West Coast manufactuers learn hard lessons

You would expect a machine from Europe to not work the same and require modification To be able to be used in the USA But would you expect the same thing when a West Coast machine is installed on the East Coast? As a trouble shooting electrician I often get called upon to hook up and commission machinery a customer may have bought either 2nd hand or from a country other then the USA and of course you would expect issues when it comes to making everything compatible and working as foreign countries often use different power systems than we do here in America. For example our traditional power system to a home is 120/230 60 Hz while in Europe it is 230 50Hz they supply to homes and business. This can be overcome several different ways and as long as all the rules of electricity is followed different machines from different countries can run with no problems. With this thought in mine you would think that when you buy a machine or system here in the USA it would work just as well in California as it would in Florida or Pennsylvania but this is not always the case. Take the gate system one of my clients bought to use with his mini storage facility. It was installed in may and ran fine all summer long but when it started getting cold in October and then temperatures plunged in November the gate started acting up. After some investigation it was determined that the gate manufacturer was using a active IR beam system that was designed to make the gate stop and reverse should a child or object be under the gate when it closes an excellent safety control but however fatally flawed. The active IR beam was only meant to be used in climates where it is above 32 F And in November in Pittsburgh it often goes well below 32F at night. Thus the problem, when the gate manufacturer was contacted about the problem and it gets so cold here they seemed surprised. Supposedly they tested the gate to 0 F and had no problems. But then again that was in a lab not Pittsburgh with wild temperature swings daily some times the end result the beam needed changed to a beefed up unit. which could handle the cold. Now a manufacturer that makes a product that is supposed to be able to be used any where in the USA you think would do the research and field testing before sending out a product but this is apparently not the case as I hit this problem all the time. Take the Burglar Alarm panel a manufacturer from Oregon was selling in the Pittsburgh area in early 80's These panels had all kinds of great new features but had continual problems of causing false alarms and arming and disarming by themselves. The problem was ultimately found to be that while the panels worked fine on the West Coast where they have good clean electrical power where when they say an outlet is providing 120 volts it actually is . But on the east coast the power is not as clean and as solid some times only 108 might be coming out of an outlet the result the panels advanced microprocessors could not withstand the imbalance and problems developed. To make the panels work properly you needed a filtered /regulated power supply transformer and the panel worked great only problem these transformers at the time cost as much or more than the panel cost. End result they stopped selling product on the east coast where bought and sold several times and are out of business. So then you have to ask your self where was the research and development at with these products? Well apparently there was none. What they should have done is send units out to various parts of the country for what is known as Beta Testing . This is where Alarm dealers like myself test the equipment in the filed to discover if there are problems. Honeywell Security does this and I participate as one of there testers and often times we find problems not encountered in the lab and it provides positive feedback To Honeywell so that they do provide a superior tested out product before releasing it for general sale. Sure these programs cost money and can be a pain to run but in the long run it saves money and face. So why are more companies not doing it? It comes down to the same old thing everything comes down to Money and incompetence. This is just one of many reasons why when companies try to expand and go national or world wide they often fail .Because they do not put enough money into research and development and it comes back to bite them. It's the old story" Plan your work- work your Plan " " or fail to plan –plan to fail.

Home Sprinkler Advocate Voices Opposite Opinion

My piece on home sprinklers, published on 15 May, caused a bit of a stir among those who endorse the mandatory use of sprinklers in the home. A fire marshal based in Oregon wrote me a note and I'd like to feature it here at this time. Be sure to read my reply at the end.

--Nick Markowitz

---- by Eric T. McMullen ----
Monday, May 24, 2010, 11:05 AM

Mr. Markowitz,

I was reading your Blog titled “Things they do not tell you about home fire sprinkler systems” http://nickmarkowitz.blogspot.com/2010/04/things-they-do-not-tell-you-about-home.html and felt compelled to contact you to challenge some of your assertions about fire sprinklers. My computer system at work does not allow me to post a comment directly to your blog, so I thought I’d send you an email.

I will attempt to address your comments in the order you made them;

You mentioned needed a “good” city water pressure, and while good may be a relative term, a residential fire sprinkler system can be designed for pressures as low as 7 psi. I don’t know of many, if any, municipal water supplies that can’t provided 7 psi.

Your point about connection to the water main is valid in many areas. In Oregon, multipurpose systems are allowed to be connected directly to the potable water system. In the case of multipurpose systems, there are no stagnant water issues and no backflow preventer or vacuum breaker requirements. The additional cost of systems development charges and standby fees is a problem, we are attempting to alleviate this problem in Oregon through legislation that will prevent the additional charges and fees on fire sprinkler systems in one- and two-family dwellings.

Your comments about homeowners insurance are just flat wrong and have been for some time now. Many years ago, there were some insurance companies that actually charged more when fire sprinklers were installed, but that Neanderthal way of thinking has long since passed. Every major insurance carrier in the Oregon currently offers discounts for fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. Insurance companies came to the realization that the amount of damage done by fire sprinkler systems pales in comparison to the damage done by fire, smoke and heat. Scottsdale, AZ has had a fire sprinkler ordinance in place since 1986 and their data indicates losses dues to fire in sprinklered homes averaged $1,945 compared to $17,067 in non-sprinklered homes.

Your estimates on using a well as a water source are quite a bit high, Talco offers a pump and tank package for NFPA 13D systems at a cost of $2,200. The size of the home will not double or triple the cost of the pump and tank, it may increase the size of the tank by 40 or 50 gallons, but that won’t increase the cost much. In many cases, if the well has the capacity, the system can be designed to use the well pump to supply the fire sprinklers and the well casing and recovery rate to satisfy the stored water requirements. I can design a system with flow demands as low as 16 gpm at 7 psi, which many wells can supply.

As far as cold weather and freeze mitigation goes, dry and antifreeze systems are not practical for one- and two-family dwellings for many of the reasons you state, however the standard does allow them. There are practical approaches outlined in the standard to deal with freeze problems in wet systems. While the insulation can be moved, one can make the same case for any water pipes in your home. A fire sprinkler system, installed correctly, has no higher chance of freezing than any other domestic water pipe.

With regard to maintenance, there are practically no maintenance requirements for NFPA 13D systems, and certainly no mandate in the standard to pay a fee or have a third-party inspector do an annual service on the system. Multipurpose systems that are connected to the potable water system need the same maintenance as the other water pipes in your home, which for most folks, is none.

Accidental discharge of a fire sprinkler head is around 1 in 16 million and accidental leaks of the piping are no more common than potable water piping. The story you relayed about the accidental discharge due to a microwave oven is highly suspect. The lowest temperature sprinkler head is 135 degrees Fahrenheit and I find it very hard to believe that kind of heat could escape from a microwave and make it to the ceiling level without dissipating, unless the contents inside the microwave were actually on fire. If you can provide me the actual fire report showing otherwise, I will stand corrected.

Yes, residential sprinkler heads have been recalled, so have coffee makers, laptop batteries, Toyota vehicles…….product issue arise from time to time, it doesn’t mean we abandon a sensible idea because of one recall.

The fire service has never advocated for fire sprinklers only, we have always educated people on the need for both smoke alarms and fire sprinklers as a package together, your chance of survival with both rises exponentially.

In closing, I must say that I am surprised that your blog professes to be about fire and electrical safety, yet you attempt to derail one of the most effective tools we have to guard against dying in a fire in our homes. I have to wonder if, as a master electrician, you feel the same way about GFCIs or Arc Fault protection in our homes?

Regards, Eric T. McMullen

Assistant Chief ~ Fire Marshal
McMinnville Fire Department
McMinnville, OR

---- And my reply ----

Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 8:21 PM

Thanks for the comments.

Working [water] pressures here in my community are very low where on the tops of hills and people who have opted for systems have had to install tanks per the sprinkler installers. Maybe the installers are wrong or just selling more than needed. Part of the problem is you must be a licensed master plumber to install them in Allegheny County. That's why the [high] cost. This is also a big union area, again [it's] why the costs are so high.

The insurance thing is for real here. [I] had a customer install sprinklers 3 years ago and his premiums went up when he notified his carrier he installed them. Maybe in your part of [the] country, since you have codes in place, they behave themselves, but not here, yet. Maybe once it is state wide they will level out.

As far as microwave going off and causing the damage, I have the pictures. Remember again this was in college housing.

As far as leaks, 6 - 10 residential systems I know customers have in their homes have leaked or frozen up. It is the nature of the weather cycle around here. We're up [and] down all winter and it affects things in ways you would not believe, unless you saw it with your own eyes. We can be 3 degree in morning and 38 by lunch, then back down to zero overnight.

[Regarding] installation issues, I am constantly responding to sprinkler system issues both commercial and residential, even in the summer. I just had a big fight with Penn Hills, Pa fire depts who refused to properly respond to a sprinkler call [where] $10,000 in damage happened.

Some areas over pressure is also a big problem. Just try and find an emergency restoration clean up crew or even a sprinkler crew available here during the winter when temps drop down below zero. I have had to wait 2-3 weeks to get [a] sprinkler company rep on site because of all the damage.

You should talk to Jack Mason, CFI Fire Marshal For Penn Hills and hear all his worries over this.

I have responded to 3 systems so far this year, commercial, where single heads went off for no reason at all.

I am not derailing sprinklers, I am just stating what I know can and does go wrong with them. If we are going to promote things, let's give both sides of the issue. All I hear from sprinkler advocates are rose colored glasses. What kind of backlash do you think is going to happen around here after the sprinklers are in and start popping because of installation issues. People are going to shut them off and ignore them just like the smoke detectors they take the battery's out of because they always false.

Take Anti-lock brakes, [the] greatest thing to come out, however they have killed hundreds who did not use them right, [those who] lifted their foot off [the] pedal when they applied them because they thought something was wrong.

I am glad things are working out over there in Oregon, but your dealing with issues there which are different here. I am not saying "do not put them in," but I am saying, "let's think things through before we mandate something that's going to come back and get us."

When the first person dies in a home with a sprinkler system because we have not explained exactly why and how something works, start expecting lawsuits and TV investigations.

-30-

Things they do not tell you about home fire sprinkler systems

The dirty little secrets the sprinkler
industry does not want to talk about--the
down side to residential fire protection sprinklers.

By Nick Markowitz Jr.

Ok, we have all heard the hype about just how effective sprinkler systems are in stopping dangerous Residential Fires and why they are needed in new home construction because of how light-weight the construction is0--and yes, this is all true. Sprinklers are one of the best ways to protect your family and loved ones, but they come with a lot of conditions that no one wants to talk about. So let's take a good look at sprinklers, things that can go wrong, and the true cost of implementation.

First problem is the water supply. Where you have good city water pressure you can do a house for around $2500.00, even less if you use standard PVC pipe instead of fire rated  PVC, like Blaze Master. But this is where the problem begins.

Are you going to be allowed to take the sprinkler water off the house water main or will you have to put in a separate water main at the commercial water rate  at an install cost of $5000.00? Also, will you have to install a special back flow preventer at $500.00, which requires annual inspections of $65.00, or perhaps a standard vacuum breaker at $20.00?

What about if you're not home and the system starts to discharge by accident? Will neighbors hear the bell or horn and call 911? Or will you need to have it monitored at $30.00 a month plus $1500.00 for the fire alarm monitoring panel.

Also, what about your homeowners insurance. Will it go down because you're making things safer? Nope! In fact, people who have installed sprinklers voluntarily in their homes have seen insurance rates double or more because of the potential for water damage!

But what if you do not have good water pressure, or let's say you have a well. All I can say is "Get ready to shell out another $5000.00!" This $5K will buy you a pressurized water tank in the ground. And if you have a really big home, the price can be double or even triple that!

We're just getting started here folks.

How about the cold winters some of us experience across the country. There are several ways to deal with this issue and each one has its good and bad points, just as we've found with commercial building sprinkler systems.

One system is known as a dry system where the pipes are filled with air, which holds a valve closed until a sprinkler head activates. When this occurs, the air leaves the piping which allows water to flow through the pipes. A small oil-less compressor is required to keep pressure constant in a dry-type system. This is because of the expansion and contraction of the pipes. You also need to keep the drip drum at the end of the piping emptied of condensate to prevent the drum from freezing and blowing off.

As we have found in commercial buildings, these compressors lose power, drums do not get emptied, and the first hard freeze sends water everywhere. While dry systems work excellently when maintained properly, when they're not, they can cause a good bit of misery.

Then there is the option to add additional insulation in and around pipes to prevent freezing, and though this also works, any movement of the insulation by repair people, kids in the attic, etc., can leave the pipes vulnerable if not properly replaced. Again this works well but maintenance is the key.

Still another option is to use special antifreeze in the pipes. This works well but as they found out in one California residential community where a sprinkler company mixed its own antifreeze, it came out of the pipes during a kitchen fire and when it mixed with the hot cooking oil it exploded. This resulted in the death of a middle aged woman, which brings us to another subject. The sprinkler Industry says "There has never been a multiple fatality in a fully-sprinkled structure where a sprinkler system has been properly installed and maintained."

Well, guess what. Properly maintained means another fee... so expect to pay $150.00 annually for a sprinkler system test and hope you get a company that will actually do a proper test. For that matter, hope you get a contractor who properly installs your sprinkler system in the first place because overnight every Tom, Dick, and Harry will suddenly be in the sprinkler business.

Then, of course, what about when the sprinkler head does go off. Proponents of home sprinkler systems claim it will not be like the ones you see in movies... but they're not telling the whole truth either. Although residential heads are slower than commercial grade, they still put out a considerable amount of water.

I can personally attest to this where a Class R-13 residential sprinkler system was installed in college housing in California Pa., where there was not even a fire. All it was that triggered the incident was a blast of heat from a microwave oven when a student heated food wrong. A single sprinkler head destroyed the kitchen where all the drywall needed replaced. In addition, water leaked through to the room under it, destroying a ceiling. The total bill for this was approximately $8,000.00.

And yes, a sprinkler head and sprinkler piping can and will leak if pressure in the piping is accidentally increased by a faulty pressure regulator. This can also happen due to age as these systems deteriorate. It happens in commercial systems so why would it not in residential?

There has even been a massive sprinkler head recall by several manufacturers because of sprinkler heads that did not trip when there was a fire... and yes you can get false sprinkler alarms when pressure in piping changes. It happens in commercial buildings any time there's a major water break near by and water is turned back on later.

Something to also consider is why just not shut the system off after every one inspects and leaves? Yes you could do this but then again will the insurance company still be required to pay your claim because you shut the system off?
Also keep this in mind, when the first sprinkler systems where installed, it was done for property protection, not for human safety.

Sprinkler systems are by no means the 100% perfect answer. You could well have a properly maintained sprinkler system and still die in a fire in your home from smoke inhalation if the fire develops in the same room where you are located. A classic example would be a person who smokes in bed. A fire which starts in a bed will set off the sprinklers, but well after flames and or smoke have killed you. This is why it is important to still have and use smoke detectors.

So as you can see, all the hype about sprinklers you're hearing does not tell the downside. Over the next few years, you and the community you live in will have to deal with the politics associated with today's huge push for sprinklers in the home.

Fires of an Industrial Nature

Industrial Machine Fires
A look at what a troubleshooter finds.
When he repairs them and what he finds that causes them

By Nick Markowitz Jr.
Qualified Electrical Contractor

When I'm not involved with fire investigation and research work, I work as a master-level electrical and electronic troubleshooter. I do this for different companies as well as contractors. When they have a problem that their normal maintenance people or electricians can not find, I'm the guy they call.

In the 34+ years of doing this work I've enough stories to fill several books over. However, there are several recurring issues I see on an almost daily basis that causes the vast majority of machinery and equipment related fires. Many of these come back to:

1. the wrong fuse or circuit breaker for over-current protection
2. and the wrong application of parts being used and for the voltages used

Take the machine shop which called me couple weeks back. They had an Italian-made auto-feed radial drill which kept blowing fuses. When they could no longer get the special 25 Amp beer-bottle-shaped German fuses, someone got the bright idea of replacing the fuse with a standard 25-Amp, Class-R American fuse.

So the machine operator fiddled around and got one to fit in the socket, started the machine up and it ran fine, until the end of the shift when there was a noise in the gear head. He immediately shut down the machine and looked everything over. Then when he went to restart the machine, there was a loud buzz then a pop and lots of smoke. There had been a single phasing power condition in the plant and one phase was out, which he did not realize. When he went to start the machine, instead of the fuse blowing like it should, the fuse held and a $3,500.00 gear motor was toast from the single phasing condition.

So what went wrong... a 25-Amp fuse is a 25-Amp fuse, right? Answer: wrong!

The German-made fuses where a class J fuse, which blows very quickly compared to the Class R fuse that the machinist used. The problem is equipment made in the USA follows the NEMA (National Electric manufacturers Association) Standard for Electrical Equipment, which allows for a small amount of damage before a fuse blows. Compare this to overseas' equipment which is made to the IEC (International Electrical Commission) Standard, which allows no damage at all, and that is accomplished by fast-acting fuses. This is why when you compare a motor starter relay for a USA machine to a IEC machine, the USA fuses are three times the size of the IEC built machines.

This is also where many problems get started. When you go into a Industrial supply house and order a Type 00 NEMA starter USA made, they're in the $400-900 range while a comparable Type 00 in IEC is in the $200-300 range. So you know what happens, you get a mix of NEMA and IEC components and wiring and you have a disaster in the making.

Not only are components manufactured to different standards, so is the wiring in the machine. IEC involves wire sizes using metric measurement. USA machines use the AWG or American Wire Gauge standard. So the question is, can IEC and NEMA exist in the same machine? The answer to this is "yes they can, if proper design is followed, which means proper sized and type fuses and wiring as well as withstand ratings, which brings us to another problem, wrong components on wrong voltages.

I received a call from a large institutional facility with an Olympic-sized pool which used several of the same motors. They kept having problems with motors 3 and 4 always burning out. And this last time it caught the pump room on fire, which was put out with a hand extinguisher. I saw the problem on first view--the wrong motors where being installed.

The pump house has a 120/208 VAC, 3-phase, 4-wire service and 2 of the 4 motors where rated for 230 volts only . They where not dual rated 208/230 volts like the other 2 motors. These 230 volt motors will run on 208 but on hot summer days when the voltage can dip they will overheat and stall.

So you have 2 options, buy a proper 208/230 volt-rated motor or install what are known as Buck/Boost transformers in line with the motor. This allows a 230-only motor to operate on 208 Boost mode or a 208 only motor on a 230 volt line or Buck mode. They put the proper dual-rated motors in and have not had a problem since. **

I ran into a similar but different problem in a Fabricating shop where they kept blowing Relay's and motor starters out in a large metal shear.
This is a big boy it can handle a 18' foot piece of high carbon steel up to ¾ " thick and they where running it on 480 Volts 3 phase but when I opened the lid to the controls it was marked 230 volts ac only? What was this machine doing on 480 volts? Well it seems the electrician who came and installed the machine convinced the owner that the machine would run much more efficient on 480vs 230 which is usually the case but not this time.

He should have installed a step down transformer from 480 to 230 but what he did was just change the motor leads which let them run on 480 volts. Which you can do the motors are rated 230/480 volt but the problem was the relays and other components were all rated to handle 300 volts maximum and while the machine would run on 480 it was overwhelming and burning up parts. This also presented a danger to the operators because at least once the lid on the control box blew open from the violent reaction from parts shorting out.

In this case because the transformer was going to run over $2500.00 it was cheaper to just replace all the 300 volt undersized parts with parts rated to 600 volts. Which is what the previous electrician should have done but did not.

He then showed me a machine called a Iron Piranha it nibbles and punches steel plates and was always blowing out and burning up the control relay here the proper voltage relay was installed but not the proper amperage withstand rated one. The relay was designed to handle 600 volts at 15 amps but the machine draws 25 amps and while the relay could handle an occasional cycle of 25 amps thru it when the machine was being constantly used it could not and the relay would catch fire so a 30 amp rated relay was installed which handled the load plus gave the machine a safety factor when it was in constant use .While working at this facility one of his customers who was picking up an order, asked me to come over to his oil blending facility seems the lights always blinked in back work area of the plant and electronic items were getting damaged from surges. Now this was a long run but the wiring seemed sized right and terminated right but when I put my meter at main service it was 120/230 but when I got to the shop side it was 20 volts low on one side and 30 volts high on the other phase. I suspected a loose Neutral wire which can cause this condition but they seemed tight it was when I started following the neutral wire out thru the shop I was horrified to find the neutral wire
was not going back to the main service but to a steel beam which was being used as ground and was causing the voltage imbalance. They arranged to have a proper sized neutral line run from the shop to main service and all the problems disappeared.

This could have been disastrous if the neutral wire had fallen off the steel beam all the items in the shop would have produced 230 volts at there receptacles causing a fire due to the imbalance. This is why electrical services have a ground rod and ground to metal water pipe should the neutral be lost coming in off the pole, besides the other safety issues they handle.

As you can see there is a lot more to know about machines than the typical text book or training class provides. The other problem with machines and equipment is that until the 2007 NEC code there was no set standard to be followed with the designing of machines

Only a couple paragraphs and good common sense. But wait are not all machines suppose to be UL or other 3rd party rated what about OSHA .Well the answer comes down to who was enforcing what code in what area and when it comes to industrial machines it is anything goes. Yes you will find UL listed components but the whole control most likely is not unless it is for special applications like Elevators or hazardous locations like Petro Chemical plants.

NEC now has guide lines which are supposed to be followed but go into any maintenance
Shop or for that matter many electrical contractors' shops and see if you can find a NEC or any other code book. Unfortunately there are many electrical contractors who never get there work inspected or permitted and maintenance people only know what the other guy taught them. And since Heavy Commercial and Industrial sites rarely get inspected for anything other than OSHA coming by if a complaint has been filed there is several generations of wiring and machinery which has been installed any way any one cares to.

This is why these types of fires are difficult to investigate and determine a cause unless an investigator has strong engineering skills in this particular area.
Because when it comes time to pointing fingers, who do you point them at?
And unless it is a considerable loss to an insurer or there's death or serious injury most claims are just paid or never even turned in they just have some one come and fix it, and hopefully they know what there doing.