By not allowing a problem that frequently happens on fire panels a Ground fault.
A ground fault indicates that a wire on one of the circuits has been pinched and is touching earth ground some where in the system typically occurs as buildings get older and expand and contract and while a ground fault can interfere with a panels operation its a very rare occurrence. I have never seen one do it in 40 years of fire work on all kind of systems big small new and old and all kinds of buildings .
In older panels you could temporarily bypass the feature so you could find it which some times takes months to find especially when its a floater where wire only touches on hot days when the building is expanding . Bypassing the feature allowed time to find it and fix it with out the trouble sounder constantly coming on and driving people nuts .
 | |
| tape placed over sounder to muffle it |
But no the Morons at NFPA and UL decided alarm techs can not be trusted they will find and fix this ground fault so not more bypassing.
The result the trouble sounder coming on several times a day to point individuals damage or otherwise make the piezo unit which makes the sound be muffled.
So now especially if you have a local only system which does not report which there are many of these type of systems or a system which reports just a simple trouble to central station which there are many out there , when a real dangerous problem comes in like a circuit to the horn strobes is broken or circuit to smoke detectors is broken it gets ignored everyone thinks its the dam ground fault. and then when firefighters need to use the remote stations they can not they have been damaged.
BOTTOM LINE LIVES ARE PUT AT RISK BECAUSE OF THIS UL- NFPA MANDATE
Because UL and NFPA never ever thinks a problem or issue thru before issuing a mandate .
and then has to keep changing rules and codes and panel features.
Yes that time bomb clock keeps ticking and guarantee some where a building is having a ground fault the trouble sounders have been broken or cut off and their is a serious issue with panel no one knows is going on and there will be a fire and system will fail to operate .
Thank You UL ad NFPA for once again putting lives in danger
Like I always say NFPA really stands for Not For Practical Application
