In our specialty freezer systems, we have less than 30 seconds to bring the four most remote sprinklers up to their operating pressure. Once they catch fire, the commodities in a freezer- and the freezer itself, depending on integrity of sheathing and interior insulation components, burn quite well. It would be tough to expect we'd be able to meet this performance-based design criteria with a manual system, BTW we've got trip time on the preaction valve down below 4 seconds.....
Thom is fine, he routinely calls/emails to check my output. Its still strong. I'll tell you why I don't trust manual systems. On the eve of 9/11 my wife and I were finishing up dinner at about 10 PM when the FA sounded. Now you'd think on this particularly day, we'd have the most awesome awareness of death and destruction, and maybe it would sink into people's heads that if you understand there could be a fire, it might be a good idea TO GET THE HECK OUT OF THE BUILDING!!! (or as Roland puts it, RUN LIKE HELL!!!) Nope, we were the ONLY people to get up and walk out. Further, we were alone, from what we could see, in the area surrounding the hotel tower that was atop the restaurant. Granted, the resort was about empty since the incoming AFSA convention had been cancelled- or was about to be, not many had shown up when transportation became difficult-but nobody reacted except us and the maintenance dude we saw running one way, walking briskly another way, and when we settled down to a plain old walk we returned to our table and finished up, shaking our heads. It was tempting to discuss the situation with the other diners, but somehow, I refrained from frustrating my spouse and self. It taught me that you can NEVER rely on anyone doing anything when an alarm or light or electric shock is presented as a stimulus. I might relent and allow a cold-weather valve.....maybe. Don't think I've ever designed one into a system in 37+ years. I wonder if any of the fitters screwed up and pointed what had to be an obviously pendent hole toward the deck by mistake? That was way before even NASFCA. George L. Church, Jr., CET Rowe Sprinkler Systems, Inc. PO Box 407, Middleburg, PA 17842 877-324-ROWE 570-837-6335 fax g...@rowesprinkler.com -----Original Message----- From: sprinklerforum-boun...@firesprinkler.org [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@firesprinkler.org] On Behalf Of bcasterl...@fsc-inc.com Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 4:59 PM To: sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.org Subject: RE: History Lesson - Spray Sprinklers become the Standard Fascinating stuff! The very first sprinkler had a pendent orientation- it was a hole in the bottom of a pipe ;). It might be that the value of a simple manual system is over-looked these days. (especially freezers where you have what, 3 or 4 days b4 the combustible even thaws out?) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.org http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.org http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
