A fire alarm is an opportunity to be free. You can leave, do whatever you want, and blame the "emergency."
On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Douglas Hicks <[email protected]> wrote: > To hijack part of George's fine hi jack. I was at my first sprinkler > class given by NFPA in Seattle. The fire alarm went off. Of all the > AHJ's, contractor's, designer's, engineer's, only 1 or 2 left immediately. > An announcement was made from the podium and the rest of us left. When > the all clear was sounded, a person who had immediately left went to great > detail to tell how disappointed he was that the rest of us sat in our > chairs like fools. He was right, we were fools. > > -----Original Message----- From: George Church > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 11:05 AM > To: sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.**org <[email protected]> > Subject: RE: History Lesson - Spray Sprinklers become the Standard > > 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 > [email protected] > > > -----Original Message----- > From: > sprinklerforum-bounces@**firesprinkler.org<[email protected]>[mailto: > sprinklerforum-**[email protected]<[email protected]>] > On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 4:59 PM > To: sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.**org <[email protected]> > 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 <[email protected]> > http://fireball.firesprinkler.**org/mailman/listinfo/**sprinklerforum<http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum> > ______________________________**_________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > Sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.**org <[email protected]> > http://fireball.firesprinkler.**org/mailman/listinfo/**sprinklerforum<http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum> > ______________________________**_________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > Sprinklerforum@firesprinkler.**org <[email protected]> > http://fireball.firesprinkler.**org/mailman/listinfo/**sprinklerforum<http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum> > -- Ron Greenman Instructor Fire Protection Engineering Technology Bates Technical College 1101 So. Yakima Ave. Tacoma, WA 98405 [email protected] http://www.bates.ctc.edu/fireprotection/ 253.680.7346 253.576.9700 (cell) Member: ASEE, SFPE, ASCET, NFPA, AFSA, NFSA, AFAA, NIBS, WSAFM, WFC, WFSC They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/private/sprinklerforum/attachments/20120430/a1c16e94/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
