I got to agitating about our local fire district here, and learned a bit
about residential sprinkler systems. The fire chief asserted that a
system costs $2-$4/ft2, which on top of say $200+/ft2 for the kinds of
houses around here is not too shabby. The kicker is that high-end
houses here probably go closer to $300-$400/ft2 (or more!), and have
hurricane windows, Hardy siding, and metal roofs. Fire chief says
unless there is clearly someone inside who needs to be saved, his guys
will watch the house burn, protect neighboring properties. They are not
able to penetrate that kind of construction, so rather than risk his
guys they will just keep it under control while it burns. He asserts
the fire suppression will deal with the internal fires so that is why
you need it -- to save yo own selfs and your house.
He also explained that due to modern materials and interior decorating
and furniture (amount and materials) and such, the flashover time now
for a fire is measured in a few minutes; whereas, some years back it
could be 10-15min or more, so that the FD had some chance of saving the
structure if they got the call soon enough. (and back then the
construction was much less repulsive to their efforts) Today, pretty
much watch it burn if it is inside and fully involved.
About the only thing his guys have control over is response time from
getting the alarm to reaching the structure, and that is further
mitigated by how far is the station, road conditions, property
conditions (driveway too narrow, trees, etc.), water availability, and
lots of other factors they don't really have much control over. Our
local guys, even in a fairly rural area, do a pretty good job, ahead of
national averages. It basically boils down to how fast they roll their
trucks, the rest is conditional.
All quite interesting. I am impressed by just how "into it" the
firefighters are. Almost to the point of being creepy. A buddy of mine
is a fire commissioner, and he tells me some of the inside stuff.
--R
On 11/14/12 8:18 PM, John Reames wrote:
Iirc, Anne arundel county MD requires them. 2" water meters anyone?
--
John W Reames
jream...@verizon.net
Home: +14106646986
Mobile: +14437915905
On Nov 14, 2012, at 18:16, Mitch Haley <m...@voyager.net> wrote:
Rich Thomas wrote:
I just put about 20 GFCI and AFCI breakers in my new panel, them thangs are
pricey!
Ground faults are pricey, arc faults are wicked expensive.
I can't wait until they get automatic sprinkler systems in the residential
building codes, that'll make costs go up even more.
Mitch.
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