Fire Safe Life – A Fire Protection Collective

Foreign Fire Sprinklers

A Guest Post Submitted By Mike W

Have you ever wondered about the use of fire sprinklers outside the U.S.? There are actually many countries that use and manufacture sprinkler heads. The use of sprinklers now spans the entire globe. Sprinklers can be found on every continent with Antarctica being a possible exception. However, sprinklers are not manufactured on every continent.

I have been collecting sprinkler heads for a little over six years, but I have recently gained a special interest in sprinklers from other countries. In January of 2009, I purchased my first foreign-made sprinkler heads. My first foreign heads were from England and Denmark. While Denmark is host to one manufacturer, “GW”, England is home to the most sprinkler companies outside of the U.S. These brands include: Mather & Platt (Grinnell), Atlas, Matthew Hall, Spraysafe, Wormald (British sector), Titan, Firekil, and Angus. Read the rest of this entry »

In the beginning there was brass and it was good. Brass while a good metal for use in water, is was not suitable for corrosive atmospheres found in some industrial facilities.

I live near the coast in Florida and have seen many sprinklers installed in areas such as parking garages, apartment breeze ways, etc. All a nice shade of green. My company makes good money replacing heads in places such as this. Early on in the sprinkler industry they discovered this and worked to develop finishes and coating to protect against corrosion.

Read the rest of this entry »

CPVC fire sprinkler pipe. Why do we use it? This is a product that the fire protection industry has used for years, but now we seem to be seeing it fail at an increasing rate. What is causing this? There is an excellent article on this that I feel all should read. It can be found on the web at:

Failures in CPVC piping

It identified 4 basic causes of failure. Contamination, Installation practices, Manufacturing defects, and other. Of all of these contamination is the most prevalent and also in so many ways beyond our control. If we get a good product that is not defective, If it was shipped and stored properly, Then we have to make sure that the installer is well trained and all of our products are compatible with the pipe. But after that we are at the mercy of so many others.

Therefore it is important to document the products we use and practice good CYA in informing the customer of the risks associated with possible contamination of the pipe by other trades and by service personal after the project is turned over to the owner.

The Water Flow Switch is mounted on a wet-pipe system only. The water flow in the pipe deflects the paddle. The deflection of the paddle produces a switched output. All detectors will activate on a continuous flow of water greater than 10 gallons per minute (gpm) but will not in subtle surges of less than 4 gpm.

Information from Potter Electric Water Flow Alarm Switch Installation Guide:

“The units should not be installed within 6″ (15cm) of a fitting which changes the direction of the water flow or within 24″ (60 cm) of a valve or drain.”

The Water Flow Switch should be mounted 6 to 7 feet above the floor to minimize the switch from being damaged.

Below are two pictures of a Wet Pipe Sprinkler Riser, One was installed properly and the other is “WRONG”.

Incorrect Installation

Correct Installation

I’ve been in the fire protection business for many years and when I see something like this it makes me mad. I cannot believe that a fire protection contractor can let this happen, then the AHJ approved it. I hope by showing the correct and incorrect ways of installation of fire protection equipment will help us all.