Also check with the local fire marshall regarding the number of sprinklers.
The local fire marshall required four sprinklers in a 3-m anechoic, although the mfr installed only 2 sprinklers. Temporary fix was two 6' horizontal iron pipes connecting the new sprinklers to the original feed thru. One pipe over the antenna and the other over the turntable. Permanent fix was to drill new openings for the four sprinklers and plug up the original two openings. The fire marshall did not care what the absorbers were made of. Ours are not urethane cones. David From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Derek Walton Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 10:03 AM To: Kunde, Brian; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: Sprinkler Systems in Anechoic Chambers Listening to the conversation, it reminded me of a number of issues to do with Shield room installation that I've heard over the years. How many grounds, what type of grounds, best filter choice, power factor correction coils, penetrations, lights, linings, raised floors, wall/floor coverings, turntables, and of course, sprinkler systems. I'm sure there are others.... What would be interesting would be a paper written for someone choosing/buying/installing/moving a room, which would help get around the lack of experience of local code, and insurance people. A credible document, not sales literature that could be used to help rationalize. I hear horror stories of what some folks were driven to in order to get approvals for their rooms. Thoughts? Derek Walton, L F Research. From: "Kunde, Brian" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 8:05 AM Subject: RE: Sprinkler Systems in Anechoic Chambers >I think it all comes down to your local fire marshal and your insurance > company. Our insurance company didn't know what an anechoic chamber was, > so they did a search and found insurance claims from 20 years ago where > chambers caught fire because companies were pumping too much rf energy > into the cones which got hot enough to catch fire. So, if you can > convince them you are not going to use enough power to heat up the > cones, you may get away without or with a simpler fire control system. > > In our 10 meter chamber, we have 28 telescopic sprinkler heads in a > pre-activated deluge valve system (valve trips by a smoke sampling > detector system which charges the pipes with water pushing the heads > down, then the sprinkler heads would have to get hot enough to open). > The sprinkler system comes directly off an 8" water main and can dump > 940 gallons of water per minute. I think we would drown before we would > burn. > > The interior parts of the floor panels in our chamber are suppose to be > made out of marine plywood to be able to handle water incase the > sprinkler system falsely dumps, but it would really be a mess if that > happens. Tripping the water value is our biggest worry here in the lab > for we all know it could be our jobs if that happened. If the valve > falsely tripped and none of the seals leaked we would have to have to > hire a crew to come out and drain the system, replace all the seals and > push the heads back up above the chamber. We figure the down time would > be 2-4 weeks. > > We have setoff the smoke detection system (Vesda system) three times in > the last 10 years, but it has a delay giving us 30 seconds to hit the > bypass (isolate) button before it trips the water valve. Thank goodness. > It takes very little to trip the Vesda system. The first time was a > resister on a PC card put out a puff of smoke, then a vacuum pump on a > product we were testing was putting oil vapor into the air that set it > off, and last a unit that had a small heating coil (like a toaster) that > burned the dust off the coils set it off. No wonder I have trouble > sleeping at night. > > Good luck, > The Other Brian > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 6:37 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Sprinkler Systems in Anechoic Chambers > > I have a question regarding sprinkler systems in Anechoic chambers. Are > there any list members with an opinion on the matter? I have a chamber I > am installing and I am working with the fire safety group to determine > if we have to install sprinklers. Have any of you been able to get away > without installing sprinklers in your chambers? Any input would be > appreciated. > > Thanks, > Cody > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas [email protected] > Mike Cantwell [email protected] > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > David Heald: [email protected] > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > > LECO Corporation Notice: This communication may contain confidential > information intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you received this > by mistake, please destroy it and notify us of the error. Thank you. > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas [email protected] > Mike Cantwell [email protected] > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > David Heald: [email protected] > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
