old radiator system

Canucker

SWEI said:

Anyone who has ever watched a steel piped fire sprinkler system being drained will not likely forget either the sight or the smell

That's affirmative. Had an operator at my plant rip the piping off the wall while removing a tote from the storage racks in the staging area. It wasn't a pleasant clean up afterward

nicholas bonham-carter

What is MIC?--NBC

icesailor

SWEI said:

Lack of MIC is a huge deal in wet pipe systems. Anyone who has ever watched a steel piped fire sprinkler system being drained will not likely forget either the sight or the smell.

CPVC sprinkler pipe breaks down somewhere around 700°F IIRC.

Most all of my experience with fire sprinkler systems has been with air systems because of freezing. Then, I've seen hydro-air systems that had areas of wet parts. That under extreme environmental conditions, had areas that had unintended cold air infiltration and froze and broke. Causing a flooding of the system.

I've been around 50+ YO Sch. 40 wet and air systems that have never had a system leak. I've seen Sch. 10 systems leak in less than 10 years. They were switching to Galvanized. They still leak on the grooves because grooving peels off the galvanized coating.

The one advantage of CPVC is that on an air system, you don't have to worry about all the moisture pumped in by the air compressors rotting out the steel pipe. Then, who is going to be servicing all this stuff? I had a large account with a old air system. Installed in the 1950's. Added on to multiple times, connected to multiple buildings. In my plumbing travels, I would hear each and every leak around because of my high pitch sensitive hearing. I'd also hear the compressor running. It got to running every few hours. I pointed out that the leak must be in a section that was buried in the ground between two buildings in a section of Sch. 10 pipe with Victraulic Couplings.

The Sprinkler Company's solution? Install another pump to keep up with the leak.

Like Steamhead says. You can't fix stupid.

SWEI

MIC is short for Microbially Induced Corrosion

nicholas bonham-carter

Thanks for the explanation!--NBC