Simple device stops disasters caused by frozen sprinkler line yet there often not installed

What you see to the left is a very simple $20.00 Low Temperature Switch which warns when a buildings temperature goes below 40 degrees F. which uses a simple therm o disk made by United security products

http://www.unitedsecurity.com/Website%20PDFs/F20.pdf

By NFPA 72 Fire Alarm code you are required to install these or similar manufacturers simple switches any time sprinklers are installed where the weather gets below freezing like where in Live in Western Pa. there are even more sophisticated units you can dial in exactly when you want notified when the buildings temperature drops or rises above what you want.
Yet how many times I go to take over a system or work on one as a sub contractor and there is no low temp switch any where.
there required yet there not installed and most inspectors do not even know there required so up to 98% of the sprinkler systems out
there in Pa and other states do not have them a simple $ 20 switch which can warn pipes are freezing vs thousands of dollars in damage yet no one uses them. Why many installers do not know they need them despite being certified by NICET or other agency and the reason no one mentions them. Too many company's think its the HVAC contractors job to install them wrong its the company's installing the sprinklers and the fire alarms to jointly make sure one or the other company has installed them. But as usual who ever reads a code book let alone owns one and these idiots are out there installing systems incorrect and AHJ are passing them because they have no proper training either. The result every year when the temps go down below freezing for a week or more all you hear coming over the Fire scanner is calls for broken sprinkler pipes, which are flooding buildings and damaging electric systems etc. dam shame but we go thru this every winter around here. Due to ignorance ,arrogance ,greed and stupidity.

Co Detector Saves lives Christmas Eve

My parents needed new Smoke Detectors and Carbon Monoxide Detectors in there home so being in the business I always get them for them wholesale priced.
I put in these new 10 year battery life smokes and she told her friends about it and they mentioned they have smoke detectors but not a Co Detector and asked if if could get them the same deal on the price as my parents and I said sure no problem there retired and can use a break so I got them one and my mom gave it to them 2 weeks ago .

Tonight I get a call from my mom that Co detector I got for them just saved there lives.
She had been cooking on her moms old stove all day and unknown to her there was a problem with the burners on the stove and it was putting out high amounts of Co.
The alarm went off so she took it outside and put in some new battery's in thinking maybe the battery's she put in where not good when in ten minutes it was going off again. She and her husband worried something was wrong called the gas company who told them they needed to get out of the residence and upon the gas company arriving they found the faulty stove which was putting out 90 parts per million PPM of Carbon Monoxide gas. Had she put the roast in the stove to night and let it bake like she planned and they took there evening nap they may never have woken up from having succumbed to Co Poisoning.

Carbon Monoxide is nothing to play with it is just not the car left running in the garage under the house or the furnace that can kill it the gas cooking stove and it could be the gas fire place.
Co Detectors can be gotten for as little as $20.00 and if you can not afford one many Fire depts will provide them for free or at reduced cost. get a co alarm the very life it saves could be your own.

How safe is that Elevator your about to get on? It depends

How safe is the elevator your about to get on? well for 99.9% of us the answer is no problem however approx. 27 deaths resulting in the use of elevators are reported annually in the USA.
Almost all of them can be traced back to poor maintenance practices by the buildings elevators owner and or company performing the maintenance and New York city which has more elevators than any city outside of Japan is having a crisis with old elevators not being properly maintained and 2 people have died there with in the last year with Criminal Negligent Homicide Charges being brought against one elevator repairman this year for an accident that happened last year which trapped and killed a woman when it suddenly went up with out warning because a safety switch had been bypassed on the door.
One New York Politician is calling for buildings to be torn down and replaced because there are so many old crumbling not well maintained buildings and elevators in NYC.

So what does it take to become a Elevator Mechanic as there commonly known in the trade.
well some states require extensive training and licensing and proved skills under a journeyman
while some states like Pa. just require repair company's not the workers to register with them, in other words fill out a piece of paper.

While many elevator manufacturers require you be certified by them to work on there elevators while there under warranty this does not stop any one from working on them because if they can they will.
This is why especially in states like Pa. you want to make sure the company you hire to do your work is properly qualified and insured.

If you get stuck in an Elevator will the Emergency Phone Work?

You get on the elevator to go up to the 4th floor Doctors Office when all of a sudden it stops you push the button ring the Emergency Bell no one hears you . Now what? normally you either open a small door or its already in open the Elevator Emergency phone box is standing there ready to work Really?
Well that all depends when was the last time it was checked to see if it even works? was it when it was inspected last year ?
Well as you can see this is a big problem especially when you cell phone will not work either. yes in fact late night workers and maintenance/Cleaning people have been trapped inside an elevator for as long as 72 hours on a long holiday weekend when the building is locked up and everyone has gone home.

This is why it is imperative that elevator phones be checked to make sure there working. the problem thou is there has been no code requiring it other than annual inspection. But that has all changed now that ASME ( American Society of Mechanical Engineers ) Yes the idiots who came up with the Elevator Shunt trip circuit which can trap you in an elevator during a fire has come out with a new standard ASME A17.1 which now requires all new elevator phones to be supervised similar to how we now supervise lines on Fire Alarms to insure the phone line to the elevator is actually working. The problem has always been the Elevator phone line must be dedicated just to the elevator no other phones on it so it will not be jammed . unlike a Fire panel which has a special relay which turns off the premise phone so it will not interfere and starts beeping if phone lines voltage goes out. with the line dedicated to the elevator you have no way of knowing if it works or not .
Why it took the code geniuses so long to come up with this excellent code is beyond me we should have had something like this all along.
But as usual it had to take tragedy's to have it put in place . There is no such thing as forward thinking in code panels and then when they do make codes they never ever think them thru to address local or gray area issues.

Well the good folks at Viking Electronics Inc. now make a new unit LV-1K which can be seen in the image at left which can be added to there emergency elevator phone units as you see in the image above . Which now supervises the elevators phone line. for more information on this and all kinds of neat telecom products got to.

http://www.vikingelectronics.com/

Do you Really Know where your Alarm systems signal is going?

Do you really Know where your Alarm Systems monitoring signal is going?

is it really local like with in yours or adjoining area code or is it going out of state?

Many alarm systems especially national alarm company's signals go to New York or Chicago or California.
with the advent of cellular and analog phone line communication your signal could be going anywhere. Often times even small dealers use out of state central monitoring stations regardless if they answer in the alarm dealers name.
This means your panel is dialing an 800 number service line. If the 800 service goes wacky guess what no signal delivered. unlike dealers like my self who use 3rd party monitoring services which are with in the region and who have programmed there alarm panels to dial both an 800 number plus a back up normal area code number such as 412,814,724 etc.
This way if the 800 service is not working properly the signal will get thru on the normal local area code exchange number.
How often does 800 service go out More often than you know. Regardless if the central station pays extra for " always Up service " from Verizon or AT&T .
800 service will go down. then also the central station operators who answer your calls are not aware what severe weather is going on or other issues a local 3rd party service would be aware .
of.
also do the national services keep an eye on panels not communicating and getting hold of the dealer when a 24 hr report is missed? don't bet on it.
After having worked as a sub contractor and seeing all the problems with delayed signals and no signals being received at these national services this is why my customers are all thru a regional 3rd party UL listed central and my customers know exactly where there signal is being received and can talk directly to the owners when required.
that's also another good point is the national service UL listed do they have proper trained operators etc etc etc.
Also smaller stations with fewer operators generally have there receiving equipment right near there work stations so they can watch and see the recivers and know if there working properly
while big centers have all there gear in racks off in a separate room and no one watching to catch any anomalies quicker than the big centers there by getting it corrected faster
If you have critical alarm needs you need to be asking questions where exactly is my signal going and should be able to visit the central station to satisfy your requirements are being meet.

Whats that single Headlight looking thing on the outside of buildings

Walking around almost all new commercial construction and you will notice a single headlight looking light on the outside of the building.
Whats that light for ? I often get asked when installing them.
what this light is used for is emergency lighting so that when the power goes out inside a building you can see where you are going when you are following the exit signs to get out.
For years only emergency lighting powered by back up batteries needed to be inside a structure except for certain buildings which had generators and where required to have outside lights working on fire Escapes etc.
But that all changed a decade or so back now all structures must have lights outside on buildings to light the exit path.
One of the main reason for this is to prevent panic as it has been found after catastrophic fires how peoples remains where found behind open exit doors stacked up all because they could not see what they where stepping out into.
While these lights are a good idea and are not very designer looking they do serve a very important purpose but unfortunately are often the target of vandals and of course if the emergency light system is not properly maintained they do not work either. You may also find these light heads being used in restrooms and elevators depending on local codes as well.

Tamper Resistant Electrical Outlets there now required in new construction

Every year small children are injured in homes when there curiosity gets the best of them and they explore that funny looking device in a wall. In most cases a child receives and bad shock and gets an early education in the monster in the wall ad after some crying and tears its a lesson learned how ever in other cases the exploration is fatal.
With this in mind manufacturers for many years have made plastic receptacle covers you inserted to keep children safe and they have been required in child care facility for many years. But there hard to take in and out and have to be replaced once removed.
Well now manufacturers have come out with a better idea. A self closing receptacle which works
to keep children safe while still being convenient to use.
They are now required by law in new residential construction in community's which enforce the current version National Electrical Code. Which is most but not all community's in the USA .
They must also be used where a receptacle in an older home is being replaced with a new receptacle or where new outlets are being added.
The new receptacles cost couple penny's more to the same as regular receptacles and are available at almost all places which sell electrical items.
The following links Provided by Pass & Seymor will provide a wealth of information plus code updates. have young children at home consider using these receptacles.

http://www.legrand.us/passandseymour/tamper-resistant-receptacles.aspx?utm_source=passandseymour&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=all-arts_20111216_holiday-electrical-safety

Welcome to Fire Technicians Network

www.firetechs.net

The Fire Technicians Network is a website maintained by Frank Kurz who is from Canada and has all kind of excellent resources for Fire Alarm Technicians he has put many hours into the effort and has been doing his part to help promote professional standards for technicians.
One thing you will notice in fire alarms in Canada vs. USA is that they have much higher standards to meet.

Mini Lithium Batteries still dangerous when depeleted

The little battery that could is what you might say about Lithium Batteries popular in all kind of wireless alarms , cameras etc along with bigger ones for computers these batteries pack a big amount of power in a small foot print but they also pose a very major fire and explosion danger when not properly handled and disposed of. Even depleted these batteries still pack a wallop, and can catch things on fire.
when disposing of these batteries it is best to recycle them at approved recycle center or dispose of them by wrapping them with some type of non conducting tape to prevent them from bumping against something metal and shorting out and heating up.
A recent fire in a gift/card shop at Pittsburgh Mills shopping mall has been attributed to these batteries in improperly stored cards which played music and its a major big time fine to ship them on passenger airplanes. for more information on proper use and handling of these batteries check the manufacturers web sites.

Why have these batteries not been recalled

These batteries manufactured by Ultratech have a very dangerous
habit of causing Fire and Burglar Alarm Systems to not function on AC power when they are depleted like normal batteries do.
Instead the overloads activate and the panels shut down. these batteries also bulge and in some cases have exploded.
The CPSC Consumer Products safety commission was notified of the problems with these batteries over a year ago and still no word the batteries in particular where manufactured in last 4 years and are as much as 2 pounds underweight compared to competitors.
I have stopped using these batteries along with UB Universal batteries for the same problem all together and have been replacing them with other manufacturers batteries.

The Cellular back up game

Cellular back up has been around since late 80's which allows the backing up of a phone line to a Burglar Alarm in case a thief cuts the phone line, trying to keep the signal from going to Monitoring Station. It runs on the side channel of a cellular signal known as side bands Type a and B which allows signals to go thru with out busy and other signals getting in the way since only data not voice is being sent.
Over the years the units have evolved from a large suit cased size unit to a small compact board and now instead of back up there now also being used as the primary way to communicate an alarm since so many homes have no land line or a business is running all VOIP ( Voice Over IP ) instead of traditional dial tone .
How ever almost all units run on AT& T's GSM ( Global System Management ) cellular network while other carriers like Verizon use a technology Known as CDMA ( Code Division Multiple Access ) so if your out a ways from the city you may not be able to get an AT&T signal but a Verizon CDMA signal may be available .
So to bridge this problem UPLINK has produced a cell unit capable of running on CDMA instead of GSM to solve this problem. There a few bucks more to install and they work just as well if not better than the GSM networks .
So your thinking to your self fine, but they sell Cell Phone Jammers illegally which a burglar could use. This is true but because of supervision techniques and fact units run on side band it takes specialized knowledge to stop the signal from being blocked. Which only the most sophisticated burglars have and even if they do jam the signal the burg panels still activate there local sounders which you must deal with and depending on supervision the monitoring center knows your jamming as well. so it is not like you see in the movies. there are even units which attach and use the internet as primary signal and cellular as back up again which is fully supervised no signal and monitoring station starts investigating.
If your home or business is a high risk install for either a Fire or Burglar system due to high ticket life safety value it would be very wise to install a cellular back up unit especially if your using any of the newer digital phone networks which require power from both ends to operate.
Check out up-link cellular service at

www.uplink.com

Which is available thru your local alarm dealer

Many Fire Sprinkler Systems are not monitored why you should call 911 when you here a sprinkler bell ringing

They sit there on the sides of buildings usually round some oblong
almost always painted red and in rusty condition.
There sprinkler water flow bells which sound when water is flowing thru a sprinkler system .
There purpose is to warn the sprinkler system has activated due to a fire or broken pipe some are mechanical bells operated by the water pressure itself some are electrically operated from 6 volt -120 volts AC or DC and often times they ring and no fire engines are arriving because the sprinkler system is not tied in to a fire alarm panel with dialer or a stand alone DACT
which notify a monitoring center that the sprinkler system has activated.
Strange as it may seem there are many sprinkler systems which stand alone and do not report.
This is why if you are passing a building and one of these bells is going off and no authorities or any one else is around the structure you should notify 911 the bell is sounding so it can be investigated.
In Ambridge Pa. in a shopping plaza with a dollar store there was a small fire in an office where a computer caught fire and stand alone sprinkler system activated and flooded the store for several hours till police on patrol came by and heard the bell despite the fact the plaza is next to busy Rt 65 .
Every one assumes they here an alarm on a building and police are automatically notified and there wrong.
Despite building codes because these systems are grandfathered they are not mandated to be monitored by code and even new systems in some cases are not required to be monitored all they have to have is a visible bell or strobe /bell horn combo and systems with no monitoring and no mechanical bell and rely on power always being on to ring a 120 VAC bell are still being installed. Yes it sounds crazy why they would allow non power backed up non supervised sprinkler systems and why a property owner would not pay for sprinkler monitoring to prevent thousands in damage . But if they do not have to they do not. It often comes down to there insurance carrier mandating it.

Low Pressure device on Fire Sprinkler fails to do its job.

I get a call from the Central station I use early this morning and there receiving a
Water Flow alarm on a sprinkler system at a local shopping plaza I service.
Its a dry pipe system which has given us frequent problems over the years but since I put in proper controls and started frequent bleed offs of the system drip drums of moisture in over 3 years we have not had a problem till this morning.
As i am getting dressed to be able to respond to the plaza the local fire chief calls and tells me where just leaking in pump room there's no damage . Good ill be up in few minutes and they lock up and I arrive and shut off the system valves and begin draining the water down out of the dry pipe system.
the Fire dept should have shut off the OY&S valves but did not but other than a waste of water there was no damage done.
I start looking things over what went wrong I should have gotten a call the air compressor was not working after the system looses 10 pounds of air before the system filled with water but the
Potter Electric Pressure switch that was installed by sprinkler company never activated.
I find after looking thru the panels log there was a power failure which is why the compressor is not working apparently there was a wreck nearby and power went out causing a single phasing condition which tripped its overload I reset the overload and the compressor is back on line no problems compared to when I first took over this plaza an ass of an electrician installed the compressors 3 phase motor with out proper motor starter combo switch and in days past they have had to replace the motor at least 4 different times till I found out the control was missing.
and installed proper unit. so at this point all the water is drained out of the dry pipes and the technician from sprinkler company has arrived and resets the flapper valve and we test the low pressure switch and find it works which is strange why it did not do its job previously but he agrees as I do that Potter Electric is not turning out the high quality of sprinkler products they once did I personally refuse to use there products I have had so many problems with them seems that ever since they changed management and started making things over seas decade ago there products are very inferior and cheap pot metal they use cracks very easily .
Its a shame they use to be the premier provider of sprinkler products but many dealers like me are no longer using them.
Well the system pumped up we readjusted the low pressure switch put everything back to normal and called it a day. But had the Potter Electric low pressure switch worked the way it was suppose to it would have taken 10 minutes to fix things vs all morning.
Unfortunately Potter electric is one of the few company's that make it, so your stuck using there products.

Low Voltage Wiring it can Catch on Fire

A long time customer of mine who loves making his yard look great with land scape lighting asked me to look at something the other day that puzzled him.
Seems he was smelling smoke the other day and came out to find his mulch on fire and smoking and that his land scape lighting had caused it.
He thought that low voltage wiring 50 volts and below could not cause a fire.
Well the answer is it depends what type of wiring is being used where it is being used and what wiring class and size of power supply being used.

Low voltage wiring is divided into 3 classes in the NEC National Electrical Code

Class I Class II and Class III

Class I -wiring- is wiring used in safety and essential circuits to make sure a piece of equipment operates properly like a furnace or boiler

Class II wiring is used primarily indoors and is designed to minimize fires and electrical shocks this includes door bells burglar ,fire alarms energy control etc.

Class III wiring is generally found outdoors includes outdoor lighting , and signalling
again it is designed to minimize fires and limit electrical shock
But no low voltage wiring is totally immune from it and it can cause fires, explosions and shocks under the right conditions when several things line up and goes wrong.

Such as power surges and lightning or when indoor rated system get soaked with water etc.
As you can see with the fire panel at left which was struck by lightning.

In my customers case he was tired of the wimpy out door power supply's which came with the lights so he bought a 900 watt commercial grade power supply that's well over 30 amps of power so yes you will get a significant spark if the wires short and in his case a loose connection filed with water caused a high resistance hot spot which eventually allowed the mulch to catch fire.
Well why did the fuse not blow? Well that's a good question because the short and arcing that occurred below the rating of the breaker on the unit the heat was allowed to build till it finally blew thru a process known as Pyrolysis.
here is a classic case of why Arc Fault breakers are such a good idea.
now luckily since the much is slow to burn there was never any danger to the home made of brick yet under the right circumstance of the home being wood etc. yes there could have been a disaster.

This is why it is important to install low voltage circuits to manufacturer and wiring codes so that the systems will self limit and prevent problems.

FIOS Installer puts 125 lives at risk because he is lazy

Yes once again lives put at risk because of poor training and poor attitude of a telco installer.
this time it was a 5 apartment building complex in Penn Hills where 125 individuals lives where put at risk because this lazy ass hole failed to even ask if there was a fire alarm connected even though he had to walk right past it. and was installing new FIOS service which is phone and internet lines in the management office. With the fire alarm remote keypad beeping in the lobby he walks out and never says a word to management because it was 3pm and time to go home . What a LOSER.
But then again what do you expect. with the break up of AT&T in the 80's they offered buy outs to all the older high paid installers who where well trained and instead hired a bunch of young guys give them 3 weeks training and send them on jobs so multiple installers have to go some where and fix things till it is done right. If you have older style phone lines servicing a complex forget getting any help none of the newer installers have any ideal what a ISDN or Serial Data Line or 46K line is let alone have any ideal how to fix it.
No all the telcos want to pay and train as little as possible so they can maximize profits. The result thousands every night put at risk all over the country when installers do not hook fire and burglar and medical alarms back in correctly and its not discovered till trouble signals sound or a an alarm goes off and theirs no response. What a way to run a company. full of corporate pukes.

COMCAST INSTALLERS STAY OUT OF MY FIRE PANELS

Why is it that COMCAST Cable Installers have in the last 3 years been snooping around in my fire panels .
Good question because they could be facing felony criminal charges or risking a catastrophe
for messing around in these panels should they cause one not to work and there's a fire

It does not matter if I have the panels locked or not because many COMCAST Installers and there Sub contractors where former Alarm System installers who have the generic keys which can open a panel makers line of product.
I have filed complaints with fire officials in Penn Hills , Emsworth and Wilkinsburg after responding to panel troubles to find out a COMCAST Installer or Sub has been in the room the panel is located doing work.
No installer or tech or handy man of any type should be opening a fire panel and even looking inside only the company that services and maintains the panel is permitted under law in most states. even if your trying to figure out a telco problem you should never enter a panel unless an alarm company tech is present.

I just recently had to respond to an apartment complex in Penn Hills to fix broken wires in a fire panel after a Comcast installer was working in the room and all of a sudden the panel now has problems.

This is a warning to Comcast and all Cable and Telco company's keep your people out of my and other alarm company's panels or face the consequences of being sued by one of my customers or there insurer and your installer being arrested .
This is not a game this is life threatening if something goes wrong.