Home Fire Sprinkler System
Recently my brother, [Scott Robillard Plumbing & Heating out of Waltham], told me of a recent job where he installed one fire sprinkler head over a persons furnace. Seems that this person had a furnace fire before and wanted the added protection.
My brother explained to me how simple and inexpensive is was to do this and I started thinking, “why haven’t I done this?” and “Why haven’t other people done this?”
Well, my guess is that residential sprinklers are still a relatively new idea and most people don’t think about that stuff.
So I did a bit of research and have made the decision to have my brother install a sprinkler head in my furnace room. You should consider it too!
Read below for more information:
Fire Sprinklers
Fire Sprinklers are economical, reliable and proven to be the best way to protect your family and home from the dangers of fire. An investment in a residential fire sprinkler system can prove to be a life-saving decision.
Smoke Detectors Important But Often Ignored
Millions of American homes have smoke alarms, but a smoke alarm can only alert the occupants to a fire in the house … it cannot contain or extinguish a fire.
According to some researchers, kids, ages 6-12 yrs, are likely to sleep through the smoke alarm when in a deep sleep. READ MORE
In fact, they have done testing to establish exactly what they do and do not respond to and why. The results were surprising and disturbing at the same time.
Smoke alarm research conducted on children in Canada showed that once the alarms sounded it was either ignored, ignored from several seconds to minutes or the child awoke in a confused state and wandered around the bedroom, eventually finding their way into the parents room.
Fire Sprinklers Save Lives
According to the National Fire Protection Association: When sprinklers are present, the chances of dying in a fire are reduced by one-half to three-fourths and the average property loss per fire is cut by one-half to two-thirds, compared to fires where sprinklers are not present.
The problem with the smoke alarm only scenario is that heavy smoke quickly overcomes occupants – the alarm only alerts the occupants to escape, there is no time to ignore it. The sprinkler saves lives and property damage by extinguishing the fire. Combining the two is the recommended and best protection!
Residential sprinklers, are designed to respond to a fire much faster than currently available standard commercial and industrial sprinkler systems. The new home sprinklers react automatically to fires more quickly because of their improved sensitivity.
In September, the NFPA’s Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF), released its Home Fire Sprinkler Cost Assessment report. The report was based on case studies that examined installation costs and insurance premium discounts associated with the installation of home fire sprinkler systems for 10 communities, nine in the U.S. and Pitt Meadows, B.C.
Source: NSFA