Domestic Sprinklers

[944fan]

I attended a conference last week about Fire Risk in Social Housing, I was exhibiting but sat in on some of the presentations. One was by the chief fire officer for Derbyshire who is campaigning for domestic sprinklers to be installed in new houses.

The presentation was incredible thought provoking and I am now seriously considering retro-fitting sprinklers in my house. I have hard wired and linked smoke/heat alarms and think sprinklers are a good investment. I have two kids already and the wife wants more so want to do everything I can to ensure their safety.

So has anyone retro-fitted sprinklers? What is the cost and any particular systems to recommend?

[Simpo Two]

It's a good question, I don't know. Maybe a hotel/shop supplier can sell you the nozzles and you plumb the rest?

Mind you it will be a bugger if there's a false alarm like burnt toast...

[SystemParanoia]

lol if you burn the sunday roast and end up destroying everything in your home with the water.


rather have respirators stowed under all the beds a big red button to flood the place with C02

[miniman]

Somebody was quoted as having said, "burn baby burn, disco inferno. Burn baby burn, burn that mother down."

[hedgefinder]

I am being forced to fit them by the local authority building control department even though I am installing a wired smoke alarms system in every room.
I got a couple of quotes from local companies and I can tell you its a bloody fortune from them and they wont let me do my own plumbing or wiring as they wont give me the relevant safety certificates at the end of the job unless they complete all the work... cheapest quote so far for only 2 sprinklers is £1800+vat which personally I think is extortion considering the cost of the parts, they have warned that I would likely need to redecorate after they have finished too as they wont guarantee that they wont do substantial damage to ceilings,floors and carpets to get everything to where they need it..

[Rowan138]

sprinklers are generally heat activated, so burned toast will not set them off, however a proper fire will cause the temp near the ceiling to rise rapidly, which will activate the sprinklers

[sleep envy]

Totally impractical for domestic use unfortunately.

Retrofit will be a nightmare and unless you get pop downs (for which the covers never fit properly) you end up with architectural acne all over the place.

Yearly inspections will cost a bomb, if you want to do any DIY you'll need a specialiat to drain down and then charge the system after and you're more likely to see a rise in contents insurance from accidental flooding.

As for cost, I've just bought a dry dummy system for a show suite - 200m2 surface mounted to the soffit for £4k, that's just pipes and heads with no builderswork or making good.

Also, unless you have a massive house with big rooms the head might not cover properly meaning you'll just get a stream of water down the walls.

[dav123a]

The smoke detectors would go off before the sprinklers , giving you early warning to get out of the house. Unless you live in a very big house or need to protect the building itself or the fire service are far from you not sure how much help they would be.
Just out interest OP what were you exhibiting ?

Edited by dav123a on Sunday 14th October 09:34

[944fan]

dav123a said:

The smoke detectors would go off before the sprinklers , giving you early warning to get out of the house. Unless you live in a very big house or need to protect the building itself or the fire service are far from you not sure how much help they would be.
Just out interest OP what were you exhibiting ?

Edited by dav123a on Sunday 14th October 09:34

I was exhibiting software for managing fire risk assessments for social landlords.

Interesting comments about false activations, the person doing the presentation said there is a 1 in 16,000,000 chance of a false activation.

[Tom_C76]

I thought sprinklers were to protect the structure not the contents or occupants? Unless of course it is a really big building and needs sprinklers to maintain safe egress once the alarms sound.

I'd be more likely to have those roll up ladders stored under beds if I was really paranoid.

[megaphone]

OP, do yo have fire extinguishers positioned in strategic points in your house? If not I suggest they would make more sense.

[Deva Link]

944fan said:

I was exhibiting software for managing fire risk assessments for social landlords.

Interesting comments about false activations, the person doing the presentation said there is a 1 in 16,000,000 chance of a false activation.

I just Googled that stat as it seems incredible - it's the number due to manufacturing defect: http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/forbusiness/firesafety...

I started off working life in a big factory and can remember sprinkers (actually ours were drenchers, so it was like Niagara Falls when they went off) going off several times.

In a house I would imagine accidental impact would be a nightmare - those YBF clips where they hit a light fitting, imagine if that was a sprinker!

Having said all that, my Dad was in the fire brigage and he thought houses should have sprinklers. Although these days, house fires are far fewer than they used to be.

[Muncher]

Surely sprinklers are a last resort and there are many precautions people have suggested that are not only more cost effective, but effective in general?

[Digger]

Would this be overkill?

[dav123a]

OP - interesting wasn't aware that something like that was out there. Got a link for some info ?

Sorry I didn't mean false alarms , what I was trying to get at was say TV left on standby. Develops fault and smolders away smoke detector activate you get kids out of house and ring fire service. Average response time is 7 mins for fire service would the room have got hot enough in this time for the sprinkler to activate ? Not trying to put you off getting one there are houses that could justify them.
If you get an extinguisher buy a Dry powder will cover everything apart from cooking oils. A big enough fire blanket will cover the cooker.