Barry, The unwanted waterflow alarms are caused by the fact that the VS-SP does not have a retard and you are getting water surges because you are connected to a municipal water supply and have some air pockets in the sprinkler system.
They are called unwanted alarms, not false alarms. The device is doing what it is supposed to do, activate on a flow of water. The problem is there is supposed to be a retard to prevent the alarms caused by water surges. The solution is to replace the VS-SP with a flowswitch that has a retard. This would be much less expensive and much easier than trying to vent all air out through saddle valves. It is possible that if there is a check valve or BFP that can hold pressure in the system that the unwanted alarms will eventually stop after there are enough surges to build system pressure up higher than the supply pressure. However, when you test the system, you will relieve all built up pressure and you'll be back into the unwanted alarm issue. I'm guessing you never had unwanted alarms before because it was either never tested or somehow there was no trapped air pockets in it to allow for surges. The data sheet for the VS-SP specifically says that it does not have a retard so it should not be used on systems with variable pressure water supplies except in cases of elevator recall. The VS-SP was designed specifically for elevator recall and sprinkler systems supplied by a pump & tank. Flushing the system or letting it flow through the test valve will not eliminate ALL the air pockets, even if the test valve is at the most remote location. Change the flowswitch to the correct one. Kind Regards, mike Mike Henke CET Sprinkler Product Manager ___________________________________________________ Potter Electric Signal Company, LLC 1609 Park 370 Place, St. Louis, MO 63042 phone: 800-325-3936 | direct: 314-595-6740 mi...@pottersignal.com | www.pottersignal.com -----Original Message----- From: Sprinklerforum [mailto:sprinklerforum-boun...@lists.firesprinkler.org] On Behalf Of Barry Levine Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2016 12:01 AM To: sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org Subject: Seeking false water flow alarm suggestions I drained all the water from my pipes when I installed a new water filter/softener system in my home. After installing the new system, which replaced some 3/4" pipe with 1" pipe in my home water system, I have been getting false alarms from my Potter Electric Signal Co VS-SP flow sensor. I flushed my sprinkler system using the drain and the test valve, yet I believe some air pockets may still remain in my two areas of coffered ceilings, where the sprinklers sit 1 foot above the rest of the system. Potter recommends replacing the VS-SP with a VSR-ST. I'd prefer not spending the money to replace the sensor, but I'd like to hear from the professionals before I make that decision. I'm thinking there may be other solutions, especially since I never had any false alarms during the previous 20+ years. Possibly I could attach saddle valves between each of the two sprinklers in the two coffered ceilings and bleed the air out. Unfortunately, I've never had any long-term luck with saddle valves, as they have all become inoperative over time. I've attached a photo of my water system in case that might be helpful. Feel free to ask any questions or offer any solutions. Thank you. _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum@lists.firesprinkler.org http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
