12C — September 25 - October 15, 2020 — Fall Preview — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
www.marej.com
P roperty M anagement
By Jonathan Epstein, CCIM, JTJ Tech Sprinkler Monitoring 2.0: More than Just Tamper and Flow
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ife safety fire sprinkler systems have been used for decades and
gered whenever water flows through a system, regardless of whether a sprinkler head discharges or a pipe breaks. Unfortunately, the same wa - ter that is designed to save lives in dry systems is often the biggest cause of their compromises. Water can seep into the dry portions of these systems either as a result of a dry pipe valve failure, or from condensation due to changing weather conditions. The National Fire Protec - tion Association (NFPA) has established guidelines for dry system maintenance, includ -
for areas unsuitable for wa - ter-filled systems because they are prone to pipe freeze in areas like parking garages, loading docks, and refriger - ated areas. Pipes in these freeze-prone locations are filled with pressurized air or nitrogen. Dry systems still rely on water to extinguish a fire, so the wet portion of a dry system is housed in a dif - ferent (heated) area where a device called a dry pipe valve separates the pressurized water from the pressurized air. In the event of a dry sprinkler head discharge,
the clapper inside the dry pipe valve releases and water pushes air out of the system before the making its way to the opened head. Buildings with fire sprin - kler systems are required by code to be inspected regu - larly and monitored for water flow in wet systems and air pressure in dry systems. Both wet and dry systems require “tamper monitoring” of the control valves. These alerts are relayed to build - ing owners and local fire departments via a system dialer. Flow switches are trig -
Sept 11, 2020 JonathanEpstein, CCIM is a co-founder of JTJ Tech, LLC: the inventors and exclusive distribu- tors of the Salamander Reservoir. MAREJ ing daily and subsequent physical draining of the sys - tem’s auxiliary drains (also called drum drips) which should be installed at each low point in a dry system to collect moisture. Those periodic checks are critical to ensure that a dry fire sprinkler system is work - ing as designed but is still prone to error. For example: what happens if there is a slow leak in the dry pipe valve in the summer months, and there’s an unseasonable freezing morning in the fall? Or, if condensation builds up after draining auxiliary drain, but the next scheduled maintenance is a week or two away? “The most common issues we see with dry pipe sprin - kler systems is the failure to properly maintain the drum drip drains. Time and time again, this routine mainte - nance gets overlooked and becomes a big, dangerous, and costly problem for every - one,” says Ted Wills, Chair of the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) and pres - ident of Anchor Fire Protec - tion in Perkiomenville, PA. With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, building owners and manag - ers can now be alerted to moisture infiltration compro - mises before they become sys - tem failures. In addition to the requirements to monitor tamper and flow, we believe owners should be monitoring for moisture inside of dry sprinkler systems. Installing Salamander Reservoirs after a dry pipe valve and at drum drip locations enables own - ers to receive text and email alerts the moment that water is detected in system’s dry portions. These preventative maintenance measures will save time, money and guess - work enabling ownership and management to act on issues before the occupants – and system – are jeopardized. Salamander Reservoirs are approved, tested and cost- effective solutions designed to be easily installed in new and existing dry sprinkler systems as a supplement to proper maintenance procedures.
are adapted to var i ous b u i l d i n g t ype s and geographies. Of al l the f i re spr in - kler types, the majority are wet sys -
Jonathan Epstein
tems which are piped systems filled with pressurized water. The next most common type are dry fire sprinkler systems. These are designed
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