So whats a Mass Notification System I keep hearing about ?

At left is a Typical Notification device Manufactured by Wheelock you might find in a large warehouse or manufacturing facility. It is designed to get the word out when there is a problem
in a facility such as a fire or gas leak an approaching tornado and the white strobe activates and siren tones are heard followed by an announcement as to what to do. These Voice Evacuation Systems or EVAC as they have been known have been around for many years and typically where only found in big plants and auditoriums and hotels . They are not cheap to install and require all wiring to be supervised like a Fire alarm System.
But with the events of September 11th 2001 That has all changed . EVAC systems have been redesigned and bolstered to allow the general public to know there is a problem in such places as college campuses , malls etc and in Specific Military Installations.
Mass Notification Systems as there now known not only incorporate the Speakers and Strobe lights
which can be several different colors to show what is going on systems nowadays can also send out
Text and emails with warning messages and call pagers and home phone lines with messages and can automatically lock doors to prevent a threat from entering a building etc.
and provide instructions what to do during the emergency.

Reverse 911 systems can dial and send out prerecorded messages to homes in a community to warn of dangers as well. Such as gas leak , Hostage situation etc to either warn people to stay in there homes or evacuate and where the.
Dangers are as well .

To learn more about these systems check out the following link.

http://www.wheelock-products.com/index.aspx

Free Security System Dont be a Chump or Dupe

If you listen with any regularity to Talk radio and have come across Dave Ramsey or Clark Howards Consumer Shows
You may have heard them say how bad a deal the Free security systems deals are .
Well here is the proof at left is a current flyer by a alarm distributor and for $253.35 Wholesale Typically $975.0o retail on the web there is the typical kit that is put in by these door knocking alarm installers who you sign up and pay $45.00 a month for 5 years of monitoring and no service .

So lets run the numbers
It costs the dealer $253.95 for the kit $75.00 to get it installed by some one for a total of $328.95
he gets monitoring for $4.00 a month yet your paying $45.00 so the monitoring $240.00 and total cost to dealer complete install and 5 years monitoring is costing the dealer $568.95 and for that 5 year free system you have paid$2700.00

Which means you put $1500.00 dollars profit in the dealers pocket for what exactly not even the best panel a package panel.
Now everyone is entitled to a profit but $1500.00 dollars for little to no work well you can see why everyone is ready to sell you a free system. So even if they give you a couple extra doors etc there still making $1000.00 for that free system.
Do not get burned. Purchase a traditional system $1200.00 to 2000.00 and pay a reasonable monitoring fee $20-35 a month
do not go with the free deals.
Traditional dealers are out there typically small operations with out big adds etc. shop and compare and if they say free hang up the phone or close the door.
Also professional products are out there on the web for the DIY crowd with good skills.

Every business owner is entitled to a fair and reasonable profit for producing a product whats fair? That's for you the consumer to decide.

Sorry I am not taking new residential clients.

High Risk faciltys need more than a standard Heat Detector

At left is a Rate Compensated Heat detector made by the Fenwal Company a division of UTC Fire& Security

http://www.fenwalcontrols.com/utcfs/Templates/Pages/Template-53/0,8062,pageId%3D3887%26siteId%3D375,00.html

These units take and utilize the best of fixed and rate of rise features to react quickly to a fire yet not false alarm like other units.Because they sense the surrounding air no matter the fires growth

You will find them where fast hot fires develop very quickly like Engine rooms on Boats Boiler rooms , both liquid and vapor Gas fueling, handling and production facility's and Chemical Plants

There hermetically sealed against the elements and utilize a self resetting Bi metal element which allows it to be tested multiple times unlike one time use fixed temp sensors

Needless to say there not cheap around $100 each compared to a $20 heat you find in a home or business but when you need a rugged well built quick reacting fire sensor this is it.

The units also have the advantage of being able to be used in hazardous and explosive environments as well as all weather.

have a high risk facility which needs fire protection this is what you need to install.

This is how Electrical Fires Start wheres the Bushings?

I was working in a brand New home yesterday trouble shooting a problem in a sound system my friend was having problems with he was installing in his brand new home they are finishing up the inside in Mt Lebanon Pa. . When I went into the basement to check connections and discovered these major Electrical code violations which could cause a fire.
In the picture at far left you can see a connector missing from the electrical box which allows the wire to be free and loose and which could allow objects to fall into the box causing a spark and large arc and also the metal pipe does not have on the end of it a metal or plastic bushing which protects the wire from again being abraded in the picture directly left you can also see wiring run down thru pipes to protect it but again the bushing s are missing and when these bushings are not used and wires become frayed an arc fault can develop and subsequent fire.
Now I am sure your asking your self . Hey wait a minute brand new house was it not inspected?
Well that was my question to the builder .
I asked him has the Electrical Inspector been thru for a Final inspection as I only saw a rough Wiring sticker on the panel he said he was not sure I told him the wiring is not going to pass and he needs to get his electrician back and correct things and showed him where. He did not seemed worried he said it was the electricians problem. I said no its going to be both your problems when the inspection does not pass and no occupancy permit and owner can not move in. It will be a bigger problem 3 years from now when home owner starts getting wiring issues and even bigger problem yet when the house catches fire due to sloppy wiring I spotted and neither of you did any thing about it. At which point I told him I do fire inspection and investigation. needless to say he changed his attitude and called the electrician to get there and get it fixed.
Which now has me wondering is there even going to be a final electrical inspection. With new construction your suppose to have two inspections a rough and Final a rough checks the service so you can get power on to the structure and final after all the devices wire is run etc.
But all too often the 2nd final inspection is never completed and electricians and owners do what ever they feel like and this is how the problems start and how a 10 year old home can burn to the ground.
Again it falls on the local code authorities to make sure all inspections including both rough and final electrical inspections are done but all too often they just go and hand over the temporary occupancy permit with things to be checked in 30 days and they never come back and check things where done and issue a permanent occupancy permit .
this is a very bad way of doing business but it happens every day here in Pa. and is why we lead the country in fires fire deaths and deaths of firefighters

Dirty Little Secrets Alarm dealers do not want you to know. Who owns your account?

Who really is providing your alarm system servicing and who is actually monitoring it.
It all comes down to who actually owns the rights to your account.

OK you decide to put an alarm in and you call XYZ alarm dealer down the street there nice and local and you like to help local business people but are you really ?
the answer comes down to it all depends.

I have always been an independent stand alone dealer who does not use any type of Dealer Program as there known.

I choose the equipment I choose how its installed and I choose where and who monitors it.
This is not the case with many alarm company's like XYZ who is involved in one of many different dealer programs out there.
Some programs the dealer sells your account outright to a company like ADT who gives the local dealer a Lump Sum payment for the account and the account becomes the sole property of ADT after 90 days of free and clear operation. At this point you deal with ADT for monitoring and service not the local guy any more all he did was install it.

Then theirs cases where the dealer will maintain your system and service it but sells the RMR
Recurring Monthly Revenue to a company like Monitronics which gives them a lump sum of cash
based on how much the account makes each month. Lets say your paying $30.00 a month and it costs a dealer $5.00 a month or less in many cases to get wholesale monitoring so he makes $25.00 a month in RMR he sells all or part of that RMR and gets paid cash for it so he can pay bills etc.
He can sell all or part of his accounts it all depends what he sets up with whoever he is going thru for a dealers program. or he may only sell part of his accounts each month and keep the rest independently

Some companys RMR is making them Hundreds of thousands of dollars each month so now you know how they can Give away so called FREE systems.
You pay for it in monthly monitoring fees.

With me being independent operator and not playing any of these games with funding my business , my monitoring generally is lower than others so yes it pays to shop around and get several quotes and ask plenty of questions where is my account monitored who is doing it who owns it and who is going to service it.
In many cases its often a sub contractor as many of these door knocking company's from Utah do not have a local service person they hire sub contractors like myself to do work for them.

If your blood is starting to boil a little bit I understand. Its the same old story Buyer Beware and due your homework.

I am always up front with customers on my monitoring fees and they know I make a couple bucks and it helps keep my business running and bills paid and I often give them free services such as Up/Down loading and programming etc as part of the monitoring fee like many company's do.
But some dealers charge for every little thing plus add a maintenance fee on top of monitoring as well.
But that's what makes the world go around this world is made up of many different people and business man.

Be Careful working in Old Burglar Alarm Panels

I found this old FBI 650 panel few years back. It operated on 6 volts DC often used a dry cell lantern battery for back up power however this panel used a rechargeable battery today 12 volts DC is what you find in modern panels.
The business owner had just bought the building to expand his business and while in the process of hooking up a new system
I ran across this beautiful little booby trap.
These alarm panels such as FBI 650 and Ademco 221, 330 etc where manufactured back in the late1960s' to early70's and you brought the
120 VAC power directly to the panel instead of using a a wall transformer like modern version used.
A large frame transformer was built into the cabinet. Of course this meant you had live 120 volt terminals on the board which presented a danger to the installer if he was not careful in some cases manufacturers put a plastic cover over the 120 VAC terminals to prevent problems while most did not.

You where suppose to use Armored Cable also known as BX cable to the panel which properly grounded the metal case or rubber coated SO or SJ cord with ground if you where plugging it into a 3 wire outlet or Non Metallic cable NM also known as Romex and ground it to case . Early version panels did not include a ground wire terminal or flying ground lead while later models did this one did not as grounding back then was not seen as important as it is today. But as you can see here some one used 2 conductor lamp cord no ground and mickey moused the plug in transformers off the 120 VAC lamp cord by soldering the wires and then taping them instead of using a proper plug strip. It amazes me more alarm installers where not shocked and homes burned to the ground over this deadly trick and there are still plenty of these panels still rigged up this way floating around in old homes and buildings waiting to cause a fire or shock some one.
This is why you should always be on your guard any time you take out one of these old alarm systems boxes they can still be plugged into 120 volts not doing anything but sitting there ready to shock you. If you have to open one do so very carefully trace and disconnect the 120 VAC wire if possible as the wiring to these panels are very old and brittle in most cases.
Yes these panels are from the heavy relay days and before all the modern codes where in place but they never should have been wired this way even back then The National Electrical Code was in place and should have been followed. But as usual it was not until fires and electric shocks and law suits being filed etc. because installers wired these incorrectly where panel styles changed.
Its a dam shame manufacturers always have to idiot proof alarm panels but they have to do so do to the amount of idiots and uncaring alarm system dealers out there who will not even try and get properly trained.
Because I still see panels such as the Ademco/ Honeywell Vista 32FB and 128 FB panels which require a 120 vac line run to them still being hooked in with lamp cord.
because alarm company's will not hire an electrician to properly do it.
Alarm panels are designed for professional installation but I see very few professional installs in my area. Mostly just hacks who do not give a damn.

No way to install a Fire System or Enforce a Code

Although it has finally been replaced and new panel installed indoors now I hope they did? this INDOOR ONLY rated non functioning Fire Panel
as rusted as it is was what was protecting an 5 unit apartment building in the town of Leechburg Pa. along River Rd.

It probably worked well that summer of 86-87 but as soon as all the fall rains came and they could get under the enclosure where the panel was installed the panel was toast.
So for how many years this building had no fire protection and the towns code enforcement officer if the town even had one allowed this situation to exist.
Pa.Passed in 1984 the Pa. Fire and Panic act which required all apartment buildings to have fire alarm systems for community's who where not enforcing BOCA Code at the time.
With the rush to comply back then all types of installs where done like this where state and local inspectors allowed INDOOR Only rated system to be installed under semi closed in areas exposed to weather and temperatures because there was no other area to install them.
At the time custom outdoor enclosures where not available but the panels could have been installed in enclosures which could be properly sealed and where was available at the time and it would have protected the panels but instead they let contractors get away with this very bad practice. Leechburg is not the only community I have seen this in Greensburg as well which has many apartment stuctures.
But then again why would you expect anything else in a state where code enforcement has always been a complete joke to excellent depending where you live.
Of course the big rush in the 80's to put these systems in are no longer required when building new apartments but sprinklers are more often now specified now that Pa. has a standard state code in place but too many apartment owners and code people think its OK? to now no longer maintain them and in many cases the non functioning alarms are being ripped out.
But this is not proper either it takes permission of the State of Pa Labor and Industry dept to do so because once a system is installed it must be maintained for life of the building . But then again this is Pa. do what ever you feel like becuse some areas enforce the code properly while the vast majority do not.

Why some Code officers need there butts FIRED

At the photo at left you see a strobe used for fire alarms . It was originally installed at 79" to the top which was fine as ADA and other codes see it but not in this case when a jack booted good little Nazi State of Pa. Building Inspector said no you have to move all them up.
he wanted them exactly at 80" at bottom of the box. So now you have a brand new day care center at a church with a bunch of extra holes in the walls. Because an idiot of an inspector who has absolutely no common sense and reads a code and enforces it exactly how it is written with out taking in any other consideration .
In fact the way the strobe was installed was perfectly fine the new floor had not been installed and no one told him that. Needless to say I had a nice long conversation with this idiot after I got involved in the project to Finnish it when another contractor went belly up. I filed a formal complaint against the inspector as this was totally and completely avoidable .This ADA American with Disabilties code says You can put that strobe between 80" and 96" and its fine you can put it even higher where it might get blocked and you still can see it and have just as much light as tests have been shown by testing agency's. such as in dollar stores etc.
But how many inspectors have to be total idiots and say no it must be 80" .
While this inspector came thru and passed the whole system I also showed him all the problems with the system he never caught as well and could have impacted it operating properly which needed corrected. Yes he was all hot aand bothered by a non 80" strobe which would have been after the floor was installed but totally missed important violations I had to correct.
Is this the kind of inspectors we want out there absolutely not.
But this is why you see so many systems that fail to operate properly because these inspectors where never properly trained for there position and go around with there jack boots thinking there the almighty. sorry that position is filled.what we need are inspectors who know what the hell there looking at and passing not what just the book says. Or we all pay the price when a system fails and there's plenty of those out there.