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Residential Fire Sprinklers

I just read an interesting article in the May issue of Plumbing & Mechanical about the case for residential fire sprinklers. Have you encountered or installed these? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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Comments
Each head had 4 - 1/2" runs going to each head. Huge series of spider webs.
The only advantage I saw was that it in effected tested the system every time you turned on a cold water faucet.
Each of these houses had city water...no tank.
I have seen plenty of the traditional Blazemaster systems in residential homes.
I am not sure I would install one in my own home.
We had a brand new refrigerator light up a few years ago in town the day it was delivered. It really messed the house up too, I believe it took weeks until the family could move back in. Refrigerators use spray foam which is super flammable and they're built like junk.
Clothes dryers are still a constant problem as well and stoves, well, **** happens.
I don't see the need in bedrooms or the livingroom, but I'd like one over the washer \ dryer and the stove.
The three jobs I did were in duplexes that the town mandates them in.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-Mclain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
I should be allowed to put sprinklers where I want. Or not where I don't want.
Same goes for arc fault breakers..........only place they belong is in the garbage IMO.
I do love the flexibility that PEX provides, but the sprinkler fittings run 4-5x the cost of the CPVC ones we use on 13 and 13R jobs. This would definitely be a separate system with its own RPZ BFP. I'm not at all comfortable with dead legs full of stagnant water.
I assume this is only an issue with steel pipe?
I was just reading about Uponor's system and it looks like it integrates with the home's cold-water plumbing.
My sister had a fire a few years back. They owned an older home in Louisville and an attic fan caught fire. The tricky part was that the fire began on the roof and they didn't have smoke alarms in the unfinished attic space. As chance would have it, they were just arriving home at the time and they, along with some neighbors, noticed the smoke coming from the roof and called the fire department. Not sure how this would have played out with a sprinkler system, but I can see the value of putting one throughout the whole house because you just never know. And PEX would work well in these colder spaces because it can withstand drops in temperature.
I agree about putting them into a new build and they're actually mandated in my state (Maryland), but I wouldn't even know where to begin in my 1940s-era home in terms of both logistics and cost.
@SWEI, can you keep us posted on how it goes if you buy the home and take on this project?
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Problem is, it's not networked with the rest of the system so I need to fix that.
@ChrisJ, good point about networking it.
HeatingHelp.com
The bean counters and city council made the decision based on $$ and the fact that fire sprinklers usually extinguish fires with a lot less water. That was critical in low water years in the arid west. By the time a fire started and the equipment got on site it required a lot of water to bring building fires under control. many times a single fire head can put out a fire flowing GPM not thousands of gpms.
It was quite profitable for a few years until the low ballers hit town. The first systems we did in copper with a T-Drill, then later on with Blazemaster CPVC systems.It did reflect in the homeowners insurance rate also when engineered, approved systems were installed.
A large forest fire, a few years prior, also had them require outside exposure heads if building in a wooded area.
I'd add them in any new house I built for myself. I have a few heads in my shop around the wood boiler and wood storage.
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream
There are dry systems where pipes are empty until an event that pops a head, and depressurizes the piping to allow water to the activated head. Mostly used in applications where a water filled pipe would freeze.
I doubt many homes engulfed with a roaring fire would be put out with a residential system. The goal is to get the fire as it starts with one or two heads flowing.
The wet systems were glycol, or glycerin in CPVC.
We actually saw more dry systems freeze and split from condensation trapped in low points. Mostly installation error or where piping sagged over the years and caused low spots, in parking garages for example.
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream
I personally like the idea of sprinklers, BTW. But my cynical side wonders how it would turn out in real life.
Here's what new large residential complex looks like under construction before drywall and sprinklers are installed. One in AZ another in CA. In years past, here in Cleveland that sort of construction was illegal.
The information I got from fire marshalls was that the typical residential fire would be completely out in under two minutes.
Residential fire systems are not designed to save the house however, they are what is called a "life safety system", and are just designed to get you out of the house safely. I would say in almost all cases, the fire would be completely out also.
Back when I was doing them I was told there had never been a death from fire with a house that had sprinklers in it, but not sure how accurate that was.
Rick
Perhaps I'll just stick to having multiple 10 and 20 pound dry chem extinguishers in the house. I'd rather not destroy everything in the house if it can be avoided.