All the time, what I see scares me, what I don't see scares me more.
Then again inspectors and contractors keep signing off on those
certificates and reports. 

Captain it doesn't appear to be a large iceberg...., then again only 10%
of it's visible.

John Drucker

-----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

 

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