Automatic Sprinklers In Buildings
One of the most effective fire protection elements in buildings is automatic sprinklers. When sprinklers cover an area of fire origin, they operate in 95% of all reported structure fires that are...
Sprinklers are Installed in Colleges for 20 year old Students. Why not for 6-year-old children in Kindergarten?
Several years ago a college student set fire to a dormitory at Seton Hall University located in Newark, NJ. The fire tragically killed several students. Automatic sprinkler protection was not...
Changes to the 2010 edition of NFPA 13, Standard of the Installation of Sprinkler Systems
NFPA 13 is the most important standard for the design of automatic sprinkler systems. Fire protection engineers use this detailed standard to determine the design of an automatic sprinkler system....
Suppression Mode Sprinklers (Updated)
Our technical articles, ESFR Sprinkler Summary and Managing Your ESFR Sprinkler System, detailed the history of Early Suppression, Fast-Response (ESFR) sprinklers, provided some installation details...
Corrosion in Sprinkler Systems
Components of a Sprinkler: What Causes Corrosion? Wet and dry sprinkler systems consist of metal pipe, water and trapped or compressed air. Any environment that places oxygen, metal and untreated...
Automatic Sprinkler Protection for Refrigerated Warehouses
When considering fire protection for situations where temperatures are below freezing, automatic fire sprinklers provide the best fire protection advantages; but sprinkler systems use water, and...
Protecting Electrical Rooms Containing Grouped Power Cables.
During inspections of electrical rooms, property loss prevention engineers should determine how much of a presence there is of "grouped power cables." There are no clear definitions or criteria as to...
Managing Your ESFR Sprinkler System
Early Suppression Fast-Response (ESFR) sprinklers are now commonly referred to as Suppression Mode Sprinklers. This is due to the fact that they are designed to actually extinguish a fire rather than...
NFPA 25 vs. VdS CEA Guidelines for Sprinkler Systems
The standard commonly used in the United States for sprinkler system testing and maintenance is NFPA 25, "Standard for the Inspection, Testing and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection...
Changes to NFPA 20
The use of fire pumps for fire protection is certainly not new - the initial NFPA Technical committee to establish uniform guidelines for proper and effective installation of fire pumps dates back to...
Water Mist Technology
Background Steam flooding as a fire extinguishing medium is a predecessor of water mist that was introduced in the early 1900's. These early applications included oil refining and wood drying kilns....
Engineering and Fire Testing Research versus Building Codes Requirements for Smoke and Heat Venting in Fully Sprinklered Warehouses
The fire protection engineering industry views smoke and heat venting in warehouse type occupancies as a waste of money and a hindrance to the performance of an automatic sprinkler system. Why do...