Fire sprinkler install experiences?

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Have any WTO participants installed automatic fire sprinklers in a home shop? How about a finished basement?

My shop is the entire basement of my home. I'm thinking it might not be difficult to install a sprinkler system down there. I'm a really careful guy, but just in case... Here are my details:

- The space is currently unfinished, save the shop machinery, benches, and shelving

- Walk-out in back, floor is above grade in the rear, three sides in ground

- I have excellent city water

- Minimum temps never fall below ~ 52F down there

- Easy access to existing supply pipe

I'd love to hear experiences, costs, positives and negatives, etc...

I know it would cost money, I just don't know how much yet... I'm having a hard time coming up with much else in the negative column.

I know a misfire could mess up my tools. In my case, a shop fire could destroy everything I own, not just my shop, and possibly kill me, as I sleep two levels above.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[chicks82]

I recommend calling a pipe fitter. It's going to cost you but it will be done right the first time and you can have it inspected and signed off by the fire marshal and that should also allow you to lower your home owners insurance.

[Beechwood Chip]

You might want to check statistics for where fires start. Of course, most home fires don't start in the wood shop, because most homes don't have a wood shop. But, I'm not sure that your kitchen isn't a bigger fire risk. Might want to consider a sprinkler system there, too. I know restaurants have fire suppression systems built into the range hood.

[DeGauss]

I work with commercial fire systems, not residential. I can tellyou they are very expensive to install and maintain. Freezing seems to be one of the bigger issues that you can face. Water damage from leaks can be expensive. I would say if you are really wanting to go down that path that you only put sprinklers only in high risk areas: over the water heater and furnace, kitchen hood, storage area of paints, gasoline, etc.). I personally would recomend just getting a good fire alarm system. You can get heat detectors in areas that creat dust (woodshop/garage) upgrade existing detectors to multi-mode detectors (photo/ion), you can add a horn to the system if you don't think the detectors are loud enough. Additionally you can have it monitored so the system will call the fire department if it alarms. Just my thougts.

[dcustoms]

A residential system is a very simple thing. You can do it yourself and have it inspected and approved. Just check with the local building department. As far as leaks and water damage goes, its the same as having water supply lines running around. The only added risk of leaks is if there is damage to a head. If you have good water all you need to do is run pvc pipe in the ceiling and cover it with drywall or a suspended ceiling. They make sprinkler heads that sit flush to the ceiling and have a protective cap that drops down and activates the sprinkler when heat is applied. These not only look the best but help prevent accidental activation due to damage. I personally think it is a great idea and am planning on putting one in my basement when I finish it. The one thing to remember is the basement is below grade and heat rises so a basement fire is the worst case scenario for your home even more so if it is an older home build with Balloon frame construction. It was mentioned to get an alarm also. I would have both.

It is really amazing what one sprinkler head can do to a fire. Consider this fire doubles in size every minute. In an urban area it takes a fire department on average 4 to 6 min from the time of the call to get on scene(best case scenario the more rural you are the longer it takes). It takes another min and a half to deploy the hose line and find the fire. Not to mention that unless you have an alarm the fire might not be found right away causing further delay. Even with an alarm the company has 60 sec to notify the dispatch center.

At any rate you can't be to careful.

Hope this helped.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Thanks, guys!

I do have a monitored alarm system with photo/ion, but it doesn't have heat detectors. That's a good thought.

Freezing's not an issue, as this is semi-heated space, and all of my plumbing, including hydronic baseboard heat, is in the space.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

A residential system is a very simple thing. You can do it yourself and have it inspected and approved. Just check with the local building department. As far as leaks and water damage goes, its the same as having water supply lines running around. The only added risk of leaks is if there is damage to a head. If you have good water all you need to do is run pvc pipe in the ceiling and cover it with drywall or a suspended ceiling.

This is exactly the line of thinking that got me here.

The ceiling is completely open and unfinished, so I planned to get some of the heads with protective cages. There are no local codes around residential spinklers in my area and no inspection requirement if installed.

[dwacker]

The fire inspector told me not to waste my money in my shop. Most fires start in the wall or ceiling. A sprinkler system does not put out a fire unless its a high volume system such as a large commercial system. The cpvc not pvc pipe will not carry enough water and pressure unless it is on an uncontrolled main. Homes are low pressure low volume and some even have regulators that reduce pressure further. Sprinklers work by making materials that are flamable wet so not flamable so that the fire does not spread as fast giving the fire department time to get it under control. If its a bigger one the sprinler system is going to burst anyways unless plumbed with metal pipe. The first line of defence in a wood shop is not keeping flamables in the shop, yes this means wood and sawdust also. Finished drywall walls are also very important, folks tend to use ply or osb, big mistake. Alot of folks fill their shops with clutter and cabinets to hold all their tool hords. Cabinets are flamable as are all those plasic tools. Most important is your insurance!! Most dont have enough and cant afford a big fire. Depreciation will cost you your home and financial future if your not prepared. I just had my house inspected by the insurance company. This should be done every two years even if they charge you. The assesed depreciation is nearly 25% this means that if I dont have that 25% have in liquid assets (cash) or available credit to restore the home to what it was before the problem my morgage company would forclose. Call your insurance company! "Save your money and build a shed at the rear of your property away from your home" is exactly what the fire inspector suggested.

Don

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Thanks, Don!

Many, many good points. I have concrete walls and floors and metal cabinets, keep the shop clean, and empty the DC drum every day it runs, so hopefully that would help. If I don't keep the floors clean, it gets tracked upstairs, and since I value domestic harmony...

I agree that insurance is incredibly important. I have a GREAT insurance company, with a purchased replacement value rider. The included "tools" coverage was originally $2000!!! I had to do the same with bicycles, although for for them, the insurance is more about theft... At the insurance company's suggestion, I do a regular inventory, with photos, and keep it offsite.

The water pressure issue is something I need to investigate further.

[dwacker]

Thanks, Don!

The water pressure issue is something I need to investigate further.

Also look at the size of your water main. More likely it 1" which isn't enough to flow much water. If when your taking a shower and flush a toilet and you have scalding issues you definitely don't have enough water flow. Water company told me a 3" main at my 95ft from the road for a residential system plumbed directly into the main not one of the house branches.

Don

[Texfire]

I'm not going to try to talk anyone out of installing a residential sprinkler system, however you may find that installing it in an existing space may run more that you are willing to spend. I'm going to repeat some of the suggestions that people have already made, as well as adding some options for both going and not going with a sprinkler system.

Calculating the design of a fire protection system takes into consideration the necessary flow. The factors that go into that include pipe size, number of heads and pressure feeding the system. Something that needs to be determined by an engineer qualified in fire protection systems. Which will increase the cost even if you do the install yourself. You can cut down the chance of an accidental activation by installing recessed sprinkler heads so you don't accidentally take one out with a long board. If the area is potentially exposed to freezing temperatures you can install a dry pipe system that has pressurized air in the pipe. When a head is opened the air pressure lowers allowing the pipe to fill with water. Also, if you don't have sufficient pressure or water flow for a sprinkler system that can be overcome by using a standby source of water and a pump to increase the pressure. All these options are going to increase cost, but they're available.

Some reasons why you should get one. As you pointed out, the space you want to sprinkle is under a living space that will be inhabited at night. A sprinkler can either extinguish a small fire or delay the rate of spread of a larger fire long enough for you to evacuate the home. While some fires start in walls and other "void" spaces, there are also fires that start with the contents of the room then expand to the structure. A wood shop will have a higher fuel load than other rooms of your house, and higher risk of ignition of those fuels. This is because the fuels are more likely to ignite when presented with an ignition source because they are finely divided to maximize surface area (sawdust and shavings), while in the presence of potential sources of ignition (electrical tools, heat sources and chemical reactions). One final benefit to sprinklers. Not only can sprinklers save your life, but they can save the lives of the firefighters responding, nobody likes the prospect of fighting a below grade fire.

At an absolute minimum I'd suggest getting a heat detector (fixed or rate-of-rise would be fine) in the shop that's tied to the alarm system. This will allow early notification if you have a fire, without the problem of false positives that a smoke (photo-ionization) detector would have. Some other ways to make your space fire wise even if you don't sprinkle it. Keep a clean work area by cleaning up easily ignitable fuels and storing them in non-combustible storage containers. Isolate high energy fuels in a flammables storage that keeps them from adding to the fuel load. Cover up all electrical sockets or machine connections with plates, the dust will get into them otherwise and one short and it's off to the races. Spread out oily rags to dry on a non-combustible surface then dispose of them after dry. Keep a dry chem extinguisher next to an exit point to extinguish fires that happen while you're in the shop space.

With all that above I didn't retrofit my shop/garage with sprinklers while renovating it. I decided that after considering that it is not attached to my home and that I didn't have easy access to a water source however much I wanted one. However I'm going to follow the rest of my suggestions and install the heat detector, flammables cabinet, extinguisher and housekeeping habits to minimize my risk as best I can.

Tex

PS- This subject reminded me of some other general safety ideas. Put up tools when not using them. Make sure you work space is well lit. Keep a stocked first aid cabinet in the shop and a way of calling for help in case the worst happens. Make sure you can open it with one hand. Operate your tools without disabling safety features. If an operation requires you to do so see if there's another way of doing so. Don't work in the shop when you're fatigued or in a hurry.

There, got all my nanny urges out in one post.

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Thanks, guys!

Via Facebook, I just found out an old friend recently retired as chief of a city fire department near me. He's provided me with some local contacts who can look at my specifics. Personally, he was pretty positive on the idea. It's not a cure-all, but as I was thinking, a piece of an overall protection system (including human / housekeeping parts).

I'll update this thread once I talk to the pros.

[BenMinshall]

Statistically, I'm not sure it's worthwhile. NFPA stats clearly show that the vast majority of residential home fires are caused by various sources of open flame -- cooking, space heating, cigarettes, candles, BBQ, etc. A shop fire would be caused either by electrical which accounts for something like 5% of fires or finishing/varnish oils which cannot be effectively extinguished by water spray anyway. Any type of automatic chemical system that could deal with a solvent fire would not be appropriate in a home because an accidental discharge can suffocate you. Even if you burn up a motor, contactor or belt in a power tool; you're standing right there and can get your extinguisher in a hurry. I don't really see a greater latent fire hazard in the shop compared to any other room in the house that will start up when you're not in the room running a machine.

I think your money would be better spent on buying some good fire extinguishers to keep around the house, shop and kitchen and making sure the alarm system, smoke and heat detectors are in good working order.

[Texfire]

I disagree with your basic premise. While the ignition sources may be primarily electic, the amount of time it takes to cause a fire may cover a long time, time enough for an occupied shop to be empty and the occupants of the house asleep.

The problem is personal loss is not measured statistically, but experienced personally. Everyone has a series of compromises they have to make each day or no one would get out of bed. You have to decide the personal risk you want to incur by weighing the probability of loss by the cost if it does so.

My job does not make financial sense if viewed from an actuarial standpoint. It would be cheaper to let every house burn and pay to replace them instead of fund fire departments. If you're only looking at it from a property standpoint. The point is people are not easily boiled down to numbers. That's why my job will never go away, because the value of human life is hard to quantify, even though it's done all the time by insurance companies.

If the Barry wants to protect his family he'll have to make some decisions, decisions that only he has to live with. Maybe putting an alarm system will be enough to avoid catastrophic loss of life and buy him peace. Or maybe it will take an escalating series of financial expenditures to protect against financial cost and minimize loss will make him comfortable. Only he can make that call.