape routes and a means of calling for help near the escape routes.

The only time I can imagine a domestic sprinkler helping much is if the occupants are drunk or disabled or the property is so badly designed the occupants can get trapped. Even then without some means of getting help the sprinkler is pointless.

[Simon Cee]

I remember reading that in some US states sprinkler systems are mandatory in new build houses, and that there has never been a fatality due to fire in a sprinkler equipped house. False activation is virtually nonexistent, and they extinguish fires quickly so there is less fire damage and less water damage than would otherwise be the case. Not sure of the economics of retrofitting them, but for new build houses they are a fantastic idea.

[2BSur2Bsur]

A sprinkler over a chip pan fire? Good idea?

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

those under a domestic hood.

Of course, which is why I'd only fit a mist type sprinkler in a kitchen.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Rod Cranium Detacher?