Saturday, November 19, 2022

Improper use of Drywall Screws to mount Pull Stations leads to constant fire Alarm malfunctions

 Customer of mine recently bought a rundown apartment building to renovate it and first thing he did was have me go over the existing Fire Alarm System as Local Fire Dept said it was constant source of problems. 

Well after examining and updating it no wonder it never worked right.

First off 4 wire smoke detectors where not properly supervised to make sure they had power I replaced the all with 2 wire detectors as well as a new Potter 6006 Panel

also found Recalled Edwards Heat Detectors in use I replaced   as well as old 12 volt horns with modern 24 volt horn strobes

But then I started getting all kinds of ground faults 


 Which I tracked down to improperly installed Pull Stations which where not wired properly for supervision supervising wires where jumped together instead of individually hooked up which would warn of a wire break.  and to make matters worse  when they mounted them to the wire-mold boxes which where already tight with wiring they used Drywall Screws instead of the factory provided screws which where longer and had pointed tips that went right thru wiring jackets piercing them and making contact with copper conductors causing the ground faults.

I replaced all the old Metal Edwards Pull Stations with lower in back Plastic Fire Lite BG 12 pull stations and ground faults where eliminated.

I also installed a CO Detector due to age of Boiler system and state codes which mandate them as the building has had a history of CO incidents.

 

All these problems and never noted on an  annual inspection  this community requires .

by a company that calls themselves " the Fire Alarm Experts in Pittsburgh "


 



No comments:

Post a Comment