Home sprinkler systems and why I won’t have one.

[Carrie12345]

I had to sign a waiver in order to decline a sprinkler system in our new build.

In the days since, I’ve filled my house with bacon smoke, setting off all the smoke detectors. And just a little while ago, my son decided to put a brownie in the microwave and walked away. Not only did tons of smoke set off the alarms, but it took me FOREVER to get the brownie to stop smoking. I hauled the whole machine outside, doused the inside with one of those little kitchen extinguishers, then pulled the plate out and poured a whole pot of water on it And. It. Still. Smoked.

I’m also notorious for preheating the oven with pizza boxes inside, but I’ve been pretty good about that lately.

Anyway, Dh is a volunteer firefighter and his career is in water damage, so we fully understand the pros and cons of both. No sprinklers for us!
Mostly I just wanted to share my exciting lunch time adventure.

[Scarlett]

13 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I had to sign a waiver in order to decline a sprinkler system in our new build.

In the days since, I’ve filled my house with bacon smoke, setting off all the smoke detectors. And just a little while ago, my son decided to put a brownie in the microwave and walked away. Not only did tons of smoke set off the alarms, but it took me FOREVER to get the brownie to stop smoking. I hauled the whole machine outside, doused the inside with one of those little kitchen extinguishers, then pulled the plate out and poured a whole pot of water on it And. It. Still. Smoked.

I’m also notorious for preheating the oven with pizza boxes inside, but I’ve been pretty good about that lately.

Anyway, Dh is a volunteer firefighter and his career is in water damage, so we fully understand the pros and cons of both. No sprinklers for us!
Mostly I just wanted to share my exciting lunch time adventure.

I thought you were talking about lawn sprinklers at first.  Yes, inside sprinklers can do so much damage.

[Bambam]

I didn't realize they were putting sprinkler systems in private homes. I thought it was a yard sprinkler system. I love ours. I don't want a house without a yard sprinkler system - at least in Texas!

 

[Spy Car]

Back in the 80s-90s I used to work pretty regularly at an industry-famous television post-production facility in Hollywood. Fires were a major concern, as the vaults contained priceless mastertapes, so water was a no-go since water could destroy tapes, not to mention the multi-million dollars worth of equipment.

One day I was discussing this with a guy from the facility and he explained they had an elaborate gas-based system that would snuff out fires. Halon gas, if memory serves.

I said, "that's pretty neat, so the fire goes out w/o any damage?"

Then the facility guy (in this multilevel place) says, "Yeah, it's great for the tapes and equipment, but if there is a fire you better run like hell as the Halon takes all the oxygen out of the air and if you don't get out you will suffocate and die."

That knowledge took some of the fun out of working in this state-of-the-art facility. LOL.

Bill

 

[Carrie12345]

1 hour ago, kand said:

I didn’t think home sprinklers went off for things like that. Unlike the smoke detectors, they go off in response to heat, don’t they? I don’t know how they all work, but I thought some of them were wax based so that if it got hot enough, the wax would melt and the sprinklers would pop down. So, smoke wouldn’t do that. Regardless, I’m sorry you’ve had such a smoky day!

Eta: I was wrong about the wax. They use something similar, but it’s not wax. It has to get to be at least 155° at the sprinkler head in order for it to deploy: https://blog.koorsen.com/will-smoke-set-off-the-fire-sprinkler-system

That’s a good option to know! But yeah, no thanks. Surviving is #1. After that, I’ll take dh’s word on rebuilding over remediation.

Though now I have to shop fire ladders. We’ve never had kids on the second floor of a house before!

[Carrie12345]

49 minutes ago, Bambam said:

I didn't realize they were putting sprinkler systems in private homes. I thought it was a yard sprinkler system. I love ours. I don't want a house without a yard sprinkler system - at least in Texas!

 

I don’t think they’re actually putting them in much. It was assumed that we’d sign the waiver, and wasn’t put into the specs we were already working with. I think I would have thrown them for a loop if I had said I wanted it, lol.

Outside sprinkler systems would be nearly as shocking, lol.