Updated 3/2/2021
Installation of fire sprinklers is important as fire accidents happen on a daily basis without any warning. Fire sprinklers can assist in reducing the risk of injuries or death from fire. A fire might grow to dangerous levels before firefighters are able to come to the rescue, and that’s where fire sprinklers come in. Depending on the building size, fire sprinkler installation costs vary.
Some benefits of installing fire sprinklers include:
- Fire sprinklers are cost-effective.
- Sprinkler systems can help save lives.
- Fire sprinklers help protect property.
- Sprinkler systems limit the risk of financial loss.
- Fire sprinklers allow peace of mind.
A fire sprinkler designer maintains, designs, and implements fire sprinkler systems. In high hazard areas like power plants, chemical facilities, or oil refineries, fire sprinkler nozzles are used for protection as the locations contain explosive and highly flammable materials.
Fire sprinkler’s are a common layer in the fire protection system of many buildings. Traditionally, residential buildings were rarely built with this type of fire protection, but commercial fire sprinkler systems were a common sight. Fire sprinkler systems are a valuable firefighting tool, yet the technology involved is often misunderstood.
Hopefully after reading this examination of three fire sprinkler myths, compared to the facts of the matter, these sprinklers will rise in esteem.
Myth One: Fire Alarms Are Enough Protection Against Fire
Few would be willing to dispute the fact that fire alarms are valuable, saving countless lives each year. However, the lives they save are through prevention. Fire alarms serve as an early warning system and do not have any direct effect on a fire. Without a fire sprinkler system, a fire spreads unchecked until the arrival of the fire department, the property damage and danger to people growing by the second.
Myth Two: All Sprinklers Go Off Simultaneously
Many movies, in the event of a fire in a warehouse or department store, feature a commercial fire sprinkler system erupting, drenching the long-suffering characters no matter where they run. Sadly for Hollywood, fire sprinklers are heat activated in the real world, only triggered by the heat emitted by a fire they are actually close enough to touch when they are active. After all, a sprinkler spraying water when not necessary just wastes a resource that might be desperately needed later.
Myth Three: Fire Sprinklers Cause More Harm Than the Fire
The principle behind this myth involves damage caused by the water released by either residential or commercial fire sprinkler systems. The myth maintains that the damage from the water surpasses the amount of damage inflicted by a fire. This view is seriously flawed, however. For it to be true, fire sprinklers would need to release far more water than they actually are capable of producing, which is between eight and 24 gallons per minute. If a building’s sprinklers were disabled, a fire that erupts would spread unchecked until the arrival of the fire department, who would then employ a firehose, which releases 80-125 gallons of water per minute. Clearly, that scenario would result in far more damage.
Fire sprinklers are often overlooked or misunderstood, not valued for the life-saving systems they truly are. Hopefully, readers will have a greater comprehension of this fact after reading the truth behind these three myths.
