I have received many comments about dry systems we do use them here, however they are installed in areas susceptible to freezing like unheated attics and outdoor applications. They are not installed for general indoor protection as they have a much higher cost more complexity for testing and maintenance and require much more supervision. This does not need a dry system a wet system is completely normal for this application. The soffit space is supposed to be insulated and is indicated as such on the as-builts just never was actually installed.
Almost my whole building is a dry system, I have 2 risers and the Dry system covers 39,000sqft almost the whole building. I love it. The dry system is better for the environment and my wallet as we are able to use less heat. My fave is the sound of the air evacuating the system, it is cool
@@brianthetowerguy979 that's great if it's in an attic or outdoor space. Simply doesn't make sense for the interior of the building where it needs to be heated and insulated anyways. Not to mention the problem they can cause during prolonged power outages.
@@nics-systems-electric As was said before about the dry system but the other option since that area does not seem to have ventilation there maybe some heat tape on the pipes in the area would be a good idea. As you also pointed out there was supposed to be insulation there but that can only work down to a certain temperature. Thankfully the response was quick to stop the damage.
No doubt about it, that early January cold snap was brutal. -10 is definitely not what our island is used to; so many burst pipes across town and even one of the ferries. The School District is sure lucky to have your expertise and experience in this case which no doubt helped prevent a far worse outcome. Excellent work Nic.
@@nics-systems-electric Time to raise the bullshit flag on that monitoring company. Should be no reason for that, but yet somehow it happened in a real f**king emergency in this school, not a fire emergency but a water emergency.
Oh and btw, great video. You did an awesome job as cameraman, using text to explain what is going on, and overall did a 10/10 job for showing us what happened that day. I would hire you as my employee any day.
Have you seen the video he did on the smoke exhaust fans for that main area? There’s FOUR OF THEM, and they are ENORMOUS!!! They can also kill you in seconds if you get sucked into them, because yes, they are that powerful!
I always used to see problems like this (reported as the wrong signal type to monitor, reporting the wrong zone or non-existent zones, etc.) and it was really bad with the addressable systems early on. Graphic annunciators should be a code requirement these days. My 1980 Michigan high school had a graphic annunciator (totally analog though with a shape of the building and colored incandescent lights at specific locations) and then there were sub-annunciators that were located in each zone (just a row of lights up near the ceiling) that drilled down the initiating device further, really advanced for 1978 when it was designed (also had an advanced smoke control system). It worked great for 20 years until they frankensteined it to a digital panel and botched it (graphic annunciator is a dead zombie now). At 2am over a holiday weekend, the fire dept got a signal for a pull station. Entered the school, checked the pull station and it was fine, then left. It was actually triggered by a water flow on the other side of the building due to a frozen pipe. Water ran for 2 days straight. They found nothing was programmed or working right and the next time we had a drill, they had to send us home because they couldn't shut off the horns. Then we had an arson fire (and attempted bombing) just before graduation in 2002. That building was never right afterwards so I hope yours is dried out and the problems are fixed.
That sucks man. We had temps reach -23f / -30c and didn't go above 0f / -18c for 3 days and pipes were bursting all over town in mid January. Grateful we didn't have any problems here.
1990 I just finaled a building in Woodland Ca. I was fairly new contractor 300 heads +or - open air metal fabricator warehouse 40' roof level, then the 1990 freeze happened cast iron fitting's split down the seam, backflows split 4,6,8,and 10" , I was busy as hell. But to have pipe freeze above ceiling in a heated building is extremely rare.
Sprinkler system was repaired a couple days after and fire alarm system has been re-verified for proper monitoring and is working, ceiling is ripped out and are waiting for an insulation company to re-insulate before drywall can go back up.
Im south of the border in WA. The Fraser River outflow winds hammered us with -30°c temps. I was Wondering how you guys faired with frigid temps couple weeks back. Our local fire departments were responding to water flow alarms frequently
As much as it would have been a better move to drain the system right after shutting the control valve (and me internally screaming as you forgot), what you did is actually not uncommon - from other stories I've heard people only being able to shut the PIVs or just didn't even bother shutting the sprinkler system off over a weekend. Draining a system was banged into my head when I was doing ITM training with risers, and I bet that's not common. Lesson learned, next time it happens you know to drain the pipes. :)
Wish I found this video earlier. At a previous job a car clipped a sprinkler pipe in a parking garage, setting off flow alarms and triggering a general fire alarm. People were evacuated and were subsequently confused as to why the level of response was needed. Fun times
I had a main sprinkler line burst in my condo building a few years back setting off everything the same way in the video, 3 condo units were flooded and lots of the walls\floor and part of the hallway needed to be replaced. Lucky it was on ground floor. This happened during that -20 winter we had
This happened today at the other high school across town from mine during the school day. They had to stand outside for an hour, and then we're eventually allowed to go back in or leave, but if their class was in the area where the pipe burst or directly below it, they had to go to the school's performing arts center for the rest of the day.
No they don't however I did once put a system into trouble for a simple time and date change however they had the trouble contact labelled as a panic button on the other end so I walked out of the electrical room with three police cars responding full lights and sirens lol
I'm a retired security officer and I had to deal with this type of situation at least once a month. As excited as some people get hearing that alarm go off when you actually have to deal with it , the alarm company and the fire department it is definitely not as cool. It can cause an adrenaline Spike for the wrong reason not the right one. Take it for me I've been there and I definitely got the T-shirt. I remember one night having the alarm go off fire department arrives I go with them to investigate no sign of smoke or fire or water and when we come back to the fire control room and reset everything we are actually standing there in the room and the entire system goes off again had to put the entire system in firewatch mode until the alarm company could come out. And firewatch mode means that the system is currently deactivated the alarm company is aware of it , you have to notify the fire department that your facility is on firewatch status and you have to manually check the entire facility, once an hour for the remainder of the time until the alarm company technicians can come out and look at the system. This could be the next day a couple of days or more than 2 weeks before the staff at the fire alarm company can get to you and assess the system for repairs
As a Volunteer firefighter ive responded to my fair share of water flow activations. I was just wondering that if the system detected a water flow then why didn't it send it over to the dispatch and only showed it as a trouble?
@@nics-systems-electricYou are good at blurring, but someone can just reverse image google search the drone videos of the building and easily find the location
Few questions: why didnt you guys silence the alarm when you got there? Why would the system report as a trouble to central monitoring vs an alarm? They should of had better insulation for the pipes knowing its an area prone to freezing
You never ever silence an alarm when you don't know what is going on and haven't discovered the emergency and don't yet know if the building needs to be evacuated, you only silence once everything is discovered and controlled. Insulation was supposed to be installed and was indicated on the as-builts but was not actually put in place. Monitoring had the alarm programmed wrong.
@@millenniumbryan dry sprinkler systems are used for cold environments like outdoor systems and systems installed in addicts that aren't heated they are not installed inside a heated place
I'm a retired security officer and I've done Patrol and concierge Consignments along with being a training officer. You have no idea how loud those alarms can actually get especially in buildings where the alarms are set in concrete stairwells the echo can actually kill your ears
This happened at my job back in February, there's a heater in the riser room meant to keep the pipes from freezing, but apparently it stopped working, and one of the valves burst because of it, imagine all of us running around trying to find what caused the alarm to go off cause none of us really knew what "Water flow (air)" meant on the panel XD
I thought I explained that at the end of the video, but it's not a fault of the system in the school the alarm company had their programming labels wrong and had the alarm condition programmed as a trouble
My old job had that problem too because it wasn’t insulated well and the sprinkler head blow also that system always had a problem with one of the smoke detectors in the members locker room
My high school I do HVAC for when it first opened, for some reason the people who put the sprinklers in put a damn sprinkler in the freezer 🤦 let’s say the pipe burst inside the freezer, set the fire alarm off and made an awful mess. The fire alarm shut the whole HVAC system down so I had to reset everything including the chiller. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a sprinkler in the freezer was probably the apprentice
This is why fire sprinkler pipes should be insulated in addition to the normal insulation. The make-up air system bringing in cold air could freeze more pipes that are normally inside the insulated envelope of the building. If they were insulated there would be less chance of bursting.
I could potentially see that being an issue during a real fire event too. Cold unconditioned makeup air could potentially cause freezing of sprinkler lines in non fire-affected parts of the building over a several-hour fire, reducing the available pressure to the fire. I could see this even more in an environment like a shopping mall with a high atrium ceiling that could act like a chimney with cold air being drawn in through the plenum on the lower floors. Sort of a high-risk/low-probability event.
As for the pressurization fans in the addition not shutting down with the toggle switch when you flipped it. I think you should tell someone that they should program that so it does so along with the make-up air doors if you already didn't.
Congratulations you look like you performed excellent in a high stress situation I don't think I could have done that I am gladden I employed by a grocery store
Stupid question- being there wasnt actually a fire and there doesnt appear be any students/staff in the building, why do not silence the alarm? I dont get how anyone can concentrate or focus with that going off. Its loud on camera, I can only imagine how loud it is in person.
I'm guessing trace heating would be incredibly expensive for sprinkler pipes... our static caravan has it, but only for about 30ft of piping to head into the van.
Heat trace is used often where it's not practical to install a dry system, usually due to the small area that requires it. However then it also needs to be monitored properly to ensure the heat trace is operational.
reminds me of the time a student got his lanyard stuck on a sprinkler in my HS days. story goes that instead of waiting for the janitor to retrieve it (he spotted the situation and left to grab a ladder), student just tugged on it and away it went. entire floor was flooded in that section of school. i was in the last classroom before that section started.
Very unfortunate that the pipes burst, thankfully wet systems aren’t too common here anymore, they’re all air pressurised dry systems with a special valve that releases water once the air in the system is depressurised which would be caused by a popped sprinkler head
That is not the case here at all. Dry systems are installed in non-heated attics and any outdoor space that isn't insulated and heated. Indoor sprinkler systems are wet systems due to the higher cost and higher maintenance of dry systems that require expensive valves, and compressors and much more supervision.
@@johnathanruiz-pineda9610 Different animal... Dry-pipe sprinklers are still water, just held back at the control valve and triggered by loss of air pressure in the lines. You're thinking of the Halon or related systems that flood the space with a gas to smother a fire. Those systems aren't typically used in occupied areas due to their danger to life safety... We only find them around here in data centers and electrical installations, with a 60-second "get your ass out of here" alarm before they're discharged...
You should go into a career in fire science, as you're knowledgeable about fire alarm systems and related substructures. BTW: Is there a "lock out, tag out" system for that electrical panel so those outlets are not reactivated until the electrician can verify them safe? Just curious.
Thanks I couldn't exactly say where I'll be going for a career long-term definitely a lot of interesting options. And yes if that was going to be shut off long-term it would definitely need to be locked out properly it was just shut off temporarily while the water was still coming down.
I noticed the fire alarms don't have the strobes, maybe they can fix that sometime so it will make it easier and more noticeable for when hosting a fire drill or when an actual fire begins.
You don't demolish a building because of a bit of water that would be like totalling a car because of a flat tire. You just need some new drywall and ceiling tiles probably $20,000-$30,000. You wouldn't demolish a $90 million building for that
@@nics-systems-electric That's Why High Schools Should Not Have Fire Sprinklers Because Fire Sprinklers Are A Bad Idea For High Schools Because Sprinkler Heads Can Bust Or Break And Cause $20,000 Or $30,000 Dollars Of Damages And Repairs And Fire Sprinklers Can Get Light Switches Electrical Outlets Ceiling Tiles Walls And Furniture Ruined
@@ryancrooks123 you must be kidding. Not only it wouldn't be legal and wouldn't have insurance. The $20,000 in the rare occurrence that there is improper insulation is nothing compared to the millions that a fire could cause in damage.
They were pretty concerned that the monitoring company didn't dispatch them. And they are very helpful in the fact they actually helped clean up. Many fire departments wouldn't.
Interestingly enough, my schools new building/gym a sprinkler head burst and set off the fire alarms in our new gym and the Sandwich Fire Department had to respond. So something very similar happened 😆
Both sprinkler system and fire alarm system were verified in August or July 2023. monitoring company was switched soon after would have thought they would've done their own verification of the work they did but I guess not.
Why did it take the staff so long to call FD? If the alarms go off and it’s a sunday then obviously it’s something suspicious that needs to be investigated
There was confusion with how to handle the situation as they had been told that there was a possibility that dust extraction fire alarm system might cause problems due to the cold temperatures. So they went and looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong they don't have training on how to handle a situation like this where usually the fire alarm system and monitoring takes care of all of the communications needed therefore no human intervention is needed.
@@nics-systems-electric Which is why some schools train their staff for this during the school holidays. I remember one year in elementary, the science teacher burned her cinnamon roll, whole room was smokey and they didn’t even evacuate the school, the alarms was glitching a little bit
Ya yes I’ve also have played the game of Broken sprinkler pipes but mine was due to a forklift driver hitting a head And 4/6 of the city’s fire trucks responding to my work
I program logic controls and CO (telecom) alarms for a living. Drives me nuts to see a lack of technical intervention here. We have the tech! That system knows enough to know there's not actually an active fire... yet smoke extraction, general siren, and active flows!! Common! Now we have a situation where a "building protection" system is damaging a building. And to think with all those elements active the system called out only a TRBL?? That's a bad programming error 😩
Programming problem on monitoring end, there's not much you can do about pipes freezing they will burst that's not a fault of the system that is a problem with not properly insulated space.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I have received many comments about dry systems we do use them here, however they are installed in areas susceptible to freezing like unheated attics and outdoor applications. They are not installed for general indoor protection as they have a much higher cost more complexity for testing and maintenance and require much more supervision. This does not need a dry system a wet system is completely normal for this application. The soffit space is supposed to be insulated and is indicated as such on the as-builts just never was actually installed.
👍
Almost my whole building is a dry system, I have 2 risers and the Dry system covers 39,000sqft almost the whole building. I love it. The dry system is better for the environment and my wallet as we are able to use less heat. My fave is the sound of the air evacuating the system, it is cool
@@brianthetowerguy979 you're also a known schizophrenic
@@brianthetowerguy979 that's great if it's in an attic or outdoor space. Simply doesn't make sense for the interior of the building where it needs to be heated and insulated anyways. Not to mention the problem they can cause during prolonged power outages.
@@nics-systems-electric As was said before about the dry system but the other option since that area does not seem to have ventilation there maybe some heat tape on the pipes in the area would be a good idea. As you also pointed out there was supposed to be insulation there but that can only work down to a certain temperature. Thankfully the response was quick to stop the damage.
Sync on the alarms is 👌
Definitely worth all the work you guys put into fit it in earlier videos
Wow, that's a really nice looking school! It must be pretty new with how clear that sprinkler water is
Built in 2015 with a new addition in 2020 so still pretty new
Great response Nic, you did amazing! Don't ever stop what you're doing cause you're doing it amazingly.
Thank you I appreciate it
No doubt about it, that early January cold snap was brutal. -10 is definitely not what our island is used to; so many burst pipes across town and even one of the ferries. The School District is sure lucky to have your expertise and experience in this case which no doubt helped prevent a far worse outcome. Excellent work Nic.
It sure kept the fire department busy from what I've heard. Apparently beat the last coolest record in 63 or somewhere around there.
All this equipment and nobody was alerted to respond, only curiousity saved this from becoming a swimming pool for the weekend.
The problem comes from the programming on the monitoring station end of things.
That's the importance of errors and omissions in your liability insurance. That's a huge bill right there.
Could of been called in
@@nics-systems-electric Time to raise the bullshit flag on that monitoring company. Should be no reason for that, but yet somehow it happened in a real f**king emergency in this school, not a fire emergency but a water emergency.
@@nics-systems-electrictrue this happen to me before
Oh and btw, great video. You did an awesome job as cameraman, using text to explain what is going on, and overall did a 10/10 job for showing us what happened that day. I would hire you as my employee any day.
Thank you I really appreciate that
The janitor deserves a raise after this!
Lol exactly
2:12 That is a nice ass school tho Wtffff the entrance looks like a damn hotel😭😭
Have you seen the video he did on the smoke exhaust fans for that main area? There’s FOUR OF THEM, and they are ENORMOUS!!! They can also kill you in seconds if you get sucked into them, because yes, they are that powerful!
I always used to see problems like this (reported as the wrong signal type to monitor, reporting the wrong zone or non-existent zones, etc.) and it was really bad with the addressable systems early on. Graphic annunciators should be a code requirement these days. My 1980 Michigan high school had a graphic annunciator (totally analog though with a shape of the building and colored incandescent lights at specific locations) and then there were sub-annunciators that were located in each zone (just a row of lights up near the ceiling) that drilled down the initiating device further, really advanced for 1978 when it was designed (also had an advanced smoke control system). It worked great for 20 years until they frankensteined it to a digital panel and botched it (graphic annunciator is a dead zombie now).
At 2am over a holiday weekend, the fire dept got a signal for a pull station. Entered the school, checked the pull station and it was fine, then left. It was actually triggered by a water flow on the other side of the building due to a frozen pipe. Water ran for 2 days straight. They found nothing was programmed or working right and the next time we had a drill, they had to send us home because they couldn't shut off the horns. Then we had an arson fire (and attempted bombing) just before graduation in 2002. That building was never right afterwards so I hope yours is dried out and the problems are fixed.
wow
"A high school in western Canada has recently installed an indoor swimming pool..."
That sucks man. We had temps reach -23f / -30c and didn't go above 0f / -18c for 3 days and pipes were bursting all over town in mid January. Grateful we didn't have any problems here.
Well done for getting to the problem fast
loving the videos they really are getting more and more pro by the day
Thank you I appreciate it glad you enjoy
I am glad you knew what to do agin I will say you preformed well in a high stress situation I don't think I could have done it !!!
Well thank you it's rare to have a positive comment on how you reacted so I appreciate that
My OCD got crazy just like yours with the labels up-side down :)
1990 I just finaled a building in Woodland Ca. I was fairly new contractor 300 heads +or - open air metal fabricator warehouse 40' roof level, then the 1990 freeze happened cast iron fitting's split down the seam, backflows split 4,6,8,and 10" , I was busy as hell. But to have pipe freeze above ceiling in a heated building is extremely rare.
nic this would give me nightmares, I'm custodian/maintance and can tell you this would not be a fun fixing. rip and rebuild time.
Rip it out, dry it out and put it back after being insulated properly
Any updates on the repairs or the test where you pulled the alarm to see what the monitoring company did?
Sprinkler system was repaired a couple days after and fire alarm system has been re-verified for proper monitoring and is working, ceiling is ripped out and are waiting for an insulation company to re-insulate before drywall can go back up.
Need to get antifreeze in certain zones of the school or something. Nice work as well. Good job
It just needs to be insulated properly. As built drawing show that space having insulation in the ceiling however in real life there's nothing
Great video, waiting for part 2 now teased on Instagram
Well done Nic!
Im south of the border in WA. The Fraser River outflow winds hammered us with -30°c temps. I was Wondering how you guys faired with frigid temps couple weeks back. Our local fire departments were responding to water flow alarms frequently
Same here lots of schools had blown up pipes, as well as some movie theaters, hotels, malls, you name it
We had the same thing in happen Central Washington. We had a sprinkler pipe burst a couple weeks ago after it was -22 C.
As much as it would have been a better move to drain the system right after shutting the control valve (and me internally screaming as you forgot), what you did is actually not uncommon - from other stories I've heard people only being able to shut the PIVs or just didn't even bother shutting the sprinkler system off over a weekend. Draining a system was banged into my head when I was doing ITM training with risers, and I bet that's not common.
Lesson learned, next time it happens you know to drain the pipes. :)
Wish I found this video earlier. At a previous job a car clipped a sprinkler pipe in a parking garage, setting off flow alarms and triggering a general fire alarm. People were evacuated and were subsequently confused as to why the level of response was needed. Fun times
I had a main sprinkler line burst in my condo building a few years back setting off everything the same way in the video, 3 condo units were flooded and lots of the walls\floor and part of the hallway needed to be replaced. Lucky it was on ground floor. This happened during that -20 winter we had
This happened today at the other high school across town from mine during the school day. They had to stand outside for an hour, and then we're eventually allowed to go back in or leave, but if their class was in the area where the pipe burst or directly below it, they had to go to the school's performing arts center for the rest of the day.
Does the police department roll for alarm activations in your area?
No they don't however I did once put a system into trouble for a simple time and date change however they had the trouble contact labelled as a panic button on the other end so I walked out of the electrical room with three police cars responding full lights and sirens lol
I'm a retired security officer and I had to deal with this type of situation at least once a month. As excited as some people get hearing that alarm go off when you actually have to deal with it , the alarm company and the fire department it is definitely not as cool. It can cause an adrenaline Spike for the wrong reason not the right one. Take it for me I've been there and I definitely got the T-shirt. I remember one night having the alarm go off fire department arrives I go with them to investigate no sign of smoke or fire or water and when we come back to the fire control room and reset everything we are actually standing there in the room and the entire system goes off again had to put the entire system in firewatch mode until the alarm company could come out. And firewatch mode means that the system is currently deactivated the alarm company is aware of it , you have to notify the fire department that your facility is on firewatch status and you have to manually check the entire facility, once an hour for the remainder of the time until the alarm company technicians can come out and look at the system. This could be the next day a couple of days or more than 2 weeks before the staff at the fire alarm company can get to you and assess the system for repairs
As a Volunteer firefighter ive responded to my fair share of water flow activations. I was just wondering that if the system detected a water flow then why didn't it send it over to the dispatch and only showed it as a trouble?
Monitoring company had the alarm programmed wrong as a trouble
You are very good with the blurring bet that takes a long tine
Yes, it takes a very long time
@@nics-systems-electricYou are good at blurring, but someone can just reverse image google search the drone videos of the building and easily find the location
Man y’all have a nice school. Wish the schools I went to as kid here in Houston looked nice like that. They looked like a run down prison.
The sound of the fire alarm is my favorite fire alarm sound. I love it. I believe the sound of the fire alarm is the greatest alarm sound ever ❤️👍😎💯😀😍
Mechanical horns do it better.
that sound is the sound of your ears breaking
System sensor L series or spectralert advanced Speaker strobes with the newer Notifier slow whoop is actually my favorite alarm sound.
What donuts are you talking about is it Dunkin or krispy kream 1:19
Huh?
WTF 💀💀💀💀💀💀
that run was really cool looking
Did one of the pipes blow up or something cause if you did why did it turn on the water module that sprays water everywhere
yes thanks Nic I was waiting for this bro
Nic are you going to have an over on the other sprinkler that went off that went off outside
Yes you'll have to wait
@@nics-systems-electric k
Few questions: why didnt you guys silence the alarm when you got there? Why would the system report as a trouble to central monitoring vs an alarm? They should of had better insulation for the pipes knowing its an area prone to freezing
You never ever silence an alarm when you don't know what is going on and haven't discovered the emergency and don't yet know if the building needs to be evacuated, you only silence once everything is discovered and controlled. Insulation was supposed to be installed and was indicated on the as-builts but was not actually put in place. Monitoring had the alarm programmed wrong.
@@nics-systems-electric what about a dry pipe system to avoid this in the first place?
@@nics-systems-electric It seems like Pellis doesn't have the best track record.
@@millenniumbryan dry sprinkler systems are used for cold environments like outdoor systems and systems installed in addicts that aren't heated they are not installed inside a heated place
Ah ya, we played this game at work twice this winter... Luckily where we had problems it caused minimal damage and there were floor drains present.
Yeah we've had it all over town multiple schools hotels movie theatres apartments you name it, fire department was kept a very busy
Omg
That's a really nice water feature
I’m kind of concerned what happened right there?!😮
Love your UA-cam vids !
Rip ears. those alarms are probably 90 db or louder.
Especially the spectra alert advances are quite loud
Eh it's not bad you get used to it. In the smaller rooms many are on medium or low volume
@@nics-systems-electric ah gotcha
I'm a retired security officer and I've done Patrol and concierge Consignments along with being a training officer. You have no idea how loud those alarms can actually get especially in buildings where the alarms are set in concrete stairwells the echo can actually kill your ears
This happened at my job back in February, there's a heater in the riser room meant to keep the pipes from freezing, but apparently it stopped working, and one of the valves burst because of it, imagine all of us running around trying to find what caused the alarm to go off cause none of us really knew what "Water flow (air)" meant on the panel XD
This makes me wonder what goes on at my high school after hours and during the weekends lol!!
You never know lol
@@nics-systems-electric idk even if the fire alarm works bc it’s so old Lmaoo
Why did the fire alarm send a trouble signal and not an alarm signal to the monitoring company? Is it Point ID to the monitoring company?
I thought I explained that at the end of the video, but it's not a fault of the system in the school the alarm company had their programming labels wrong and had the alarm condition programmed as a trouble
@@nics-systems-electric It’s been a few weeks since this happened. Is everything all repaired now?
@@tomleonard3241 sprinkler pipe is fixed and re-pressurized and drywall has been ripped down that's all
what kind of company do you work for is it like just fire alarms or is it also electric too
I was with the electrical department of the school district
i wish you and you'r school best recovery's
My old job had that problem too because it wasn’t insulated well and the sprinkler head blow also that system always had a problem with one of the smoke detectors in the members locker room
My high school I do HVAC for when it first opened, for some reason the people who put the sprinklers in put a damn sprinkler in the freezer 🤦 let’s say the pipe burst inside the freezer, set the fire alarm off and made an awful mess. The fire alarm shut the whole HVAC system down so I had to reset everything including the chiller. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a sprinkler in the freezer was probably the apprentice
This is why fire sprinkler pipes should be insulated in addition to the normal insulation. The make-up air system bringing in cold air could freeze more pipes that are normally inside the insulated envelope of the building. If they were insulated there would be less chance of bursting.
The ceiling they are in was supposed to be insulated that is why that room was getting down to 8°C so it would be much colder above the ceiling
I could potentially see that being an issue during a real fire event too. Cold unconditioned makeup air could potentially cause freezing of sprinkler lines in non fire-affected parts of the building over a several-hour fire, reducing the available pressure to the fire. I could see this even more in an environment like a shopping mall with a high atrium ceiling that could act like a chimney with cold air being drawn in through the plenum on the lower floors. Sort of a high-risk/low-probability event.
Best sync ever
In the words of Phil swift-“Now THATS a LOTTA DAMAGE”
Yep
Did you finally get the alarms synced?
Yeah months ago I had videos showing how it was done
I wonder how long it took to mop up all that water
As for the pressurization fans in the addition not shutting down with the toggle switch when you flipped it. I think you should tell someone that they should program that so it does so along with the make-up air doors if you already didn't.
I think I mentioned it I don't think anyone will deal with it though
Was that winter? If it was, then that's the reason why the pipes burst!
Congratulations you look like you performed excellent in a high stress situation I don't think I could have done that I am gladden I employed by a grocery store
Getting to school in a timely manner is key
For sure and the fire department also needs to be receiving the alarm
Stupid question- being there wasnt actually a fire and there doesnt appear be any students/staff in the building, why do not silence the alarm? I dont get how anyone can concentrate or focus with that going off. Its loud on camera, I can only imagine how loud it is in person.
Whether the building has a high occupancy or just weakened staff you still can't silence an alarm when you don't know if there is an emergency or not
Question; if that kind of weather is common in Canada, why are schools not built better to protect against pipes bursting?
They are supposed to be insulated properly but things get missed
I'm guessing trace heating would be incredibly expensive for sprinkler pipes... our static caravan has it, but only for about 30ft of piping to head into the van.
Heat trace is used often where it's not practical to install a dry system, usually due to the small area that requires it. However then it also needs to be monitored properly to ensure the heat trace is operational.
Can bath with these water?
reminds me of the time a student got his lanyard stuck on a sprinkler in my HS days. story goes that instead of waiting for the janitor to retrieve it (he spotted the situation and left to grab a ladder), student just tugged on it and away it went. entire floor was flooded in that section of school. i was in the last classroom before that section started.
Haha that's awesome, not to clean up but the things kids do lol
what was blured at 3:10 ?
Very unfortunate that the pipes burst, thankfully wet systems aren’t too common here anymore, they’re all air pressurised dry systems with a special valve that releases water once the air in the system is depressurised which would be caused by a popped sprinkler head
That is not the case here at all. Dry systems are installed in non-heated attics and any outdoor space that isn't insulated and heated. Indoor sprinkler systems are wet systems due to the higher cost and higher maintenance of dry systems that require expensive valves, and compressors and much more supervision.
Additionally I’m sure you wouldn’t want an individual that’s likely incapacitated in a room where a fire and dry system is in place.
@@johnathanruiz-pineda9610 Different animal... Dry-pipe sprinklers are still water, just held back at the control valve and triggered by loss of air pressure in the lines. You're thinking of the Halon or related systems that flood the space with a gas to smother a fire. Those systems aren't typically used in occupied areas due to their danger to life safety... We only find them around here in data centers and electrical installations, with a 60-second "get your ass out of here" alarm before they're discharged...
You should go into a career in fire science, as you're knowledgeable about fire alarm systems and related substructures. BTW: Is there a "lock out, tag out" system for that electrical panel so those outlets are not reactivated until the electrician can verify them safe? Just curious.
Thanks I couldn't exactly say where I'll be going for a career long-term definitely a lot of interesting options. And yes if that was going to be shut off long-term it would definitely need to be locked out properly it was just shut off temporarily while the water was still coming down.
Ha, funny thing, this exact same thing happened at my high school. Different one, but still a funny coincidence.
Can you film a tutorial on how to convert BG-12LX to BG-12L
how did the valve get activated
The pipe broke
It would be an understatement to say that anyone who has a mortal phobia of the fire alarm must not get a job in firefighting...
I noticed the fire alarms don't have the strobes, maybe they can fix that sometime so it will make it easier and more noticeable for when hosting a fire drill or when an actual fire begins.
Nothing to fix there's absolutely nothing wrong with it not all devices require strobes
@@nics-systems-electric Just saying, they make it more noticeable.
@@centurionempire4180 it's not a requirement here for a regular light hazard occupancy building to have full strobe coverage.
had anything else happend to this secondary school? and is there gonna be a video about that elementry or middle school?
Sprinklers went off in another area while under construction aside from student problems nothing major
@@nics-systems-electric where was the other flow?
So the pipe has turn the pipes and electric off
Shame all this damage happened to such a new and nice looking school. Did this happen because it froze?
It's all repairable. Yes the pipe froze.
Nick are you gonna start sprinkler system in your house?
nope
Why didn’t you silence the alarm earlier? I would get rather annoying right
You never silence an alarm in a situation where you don't know the building is 100% safe
was your car fixed
Yes
Would That Part Of The School Have To Be Demolished Or That Part Is Gonna Be Repaired With New Ceiling Tiles And Some New Wall Repairs
You don't demolish a building because of a bit of water that would be like totalling a car because of a flat tire. You just need some new drywall and ceiling tiles probably $20,000-$30,000. You wouldn't demolish a $90 million building for that
@@nics-systems-electric That's Why High Schools Should Not Have Fire Sprinklers Because Fire Sprinklers Are A Bad Idea For High Schools Because Sprinkler Heads Can Bust Or Break And Cause $20,000 Or $30,000 Dollars Of Damages And Repairs And Fire Sprinklers Can Get Light Switches Electrical Outlets Ceiling Tiles Walls And Furniture Ruined
@@ryancrooks123that comment was painful to read. Capitalization and periods man.
@@ryancrooks123 you must be kidding. Not only it wouldn't be legal and wouldn't have insurance. The $20,000 in the rare occurrence that there is improper insulation is nothing compared to the millions that a fire could cause in damage.
@@nics-systems-electricThey Should Put Insulation In The Walls While The Walls Are Being Repaired And In The Ceiling
Are there any reasons that they don’t use a dry system
Look at the pinned comment.
How'd you get the notification it went off?
A family member that worked there called.
The water damage goes crazy 🔥🔥🗿🗿🗣🗣
Wow the school has a new pool!
Here in Calgary. CFD would’ve left as soon as they found no fires
They were pretty concerned that the monitoring company didn't dispatch them. And they are very helpful in the fact they actually helped clean up. Many fire departments wouldn't.
Edmonton is a different story they help clean up
@NIC'S-SYSTEMS & ELECTRIC did the secondary school have this issue too?
This is a secondary school.
@@nics-systems-electric the one with the roof top exhaust fans
@@dylanchalmers3011this is the school with the rooftop exhaust fans
@@NyxKemo these are in a fan room. there was a video he did on a school with the roof mounted smoke fans and pressurization fans
@@dylanchalmers3011 but the school in the video is the ones with the rooftop fans in the rooms, not exposed ones
How did that happen
7:15 What do you mean none of the modules were active in the middle of water in the seals 7:15
None of the addressable monitor modules have been activated because none of the flow switches were set off on that sprinkler tree
Interestingly enough, my schools new building/gym a sprinkler head burst and set off the fire alarms in our new gym and the Sandwich Fire Department had to respond. So something very similar happened 😆
Why didn't they receive the waterflow signal? That's a little crazy
They wouldn't receive a specific signal but they should receive an alarm they had things not labelled or described properly on the monitoring end
when was the last full test?
Both sprinkler system and fire alarm system were verified in August or July 2023. monitoring company was switched soon after would have thought they would've done their own verification of the work they did but I guess not.
Why did it take the staff so long to call FD? If the alarms go off and it’s a sunday then obviously it’s something suspicious that needs to be investigated
There was confusion with how to handle the situation as they had been told that there was a possibility that dust extraction fire alarm system might cause problems due to the cold temperatures. So they went and looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong they don't have training on how to handle a situation like this where usually the fire alarm system and monitoring takes care of all of the communications needed therefore no human intervention is needed.
@@nics-systems-electric Which is why some schools train their staff for this during the school holidays. I remember one year in elementary, the science teacher burned her cinnamon roll, whole room was smokey and they didn’t even evacuate the school, the alarms was glitching a little bit
Wow, i hope they are fixing it..
At least you know the system works
We know the system works as it's verified each year but this did highlight the problem that monitoring failed to dispatch fire department
@@nics-systems-electricI know lol I was being satire
What Happened.
Ya yes I’ve also have played the game of Broken sprinkler pipes but mine was due to a forklift driver hitting a head
And 4/6 of the city’s fire trucks responding to my work
You got a free school shower now
I program logic controls and CO (telecom) alarms for a living. Drives me nuts to see a lack of technical intervention here. We have the tech! That system knows enough to know there's not actually an active fire... yet smoke extraction, general siren, and active flows!! Common! Now we have a situation where a "building protection" system is damaging a building. And to think with all those elements active the system called out only a TRBL?? That's a bad programming error 😩
Programming problem on monitoring end, there's not much you can do about pipes freezing they will burst that's not a fault of the system that is a problem with not properly insulated space.
Another great video
Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed
Is it rare these kind of things happen around your area?
This was the coldest temperatures we had since the last record was set in 63 so yes it created more problems than usual