Slob Electrician who cares not to do his job correctly put lives at risk and caused headaches because he mis-wired a Duct Detector on Fire Alarm

Yes it is absolutely amazing the number of so called professional electricians there are in the field who could care less about how they do their job and who they put at risk.

Take a call  I got from a fellow alarm dealer who was having issues at a supermarket where he took over the servicing of the fire alarm after it was constantly false alarming every time power went out.
Every time  this happened lives where put at risk this community uses volunteers this means men and women having to leave what they are doing and rushing to the fire hall to get geared up and then  rushing to the store not knowing what they are going to find.  This happened several times and resulted in the threat of fines if not fixed. Thats when my friend was asked to find cause of the false alarms since he only did the Burglar Alarm at the time, and an electrician with a dubious reputation put in the fire alarm. 


He mainly does Burglar alarms and has some knowledge of  fire systems but this one was baffling him.
He checked out the fire panel which was tied to contact on his burglar alarm which should not have been done that way since this is a required system , but at time he did not know it was a code violation. So something else was going on and it had him baffled . Thats when he called me.

First thing we did was take the simple one zone  fire system off the burglar alarm system panel and instead installed a proper supervised Silent Knight 5104B Fire Alarm Dialer to make system legal. I then tested panel dropped power to it and no false alarms so had to be something in the field wiring .
 So we started tracing all the lines and where they went to..

Thats when I spotted wires running back along some duct work used to exhaust heat build up in attic  and found a duct detector which was improperly wired .
Duct detectors sense smoke in duct work and shut down the air  handler to keep it from spreading while also notifying building occupants to the problem. 

As you can see the wiring on the detector is wired to the supervisory terminals of the Duct Detector 3&13
instead of the Alarm Contacts 4&5  where it should be.
Supervisory is used to advise if there is a problem with the detector like a power failure or detector has stopped working . Which in this case every time power dropped to detector the supervisory contacts closed and caused a false alarm .this does not happen when properly wired to alarm contacts.

Now the other problem is the electrician never wired in the remote control station for the detector either so it cant be reset if it trips and also shows when it has activated something we have ordered and will install in the future at the site.

This just goes to show once again the amount of slobs their are doing their trade and not caring who they put at risk. The general overall wiring in the store is a mess also which management was shown and told about as well. Its a dam shame you pay good money for proper work and get results like this.

A Firefighters Novelty Item which could become a real concern to Firefighters and Public Safety

So I am shopping at my favorite discount store 380 discount and I see these really neat Firefighters novelty and bought a couple dozen of them  very cheap to give to customers and firefighting friends

Its a Model Pull Station that when you pull it is actually a light.

 And as you can see its a realistic looking pull station with a really bright flash light pretty cool even gave one to local Fire marshal who said thats really neat he was going to give it to his daughter and then it hits him . Maybe this is not such a cool thing to give to a kid ? Because whats to stop a young kid from thinking all pull stations which look like this Edwards Pull station light up and there are plenty of them out there . Yes he has a very valid concern. A young child could very easily associate the 2 and you have a bunch of false alarms being created.  So while it is a neat novelty item keep in mind how it is gong to be used in many cases its just going to end up in a firefighters collection  but it could end up in a young  child's hands and if it does lets hope the parent teaches the child the difference between this toy and real deal.

AT&T Has failed to correct its 4G issues thats why I will be going Verizon from hear on out. Plus a new tech issues micro Cells causing AT&T Issues

Yes I wrote few months back about AT&T  having issues after 4G -GSM roll out causing spotty coverage and I have had no choice but to start switching my customers cellular communicators over to Verizon CDMA service .

The problems are very clear as you increase speed you need more towers and no towers where added in my area for 4G
also AT&T has internet powered phone boosters known as Micro Cells they act like miniature cell towers you hook to internet to provide coverage in spotty areas and they are playing havoc with cell communicators.

https://www.att.com/att/microcell/

 

I have spent many days just going around installing boosting antennas and moving and relocating units to try and get coverage to end up having to switch to Verizon CDMA  I am done with AT&T and I am not the only one I hear nothing but complaints from friends and customers who have AT&T phone I have a At&t pay as you go phone use to get perfect signal at my home and now poor signal and tower is 1 mile from my home. I am done with you AT&T you rolled out that new service knowing you could not support it and you want to go to 5G which will make things even worse .

A useful tool for Easy Pass users In Pa no longer allowed by feds due to Stupid Drivers

Yes once again the Pa Turnpike has been told to eliminate a useful feature for easy pass users such as myself which ans when your easy pass is not working or your balance is low

They had set up a simple traffic light when you pulled thru green your pass was working and there are funds in your account to pay the tool if yellow came on you have a low balance and red meant pass not working.

however a couple accidents resulted when fools who do not have an easy pass or do not read instructions stopped and hit brakes instead of driving thru. So now all the traffic lights are being pulled as we once again reward bad behavior by drivers and Pittsburgh ranks number 1# when it comes to bad drivers. So once again a defensive educated driver like myself pays for fools and idiots bad behavior.
So now I have to go online to check balance and make sure pass is working properly so i do not get
overcharged.
Thank You again Federal highway administration for rewarding bad driving .

What are these crazy looking multi valve outlets you see on the outside of some buildings ? They are for Fire Pump Testing

You have probably walked by them and not noticed them but other times you may have with any where from 2 to 6 or more  little individual hand valves on them depending on the size and volume pump puts out

They serve an important purpose they are used to test the Fire Pump which boosts the pressure to sprinkler system which protect buildings. Since water can not be run thru the sprinkler piping while testing the pump this bypass valve arrangement is installed  and hoses attached to allow the water to flow towards a street drain.  the valves can be individually open and closed to allow pressure against the pump while being tested  . Got to see a test at a large storage facility once and was very impressive .


Check out this Youtube Video of a test being performed by a contractor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXeHHSaRDhY

So now you know what those weird valves are for. 

Unyielding and Strict Code Interpretations often leads to them being violated and major code issues being entirely missed.

Yes unfortunately I run across Inspectors who are so attentive to absolute strict compliance of code they often end up causing code issues and often times because they are so attentive they miss major issues .

Take the case of a recent wedding venue I attended that just opened in an upscale community .
This particular inspector insists pull stations no more then 5 ft NFPA 72mandates how ever not taking into consideration the buildings design and ADA rules yes you guessed it every one of them are blocked .

As you can see in the picture the chair blocks the pull station . Had the inspector let the pull station be put on the side wall near corridor it would be free and clear and easy to operate but thats too far. But remember the inspector has the right to allow local judgement especially when it comes to something like this . Its called common sense and these inspectors do not have it and will not use it.

In the mean time while they where doing all of the inspections and their obsessions with tape measures  to make sure everything is correct they totally missed the fact the raised platform where participants sit is of same material's main floor and has no safety edge to warn you are stepping down the result the night of wedding a 80 yr old women participant fell and severely bruised both knee's which more than likely is not going to end well.

Never fails I see this all the time over obsessed with compliance instead of using common sense to avoid issues  it is just a matter of time this community is going to be hit with a major lawsuit because its inspectors have failed to protect the community by missing and or contributing to a major code violation where there is a loss of life. The clock is ticking .

UL and NFPA mandate not allowing Ground Fault Function to be bypassed on Fire Panels is putting lives in danger because other faults get missed

Yes the idiots at UL and NFPA in their quest to build a better fire panel have actually caused panels to be less safe. How?

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 

A Very dangerous designed safety rail on Sissor Lifts how was this even allowed on the market

In 40 plus years of working on various lifts and hoists I encountered one of the most dangerous designs I have ever seen on a Optimum 1930 Sissor lift made by Haulotte
These are typically rented thru home improvement stores which is why OSHA probably has not gotten them off the market.

The units have a solid steel bar which goes across where other lifts use a piece of chain it sildes up and down on rollers and can get stuck in up posistion and then thats when its dangerous when I went to get on lift not realizing flimsy way the bar was staying up it came down and struck me on the head.

Bar Lowered

roller mechanisim

As you can see bar is pushed up and down but can easily catch and the fall  in picture below

Bar now in up stuck position bump it it comes down hard .

To make matters worse because this bar is such a pain in the ass to get under and on to lift it is often tied up with tape or zip ties and now the safety is bypassed. Who ever cam up with such a poorly designed safety feature need fired and not allowed to design another piece of equipment.
I contacted manufacture but never got a reply back which is typical . when some one gets seriously hurt and they get sued then maybe they will recall these units and put safety chain on them. 

I will be notifying CPSC as this is rented to consumers

You can not make a 4 wire smoke detector work on a 2 wire Fire Alarm loop but that did not stop this installer from doing it and leaving half an apartment building with out proper fire protection for over 30 years

In 1984 the Pa. fire and Panic Act was passed and it required the vast majority of apartment buildings to install Fire Alarm Systems unless you where in a community using the BOCA Code  but some followed both like Monroeville  a very good ideal that unfortunately was never properly enforced by the state  and has lead to hundreds if not thousands of inadequate and improper systems to be installed in apartment buildings all over the state.

One such building I encountered in the  south Hills of Pittsburgh is just such a case the system was installed but never inspected and passed by any fire official and up until it was purchased by my customer this past year and I rebuilt it never properly worked in fact half of the smoke alarms and pull stations never functioned since the day they where installed  .

So how could something like this happen ? Unfortunately it still goes on to this very day.
Back then community's who did not have a local Fire Marshal or Official to inspect left it up to the state to do it. In too many cases the state approved the drawings and got the required completion paper work the system was installed but never verified the systems or inspected them.
This lead to a host of violations from non approved burglar alarm equipment being used to pull stations mounted at 6 ft .

In this 22 unit 3 story apartment they installed an ESL 1500 Fire Panel but then never field installed the resistors which supervise the wiring on the end of the circuits this resulted in the south end of stair tower with smokes and pull stations to fail to operate when a wire fell off a heat detector in basement
so it never worked for god only knows how long .
Then to make matter worse they tried installing 4 wire detectors on 2 wire loops.
yes it can be done but you must install 2 extra wires to provide power to the units they did not which means they never worked. Despite how they tried to make the wiring work.

By jumping 2 wires over to power side of detector sorry that does not work so these detectors never worked.
Now to make matters worse this system up till 96 was regularly inspected by a big famous 3 initial fire company whose inspectors passed it every year and never found any of these issues in effect they where committing fraud signing the reports and ripping off the building owner and more importantly
they where putting lives at risk all for the almighty buck. Of course so much time has passed the people who installed the system are long out of business and dead and the people inspecting it are probably long gone and probably dead as well so who you going to go after.

I rebuilt the system installing a new Silent Knight 5208 Panel  all new system sensor  smoke and heat detectors plus carbon monoxide detectors and supervising as much of the wiring as I could and installed a Cellular Sole Path Communicator to notify fire dept and this time had it inspected by the towns new chief who is now going back over and rechecking all the property's in the town for proper compliance .
Good for Him and he has implemented The Compliance Engine to help keep track of things. Of course your still going to have the raggers and taggers but all the tracking helps to catch them. 
But finnaly the good people of this community will have proper fire protection.

NFPA gets it wrong and confuses public and fire officials when they say replace smoke alarms after 10 years.

Yes it never cease to amaze me how UL and NFPA screws with the public and fire officials. take the
whole ideal you must replace smoke alarm / detectors after 10 years ..

I had a corporate customer call me other day all worried he had to change everyone of his 154 smoke detectors in his complex  he was relieved to know he did not have to after I explained to him the differences between smoke alarm and smoke detector 

Smoke detectors must be changed after 10 years
This is 100% false statement what you should be replacing is Smoke Alarms  not Smoke Detectors so whats the difference?

A Smoke Alarm is a single or multi connected unit either using Ionization or Photo Electric  or both technologies  which has a built in sounder and is powered by 120 vac or 9 volt battery or both .
these are found primarily in residential settings  and only units utilizing ionization need replaced if it is straight photo electric and passes tests it is still safe to use

 Kidde Battery powered smoke alarm

as you can see from date smoke alarm is past 10 years old needs replaced

A Smoke Detector is a unit which is connected to a Fire Alarm or combination Burglar/Fire Alarm
some times has a built in sounder and  is powered and supervised by  the panel .
These units only need replaced when they no longer pass sensitivity tests I have customers with smoke detectors going on 30 years and they still work as good as day they where installed but I highly recommend they change them when they are that old and most do few at a time when annual testing is done.  thou these units where at one time sold with ionization features they have not been made by manufacturers in many years  still same rule if they pass testing they do not need replaced only smoke alarms after 10 years.

 commercial hardwired smoke detector with optional sounder

So should you be concerned if a smoke detector or smoke alarm needs replaced after 10 years absolutely if they are smoke alarms of ionization type and a smoke detector which fails sensitivity testing.

This is why Fire Alarm systems require annual testing of detectors to make sure they are working
and records should be avalable upon request of the building owners representative .

You should also know you could have both types of units particularly in apartment buildings . Generally the units in hall ways are smoke detectors  tied to a system but not always some smaller buildings use daisy chained smoke alarms which need changed after 10 years  if they are ionization and usually inside the individual apartment you will find a smoke alarm which needs replaced  after 10 but again not always as some units inside the apartment are actually smoke detectors which have a local sounder in apartment  which sounds and heat which activates main fire  panel this help prevents false alarms while cooking  etc.
 So yes it can be very confusing and uninformed fire officials on the matter does not help.
It also does not help that unscrupulous alarm dealers are telling customers they need to replace there combo fire/ burg systems  smokes after 10 years when they only need tested.

Unsure what you have protecting your home or apartment building ask a professional  alarm technician or fire official..

Below is 2 examples of correct and incorrect wording of Public Service Announcement PSA adds 

Example of PSA with wrong incorrect  wording 

PSA with correct wording 

Home Fire Sprinklers a good Idea . The question is will they even work when you need them 20-30 years from now ? Is this whole home sprinkler thing nothing more than a panacea ?

Lets face facts . Yes home sprinklers do save lives.

Lets also face the fact that sprinkler systems require proper maintenance if not they do notwork properly

Yes the NFPA banters about the fact there has never been a multi fatality in a proper maintained building with sprinklers the main words being proper maintained.

Well In the 40+ years I have been working in buildings which have sprinklers systems I have seen both well maintained and poorly maintained systems and even in buildings properly maintained the amount of corrosion and mold  in pipes even plastic pipes is amazing .

I have seen systems put in 15 years ago where they went to add heads to a system and watched them open up piping and the water comes out like maple syrup to point the sprinkler installer  has to use a coat hanger to clear the pipe.
and these are systems well maintained and corrosion checked .I just worked in a building with 3 year old piping and you should already see the corrosion starting in that system.

http://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/20594/title/safety-corroded-why-your-fire-sprinkler-system-may-be-at-risk/viewall/true

The problem is the hard water we have in the Tri-state area. To add to the problem systems where pressure or storage tanks are used which is many of them also have significant mold and slime  issues in the tanks if additives are not put into the tanks.

So if we see these issues in commercial systems you will see them in plastic or copper piping used in residential systems as well.

Lets face it even thou today's lighter construction does not hold up as well in a fire like older construction today's homes from a fire safety stand point are safer than ever .

Codes mandate Daisy chained smoke alarms and Arc Fault Breakers AFCI and Ground Fault Circuit  Interrupters GFCI and solid 2 point grounding systems so electrical fires are greatly reduced. walls are foamed or insulated and there is blockage in the walls to stop fire spread unlike old homes which are balloon constructed.

So chances of having a fire are greatly reduced but what about 20 to 30 or more years down the road when you may have a real need for that sprinkler system will it work ?

See thats the problem all this lets put in sprinklers for saving lives and not telling you all the issues of having sprinkler systems in your homes and the responsibility to make sure they stay operational.

Believe me I have seen 20 year old plastic piping and what it looks like inside when water is sitting in it and not moving from all the years of work I have done around swimming pools and in the oil industry and working on water wells. .

In commercial buildings  piping can be easily removed and replaced for the most part but a home that means tearing open walls   if the piping can not be properly flushed and cleaned.

Now yes we can filter and treat water before putting it in the system or add nitrogen etc to get PH up or down but that adds to the cost  and that also means testing system to make sure water is still treated.

You see its real easy to say put in sprinklers but no one wants to talk about the downfalls of it and complications lets talk about it.

In some cases putting in sprinklers your insurance goes up due to the water damage potential and while some states have passed laws to keep this from happening some have not .

You may be required to put in a separate metered line to house this can cost thousands

You may have to add a storage pressure tank which needs to be kept heated  this means in the basement and mold prevented and monitored for pressure loss  all of a sudden the myth that sprinklers cost no more than good carpet just exploded.

The cost of some one annually coming and testing your system if you want to make sure its working any where from $150-300  each time.

Having to keep your house above 40 degrees  at all times to keep sprinklers from freezing even when your away for extended periods and now having to worry pipes do not burst

Having to have either a small stand alone fire panel or combo burglar panel to monitor your system and  monthly monitoring fees $30-60 a month

Plus eventually you need to replace the heads after so many years they loose sensitivity just like heat detectors on a fire system  also which how many places i go in they have not been changed on 30 or more years.

Yes sprinklers are a great idea if your willing to take on the responsibility to maintain them if not they are just as useless as the smoke with out a battery. All these model community's with sprinkler rules lets see what they look like in 20-30 wont that be interesting

You should be able to get 15 Amps out of a 120 volt 15 Amp Wall outlet WRONG UL and NFPA once again cause confusion for public

I have a customer who  distributes and delivers various oils and fluids to customers such as repair garages and industrial users of oils.

One of the products they deliver is DEF or Diesel Exhaust Fluid used in modern diesel vehicles to keep soot down.
 They have a pump which draws 14.5 amps so there maintenance man who looked at it and see it draws 14.5 amps would think OK I can plug it into a 15 amp electrical outlet and be OK
except when he does he keeps tripping the breaker . Thats when they called me in and I had to explain to him the idiocy of the NFPA and National Electrical code and show him where he was wrong
 because 99% of the population  who are not electricians would get it wrong  as well Because when NFPA and UL sat down and designed 15 amp Outlets they designed those circuits to only be used at 80% of its rated name plate . so that means no more than 12 amps continuous can be drawn thru the outlet not the full 15 which is for short bursts when a motor starts up.

In realty this motor must be run on a 20 amp circuit using number 12#gauge wire instead of 14# guage which is used for 15 amps.

because of this confusion the NFPA and  UL has blood on its hands by not fully explaining to the public that 15 amps from a receptacle can not be used continuously and it gets plenty of people killed yearly when they plug in electric  space heaters.

So why all the confusion good question you would think when an organization publishes safety standards they would take into account the general public's safety and NFPA and UL have failed miserably doing so. Just Like with the new close your bedroom door which if you do not have daisy chained smokes will get you killed.

Of course NFPA and UL blows off the whole code thing with its for professionals to use and educate the public. Wrong you make the code you should be the one informing people.

Before you shut off your 24/7 Security System Professional Monitoring to save money . Does it effect your Homeowners Insurance ?

OK so you put in a burglar alarm 3-5 years ago your contract for monitoring and or maintenance is over and you want to not be monitored or you want to self monitor using something like Eyezon.
before you do this and make a major mistake which could cost you thousands of dollars in grief

Better check with your insurance carrier before shutting it off.

Why your insurance rate you pay is discounted on the fact you have a monitored system  turning off monitoring means

1# you have to pay the higher rate which could be more than what you pay for monitoring

2# If you have an intrusion and because you failed to maintain your 24/7 monitoring you are in violation of your insurance agreement which means the insurance company could ruse to pay anything or reduce what they will pay. 

So what are my options ?

Look around and find a small independent alarm dealer like myself(sorry not taking new customers)  who offers discounted monitoring. which is some times half or less what you pay the big company's.
Just make sure its a legitimate company and insurance approves.

it takes effort but there are cheaper alternatives out there .