I have received many comments about dry systems we do use them here, however they are installed in areas susceptible to freezing like unheated attics and outdoor applications. They are not installed for general indoor protection as they have a much higher cost more complexity for testing and maintenance and require much more supervision. This does not need a dry system a wet system is completely normal for this application. The soffit space is supposed to be insulated and is indicated as such on the as-builts just never was actually installed.
Almost my whole building is a dry system, I have 2 risers and the Dry system covers 39,000sqft almost the whole building. I love it. The dry system is better for the environment and my wallet as we are able to use less heat. My fave is the sound of the air evacuating the system, it is cool
@@brianthetowerguy979 that's great if it's in an attic or outdoor space. Simply doesn't make sense for the interior of the building where it needs to be heated and insulated anyways. Not to mention the problem they can cause during prolonged power outages.
@@nics-systems-electric As was said before about the dry system but the other option since that area does not seem to have ventilation there maybe some heat tape on the pipes in the area would be a good idea. As you also pointed out there was supposed to be insulation there but that can only work down to a certain temperature. Thankfully the response was quick to stop the damage.
@@nics-systems-electric Time to raise the bullshit flag on that monitoring company. Should be no reason for that, but yet somehow it happened in a real f**king emergency in this school, not a fire emergency but a water emergency.
I always used to see problems like this (reported as the wrong signal type to monitor, reporting the wrong zone or non-existent zones, etc.) and it was really bad with the addressable systems early on. Graphic annunciators should be a code requirement these days. My 1980 Michigan high school had a graphic annunciator (totally analog though with a shape of the building and colored incandescent lights at specific locations) and then there were sub-annunciators that were located in each zone (just a row of lights up near the ceiling) that drilled down the initiating device further, really advanced for 1978 when it was designed (also had an advanced smoke control system). It worked great for 20 years until they frankensteined it to a digital panel and botched it (graphic annunciator is a dead zombie now). At 2am over a holiday weekend, the fire dept got a signal for a pull station. Entered the school, checked the pull station and it was fine, then left. It was actually triggered by a water flow on the other side of the building due to a frozen pipe. Water ran for 2 days straight. They found nothing was programmed or working right and the next time we had a drill, they had to send us home because they couldn't shut off the horns. Then we had an arson fire (and attempted bombing) just before graduation in 2002. That building was never right afterwards so I hope yours is dried out and the problems are fixed.
No doubt about it, that early January cold snap was brutal. -10 is definitely not what our island is used to; so many burst pipes across town and even one of the ferries. The School District is sure lucky to have your expertise and experience in this case which no doubt helped prevent a far worse outcome. Excellent work Nic.
Have you seen the video he did on the smoke exhaust fans for that main area? There’s FOUR OF THEM, and they are ENORMOUS!!! They can also kill you in seconds if you get sucked into them, because yes, they are that powerful!
Oh and btw, great video. You did an awesome job as cameraman, using text to explain what is going on, and overall did a 10/10 job for showing us what happened that day. I would hire you as my employee any day.
That sucks man. We had temps reach -23f / -30c and didn't go above 0f / -18c for 3 days and pipes were bursting all over town in mid January. Grateful we didn't have any problems here.
Wish I found this video earlier. At a previous job a car clipped a sprinkler pipe in a parking garage, setting off flow alarms and triggering a general fire alarm. People were evacuated and were subsequently confused as to why the level of response was needed. Fun times
I had a main sprinkler line burst in my condo building a few years back setting off everything the same way in the video, 3 condo units were flooded and lots of the walls\floor and part of the hallway needed to be replaced. Lucky it was on ground floor. This happened during that -20 winter we had
As much as it would have been a better move to drain the system right after shutting the control valve (and me internally screaming as you forgot), what you did is actually not uncommon - from other stories I've heard people only being able to shut the PIVs or just didn't even bother shutting the sprinkler system off over a weekend. Draining a system was banged into my head when I was doing ITM training with risers, and I bet that's not common. Lesson learned, next time it happens you know to drain the pipes. :)
Im south of the border in WA. The Fraser River outflow winds hammered us with -30°c temps. I was Wondering how you guys faired with frigid temps couple weeks back. Our local fire departments were responding to water flow alarms frequently
This happened today at the other high school across town from mine during the school day. They had to stand outside for an hour, and then we're eventually allowed to go back in or leave, but if their class was in the area where the pipe burst or directly below it, they had to go to the school's performing arts center for the rest of the day.
Sprinkler system was repaired a couple days after and fire alarm system has been re-verified for proper monitoring and is working, ceiling is ripped out and are waiting for an insulation company to re-insulate before drywall can go back up.
No they don't however I did once put a system into trouble for a simple time and date change however they had the trouble contact labelled as a panic button on the other end so I walked out of the electrical room with three police cars responding full lights and sirens lol
@@nics-systems-electricYou are good at blurring, but someone can just reverse image google search the drone videos of the building and easily find the location
Congratulations you look like you performed excellent in a high stress situation I don't think I could have done that I am gladden I employed by a grocery store
As a Volunteer firefighter ive responded to my fair share of water flow activations. I was just wondering that if the system detected a water flow then why didn't it send it over to the dispatch and only showed it as a trouble?
Few questions: why didnt you guys silence the alarm when you got there? Why would the system report as a trouble to central monitoring vs an alarm? They should of had better insulation for the pipes knowing its an area prone to freezing
You never ever silence an alarm when you don't know what is going on and haven't discovered the emergency and don't yet know if the building needs to be evacuated, you only silence once everything is discovered and controlled. Insulation was supposed to be installed and was indicated on the as-builts but was not actually put in place. Monitoring had the alarm programmed wrong.
@@bfrancioso dry sprinkler systems are used for cold environments like outdoor systems and systems installed in addicts that aren't heated they are not installed inside a heated place
In my town this year it's happened to several schools. Some had to be closed completely. A hotel also got flooded bad, movie theater and a lot more the fire department was very busy with a ton of of this happening.
As for the pressurization fans in the addition not shutting down with the toggle switch when you flipped it. I think you should tell someone that they should program that so it does so along with the make-up air doors if you already didn't.
I'm guessing trace heating would be incredibly expensive for sprinkler pipes... our static caravan has it, but only for about 30ft of piping to head into the van.
Heat trace is used often where it's not practical to install a dry system, usually due to the small area that requires it. However then it also needs to be monitored properly to ensure the heat trace is operational.
Interestingly enough, my schools new building/gym a sprinkler head burst and set off the fire alarms in our new gym and the Sandwich Fire Department had to respond. So something very similar happened 😆
reminds me of the time a student got his lanyard stuck on a sprinkler in my HS days. story goes that instead of waiting for the janitor to retrieve it (he spotted the situation and left to grab a ladder), student just tugged on it and away it went. entire floor was flooded in that section of school. i was in the last classroom before that section started.
You don't demolish a building because of a bit of water that would be like totalling a car because of a flat tire. You just need some new drywall and ceiling tiles probably $20,000-$30,000. You wouldn't demolish a $90 million building for that
@@nics-systems-electric That's Why High Schools Should Not Have Fire Sprinklers Because Fire Sprinklers Are A Bad Idea For High Schools Because Sprinkler Heads Can Bust Or Break And Cause $20,000 Or $30,000 Dollars Of Damages And Repairs And Fire Sprinklers Can Get Light Switches Electrical Outlets Ceiling Tiles Walls And Furniture Ruined
@@ryancrooks123 you must be kidding. Not only it wouldn't be legal and wouldn't have insurance. The $20,000 in the rare occurrence that there is improper insulation is nothing compared to the millions that a fire could cause in damage.
Ya yes I’ve also have played the game of Broken sprinkler pipes but mine was due to a forklift driver hitting a head And 4/6 of the city’s fire trucks responding to my work
This happened at my job back in February, there's a heater in the riser room meant to keep the pipes from freezing, but apparently it stopped working, and one of the valves burst because of it, imagine all of us running around trying to find what caused the alarm to go off cause none of us really knew what "Water flow (air)" meant on the panel XD
Stupid question- being there wasnt actually a fire and there doesnt appear be any students/staff in the building, why do not silence the alarm? I dont get how anyone can concentrate or focus with that going off. Its loud on camera, I can only imagine how loud it is in person.
Both sprinkler system and fire alarm system were verified in August or July 2023. monitoring company was switched soon after would have thought they would've done their own verification of the work they did but I guess not.
You should go into a career in fire science, as you're knowledgeable about fire alarm systems and related substructures. BTW: Is there a "lock out, tag out" system for that electrical panel so those outlets are not reactivated until the electrician can verify them safe? Just curious.
Thanks I couldn't exactly say where I'll be going for a career long-term definitely a lot of interesting options. And yes if that was going to be shut off long-term it would definitely need to be locked out properly it was just shut off temporarily while the water was still coming down.
They were pretty concerned that the monitoring company didn't dispatch them. And they are very helpful in the fact they actually helped clean up. Many fire departments wouldn't.
I thought I explained that at the end of the video, but it's not a fault of the system in the school the alarm company had their programming labels wrong and had the alarm condition programmed as a trouble
Very unfortunate that the pipes burst, thankfully wet systems aren’t too common here anymore, they’re all air pressurised dry systems with a special valve that releases water once the air in the system is depressurised which would be caused by a popped sprinkler head
That is not the case here at all. Dry systems are installed in non-heated attics and any outdoor space that isn't insulated and heated. Indoor sprinkler systems are wet systems due to the higher cost and higher maintenance of dry systems that require expensive valves, and compressors and much more supervision.
@@johnathanruiz-pineda9610 Different animal... Dry-pipe sprinklers are still water, just held back at the control valve and triggered by loss of air pressure in the lines. You're thinking of the Halon or related systems that flood the space with a gas to smother a fire. Those systems aren't typically used in occupied areas due to their danger to life safety... We only find them around here in data centers and electrical installations, with a 60-second "get your ass out of here" alarm before they're discharged...
This is why fire sprinkler pipes should be insulated in addition to the normal insulation. The make-up air system bringing in cold air could freeze more pipes that are normally inside the insulated envelope of the building. If they were insulated there would be less chance of bursting.
I could potentially see that being an issue during a real fire event too. Cold unconditioned makeup air could potentially cause freezing of sprinkler lines in non fire-affected parts of the building over a several-hour fire, reducing the available pressure to the fire. I could see this even more in an environment like a shopping mall with a high atrium ceiling that could act like a chimney with cold air being drawn in through the plenum on the lower floors. Sort of a high-risk/low-probability event.
Oh my God those fire alarms with the things that go Bing Bing Bing against the metal those are so annoying there’s a wild goat I was in Westhaven tomorrow and it went off because of Carol Karen
No we don't use them here anymore too many people broke into them and would rip them off buildings. I'm not a first responder either so I would not have access to it
