A Good Ideal A program to let Firefighters know where Children are sleeping that ended up a Bad Ideal Just again proving fire Service is its own worse enemy

Back in late 70s early 80s  some one in the Fire Community came up with a great ideal .

To help firefighters locate children when a home catches fire why don't we have home owners put a sticker on their child's bedroom window thereby telling us where the child is located.  Like this old faded  Child Finder one in a bedroom window in Penn Hills Pa.

At First it seemed like a good idea  . The stickers gave children a safer feeling firefighters would find them
which was fantastic and during a fire firefighters knew which windows to go to first to rescue the children

But like all good ideas problems slowly developed.

When home owners moved they did not remove stickers and children may no longer be in bedroom

The other issue children grew up and moved away but stickers where still on windows.
and like the home above its sat empty now for almost a decade 

Also the problem was with children knowing the sticker told them where Firefighters could find them and gave them ease knowing they would be safe if a fire broke out brought much discern  when a fire did break out fireman are not there and children panicked.
So thou the program was launched and seen as a good thing the consequences proved anything but.

When launching a new safety program Fire Service really needs to think thru all ramifications and then ask should we proceed with it. Too many times they dont and it comes back to bite them.

Replacing Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and Regular Bulbs with LED Bulbs be careful or you could cause a Fire

LED bulbs are all the new fad over what was the most energy efficient bulbs at the time CFL  Compact Fluorescent now old technology but with new technology comes new problems .

Just like when we went from Incandescent to CFL going from Incandescent or CFL to LED has its issues and can result in an Electrical Shock and or  Fire.

 Now the LED bulbs look just like an Incandescent bulb same shape and size  but you have to read the label on them before you replica a incandescence bulb or CFL

  Not all LED bulbs can be used with screw in base up their only designed for socket base down like use in a table lamp.

Also not all LED bulbs can be used sideways in a fixture and they also may not be used in an enclosed fixture unless its says so on the box.

They may look like  a standard bulb you can use anywhere but they are not

Also many LED bulbs have exclusion  and not to be used  hot and Cold temperature areas.

also Many old houses with Knob and tube wiring where Neutrals are shared and old Carter 3 way sockets are in use LED may not work properly.

Also not all LED Bulbs are Dimmable and some require special Dimmers  to lesson the light output.

So as you can see you can not just walk in local hardware store and pick up any LED  bulb off the shelf

Choose wisely and follow instructions or expect problems.

Honeywell / Resideo fails again with New Vista Turbo panels . Nothing but problems dealing with ground faults

Its a dam shame the Vista 32,128 and 250 FB panels where Bullet Proof when it came to performance and before UL mandates came in where fairly resistant to Ground Fault signals always going off.

Well let UL and NFPA get their hands on them with all the new revisions and now you can not use the new panels because all they due is cause False Ground Fault troubles .Especially if you have a vista key system tied into it nothing but constant ground faults and no way to get rid of them.

Worse thing also is you could temporarily turn off ground fault while looking for it.
Not with the new Turbo panels you can bypass but panels keep beeping. It was so bad at one customer I had to separate the vista panels burg components including the vista key and put it into a separate burg turbo panel which does not have ground loop detection.
To get rid of the constant ground faults going off.
I love these panels but since the changes I will no longer be installing them.
In fact I will no longer be installing any new Honeywell FBPT Panels on new installs and I will be switching out to a new manufacturer.

Why would a manufacturer allow such a mistake  to happen. When they see their sales plummet from me and other dealers not buying them maybe they will get the message .
They did not get the message on Cellular communicators either Napco Star Link is a far superior product and may Honeywell dealers like me have switched to them

New NEC Code requiring Disconnects on Outside Residential Services safer for Firefighter? Not really can be dangerous

Yes NFPA really did not think this one thru when they passed in the 2020 code cycle that all new 100 and 200 amp residential service must now include an outside disconnect.

On its surface its a good code designed to protect Firefighters so they do not have to wait for the power company to  shut off power which can take 15 to 45 or more minutes to arrive.

But are we setting Firefighters up for failure and accidents with this new code ? Absolutely and are we putting public at risk ? again Absolutely.

As you dive further into this new code the outside disconnect can be a breaker rated for switch duty or a pull handle type disconnect.

1st its going to drive up cost of Job by several hundred dollars and they are already going near $2000 mark as it is with all the new requirements for AFCI and GFCI Breakers etc. more money home owner has to spend and less they can contribute to local charities and VFD

2nd it will encourage home owners to change there own breaker panels and do work they previously would not of tried because they could not shut off the meter . This will ultimately result in more fires due to home owner and handyman wiring negligence .Putting Firefighters at risk who repond to these fires.

3rd it will lead to Firefighters accidents because those outside disconnects age they deteriorate especially breakers and 20-30 or more years down line breaker may not shut off properly or can arc and cause explosion hurting Firefighter turning it off .
Also only one side of 220 service could shut off other 120 leg could still be hot and unless Firefighters check with a Hot Stick they could still have power on in home when they think it is off.

Yes another fine example of NFPA passing a code and not thinking it fully thru. and in 20-30-40 years my predictions will come true as usual.

A Light Ballast is a Light Ballast they are all the Same ? Wrong . It almost caused a fire at one of my customers because the wrong ballast was used.

A Fluorescent Light ballast is a Light ballast wrong. and if you use the wrong one you can cause a fire .
Tke the below sample do you see a Difference ?

Well there is very slight but not knowing this difference can cause major issues.


A customer of mine was blowing out replacement ballasts a couple weeks after they where replacd and I found out he had a unique situation going on .

most Fluorescent lighting fixtures are rigged up for either 120 or 277 VAC

But in my customers case his warehouse lighting was being run at 230VAC  so a conventional ballast would not work.

the ballast on Left is  marked 120 VAC To 277 VAC  this means it can be used on 120,208,230 and 277 VAC 

The Ballast on right is marked 120-277  Normally this can only be used on 120 or 277 not 230 VAC

which was what was happening at my customers warehouse wrong voltage meant ballast burt up in short time usage.

But here is an even more interesting twist  take another close look at this ballast its marked 12-277VAC  OK cant use on 230VAC   wrong this one you can  you will also see a UV mark this means universal input so it can be used on 230VAC

Confused?  your not the only one .

The best way to be safe when replacing a ballast in a fixture is to replace with an exact match if unsure check with manufactuer.

Also remember there are ballasts on market which have a built in  rechargeable back up battery in them so light works during a power outage. So if you have to replace one of those it gets even more critical you get exact replacement and wore correctly.

Light Fixtures manufactured today are much more complicated than in days past repair them incorrectly you can injure yourself and or have a fire develop because the work is improper.

LED Fluorescent Replacement Lamps Present a New Danger to the uninformed when they attempt to change them with wrong lamp

Retrofitting existing Fluorescent Light fixtures with energy efficient LED Light Bulbs  is all the rage  right now in office and retail environments it just makes sense  lamps last up-to 10years and use half the energy and are much brighter than conventional fluorescent lamps.

But It comes with a new danger to those who do not pay attention to how these retrofits are done and fail to pay attention to warning labels which are suppose to be put on every fixture that has been retrofitted like the sticker below

The problem is with Direct drive LED Lamps  the ballast in the fixture is bypassed and 120VAC
is applied directly to the LED Lamps and if a conventional Fluorescent light bulb or tube is
put on 120 VAC it can explode sending shards of glass everywhere.This is why the above label must be placed on fixture ,but many times they are not applied

To make matters even more confusing some LED Lamps you do not bypass the ballast  so you can mix conventional fluorescent with LED  not recommended but it can be done. 

So you can see how confusing it is and how someone who is not familiar with the new LED retrofit Lamps could be badly injured. especially unqualifeied handy mean types.

LED retrofitting is defiantly the best way to go but beware .

Fire Departments, Do You Know Where Your 'Knox Box' Keys Are?

Lucky for one dept I found and returned theirs.

By Nick Markowitz

I do occasional subcontract work for an alarm dealer who has a bunch of coal-fired pizza shops and they're notorious for causing false alarms due to coal dust. Well, this morning I received a call from my friend. He needs me to go to one of his locations and replace a smoke detector, which was false alarming.

So I get on site, change the smoke, then go around back of the store where there's a small rear access room accessible only from the outside. To my concern, I see the Knox Box is sitting open and the store's keys are sitting in the door!

Editor's Note: For info on the Knox Box, visit https://www.knoxbox.com/

Now, had I not noticed this key first and a criminal type got hold of it, which was a very good possibility as every car going drive thru window for business next door would see them hanging there, they could have had access to every store front in town that uses a Knox Box. The fire department would have had to re-key every Knox Box in town to prevent the burglar getting into every store undetected without an alarm. Even if they did, he would be in and out with ease if the burglar had this key.

One town had to do this exact thing and re-key can cost well over $2000.00. To make matters worse, the town could be liable for items taken, which could cost thousands of dollars and they could have gotten a call, arrived on scene and found no key, which is an even worse situation.

I carefully put the door keys back in, locked the Knox Box, and took the keys up the street to the fire department. No one had any idea they where even missing it.

Needless to say, they where very happy I found and returned it. I am sure someone got a chewing out, and rightly so. Some new protocols may also follow, which is a good thing.

It is too easy to loose track of your keys. All of us, including myself, have done it before and there's that rush of adrenaline as you frantically search for them.

Luckily this time, other than some embarrassment, no one got hurt, but it could have turned out much worse.

So I ask again, do you know where your Knox Box keys are? Do you have an SOP protocol in place for how they're to be handled?




Note: the key image in no way allows it to be copied this is a level 4 Bixial key way  and does not reveal  its features

Check out this new style Fire Hydrant now being deployed in Franklin Pa.

I was in Franklin Pa. doing some alarm training for a fellow alarm dealer who needed some help learning one of the Vista128BPT panels  when I came upon a most interesting object sticking out of the ground .

But what was it a new style PIV valve for controlling fire sprinklers?

No its a radically new design for a Fire Hydrant

Manufactured by Sigelock Systems LLC and designed to be tamper proof to prevent water theft and hydrants being opened maliciously and to be easier to operate and increased water flow .

http://sigelock.com/

Check out the link below to see it in action and its story 

https://youtu.be/UpNO7MptSuA