Statistics: What is the failure rate of sprinklers, once the sprinkler heads are installed, passed commissioning and initial testing and the system is in service?
One in 16 million sprinkler head failures, or one in 500,000 sprinkler head failure (data suggested from this forum)? http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=326&articleid=20110128_19_0_SANDSP157566&rss_lnk=1 Granted, this newsworthy sprinkler head failure, and most other sprinkler head failures that fall into the statistical category of 1 in <<a very large number of sprinkler-years>> are not differentiated for a host of relevant factors: installation crew quality temperature/environment of protected property sprinkler manufacturer wet or dry system type of occupancy (college football team dorm or critical care hospital ward) static and dynamics of static pressure age of sprinkler, etc. Sprinkler head failure is an interesting statistic to have when people naysay sprinklers from fear from water damage. As discussed previously, the more likely source of leakage is from fittings and pipes. NFPA could and should champion better data collection on sprinkler system performance. It has rightly been said, that it is the probies usually, who be given the task of filling out the NFIRS (or todays equivalent) form when back at the station. there should be some motivation for accurate data collection, in addition to simply wanting to do one's job thoroughly. Scot Deal Excelsior Fire Engineering _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
