I’m sure everyone is familiar with glass bulb fire sprinklers. So much so in fact that they may not be familiar with fusible link sprinklers. The glass bulb is considered the standard type of sprinkler operation today. But, us older folks in the sprinkler community remember a time when the fusible link sprinklers were the standard. But did you know that the glass bulb sprinkler has been around over 80 years!
The History of Automatic Sprinkler Protection
Part 4 – Frederick Grinnell
Frederick Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1855, he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Earlier in his career, he was draftsman, construction engineer, and manager for various railroad manufacturers. He designed and oversaw construction of more than 100 locomotives.
Frederick Grinnell’s career in fire protection began at the age of 33 with his purchase of the Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Company. In the early days the company started in fire protection installing perforated piping systems, one of the first to do so. Grinnell took out a large number of patents. Under him the company became the leading fire protection company in the country. Many of the installation rules can be traced back to this company.
This is a guest post by Ryan J Smith. If you want to Guest Post, check out the Guidelines here.
Fire sprinklers have been used in the protection of many business establishments. But lately these fire protection systems have also gained popularity among home builders and home buyers alike. So what leads people to install fire sprinklers in their residences even if they have already installed smoke alarms? It is because smoke alarms merely alert occupants to a spreading fire in the house, but these devices cannot suppress it. Fire sprinklers on the other hand have proven to be very effective in controlling a fire and protecting people from its associated dangers.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were about 396,000 residential fires during 2005 in the United States. These fires had caused 3,055 civilian fire fatalities, 13, 825 civilian fire physical injuries, and $6.9 billion in property losses.
Studies conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s United States Fire Administration show that thousands of lives could have been saved if residential fire sprinklers had been installed in those burned homes. The installation of a fire sprinkler system could have also prevented most of the fire related injuries and substantially reduced property damage.
Residential fire sprinklers are therefore very beneficial to both people’s lives and properties. The advantages of these fire protection systems are further detailed below:
Which Recessed Escutcheon?
I have run into this issue many times in the last few years. What recessed escutcheons can be used with what pendent sprinklers? The short and most correct answer is: Recessed sprinklers are listed for use with a specific escutcheon. i.e., Order the recessed escutcheon form the same manufacturer as the pendent sprinkler. All the manufacturers indicate that recessed sprinklers are to be ordered as a unit, even though most ship the escutcheons separately.
The reason this is such an issue is the number of independent suppliers of fire protection products who sell recessed escutcheons. I know a lot of fire sprinkler companies keep these generic escutcheons on the shelves and use them with what ever pendent sprinkler they got the best price on that week. It eliminates an inventory headache and helps reduce costs. But what is their liability?
After a lot of checking on the web I found only one manufacturer of escutcheons which was UL listed. ARGCO is UL listed File EX4170 and their product data states :
There is no possibility of a sprinkler head failure due to ARGCO escutcheons. It is no longer a warranty issue, since UL announced, “Installed properly, the product cannot affect sprinkler head operation.”
So while the possible liability of installing pendent sprinklers with generic escutcheons might be small, It would seem prudent to at least use a manufacturer such as ARGCO which provides a UL listing and would stand behind their product.
I for one, however, will continue to specify and order escutcheons from the same manufacturer.