We have been allowing the use of the Knox FDC caps and allow local contractors to obtain the keys. It is typically at the request of owners who are tired of doing backflow flushes each time a cap is broken and found to be missing.....back to the storyline though.
Neither the Knox caps or ones offered by Potter will do any good whatsoever though when you have a stand alone FDC connection coming out of the ground and the thieves steel the whole pipe out of the ground!! I've seen a few metal trap doors to a valve pit with an open hole where the 4" pipe was supposed to come out. Or, they remove the entire brass fitting off of the wall leaving a small 4" pipe nipple sticking out. I've heard of other jurisdictions who have had entire test headers for fire pumps removed from the side of a building. The battalion chiefs in Portland, OR are reportedly carrying spare FDC's in their vehicles so that they can screw it on the pipe when they find one that is missing and it is needed for fire operations. This has also raised the issue among some CA authorities based on another discussion list I'm on who have tried to figure out ways to deter the theft. The use of epoxy or even a tack weld has been suggested but that wasn't seen as viable options. Other suggestions were to pass legislation to prevent the scrap yards from accepting anything with "FIRE" on it but if you've been around areas with a high "Meth" problem, you'll already know that there are underground melting pots which will turn the 'illegal to accept at scrap yard' items into a blob of metal which the legitimate scrap yards will take. I've joked internally about the need to weld a fairly strong ring on the FDC and/or piping and then use a cable type supervisory device to monitor for integrity. That way if someone tries removing the device, it will at least alert someone.....hopefully. Heck, if people are willing to try taking live copper wires from electrical substations, fire equipment is a no-brainier! This is certainly an issue that doesn't have an easy solution as the thieves will just become smarter. One solution that I've heard of that might work is one manufacturer looking to obtain approvals for plastic components....that's about the only solution I could imagine as there isn't any value in that for the metal thieves. Then again, it may spurn the "green thieves" into some underground plastic recycling scheme...... Regards, David M. Smith, Deputy Fire Marshal Vancouver Fire Department, Fire Marshal's Office 900 W. Evergreen Blvd. Vancouver, WA 98660 360-759-4408 Phone 360-418-5619 Pager -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of George Church Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:15 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Re[2]: Missing Couplings on Fire Dept Connections Rick- If you do add a requirement, you could specify a locking device that covers the swivel set screw. Course they could steal the entire head, tougher if there's a grooved coupling inside. glc -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matsuda, Richard Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:50 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Re[2]: Missing Couplings on Fire Dept Connections the good news about the Potter Roemer device is that I think it costs about $50, it doesn't require a special key, and it covers the swivel set screw. With the other device, the swivel still can be removed with the locking cap in place. Here it Dallas we cannot mandate using a specific brand. We "could" require the FDC by protected with a lockable device, but the owner or contractor has the choice of which brand to use....and so far, we don't even require the lockable device. rick matsuda - _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
