I always just assumed that looking up was to be considered an industry standard. Almost like initiation, until you accidentally find yourself looking up each and every time you step foot into any building no matter what the occupancy or whether it be business or pleasure, then, well you just aren't a fire protection professional.
So to answer your question, yes, we ALL look up (I'll answer for the whole lot of us, country wide). And like you I have the same thoughts running through my head every time I see an insufficiency. Of course if it were a job that MY company installed it would be perfect! But what about the other guys, what were they thinking!? There's no way they calc'd this correctly...who approved this...how can they get away with this type of an installation...it's an embarrassment to the industry! And so on and so forth... What can we do about it? Well, it never hurts to have friends in high places. I do tend to take the opportunity when it arises to call the local AHJ and mention to him that perhaps the next time he's walking into the Sam's Club perhaps if he "looked up" outside the loading area he may notice a video camera mounted to the concealed head; or next Sunday when he's at church he may want to take a look around at all of the insufficiencies that Contractor X installed at HIS church! It goes on and on...we even got a job out of that last one. So, doing justice to our industry and keeping the public safe, I'd say it's our duty to make someone aware of it, even if it doesn't come back as another entry in the job book. At least we know that we've done our part, as small or large as it may be. (oh my gosh, I've just realized that I'm starting to write and sound eerily similar to George!). Carole C. Holmes B.L. Harroun & Son, Inc Kalamazoo, MI -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Cahill Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 1:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Do you look up? I imagine, like me, you all (ya'll for some of you) on the very rare occasions you are not working look around at sprinkler systems where you live, shop and play. It's a very rare occasion I don't see something that appears deficient. For example, in a grocery store the one head on the back side of the main is missing over HPS and a mess of piping creating a ceiling without heads under them, at a Home Depot 190 psi on the wet side of an auxiliary dry valve, or the local high school with sidewall heads about 15-20' down from the peak of the very large skylight. This is all in the last two days as an example but see similar all the time. The sad part is I'm not really trying. What if I had the plans and calcs, how much more would there be? Or really looked at the whole building instead of a casual look at where I happen to be? Or the scary part what if I actually considered the hazard vs. the design? I also realize two issues - most times what I see probably won't cause the system to fail in a fire IF that is the only thing wrong. There is a "probably" and an "if " in the last sentence which means there are cases that will fail, just not many IMHO. And second we make mistakes too. The heads at the peak - just because an AHJ didn't call it a deficiency doesn't mean it's OK. Certainly it is possible there is a documented and proactively approved alternate method out there on this but I strongly doubt it. Now I'm sure the missing head has a perfectly rational explanation of how it got like that. The W.O. is there and it must be plugged or the system is off. It's not a TI thing long after the original construction; this is a very new building. Can't rationalize how you get 190 psi by accident or approval. MN is more regulated than most (but not all) areas. Do you see this stuff too? What if anything can you really do about it? Chris Cahill, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Sentry Fire Protection, Inc. 763-658-4483 763-658-4921 fax Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mail: P.O. Box 69 Waverly, MN 55390 Location: 4439 Hwy 12 SW Waverly, MN 55390 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
