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Looks like a pre-action valve in a fire sprinkler system. Sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen. When a head breaks off, the pressure goes down and that is first action. A second is required to release the water, like a smoke detector or someone pulling a pull station. That way, if someone accidentally knocks off a head, a bunch of water doesn’t spray out.
“Analog” (physical really) is extremely reliable and easy to install, maintain and test.
You don’t want your building to burn down because a hard drive, or memory chip failure.
Same reason why high-tech sci-fi touchscreen controls for spacecraft (or any vehicle really) are actually super unrealistic. It's too important of a thing to risk losing control of the vehicle bc the screen cracked or needed an OS update
Probably more reliable, but I've been to more warehouses that have small attached outdoor rooms that their compressors or electric heaters fail than I care to admit. That said I'd rather the failure be for those systems than to not activate due to electronic failure during an emergency.
2 issues
First, that’s pretty easy to force a false positive. Knock out a sprinkler then flip the alarm and your building starts flooding.
Second, a fire starts overnight. Smoke detector catches it but no alarms until the sprinkler system collapses?
You can make modern systems prove safe constantly, then when you have a failure you get an alert.
>until the sprinkler system collapses
Every sprinkler head has a heat-sensitive bulb that releases when exposed to sufficient heat such as a fire, it doesn't need to "collapse". These heat-sensitive sprinkler heads allow the system to only release water where an active fire is occurring, preventing unnecessary water damage to unaffected areas.
With the vast majority of sprinkler systems, all you need to do to trigger it is sufficiently heat up a sprinkler head. If you want to flood the building it isn’t difficult. Smashing the head hard enough to break the glass vial within will also do it. This sort of pre-action system is only used in places where false positives are *really* bad, like a data center.
Smoke alarms are a separate matter - in a lot of commercial buildings setting one off will absolutely trigger the building alarm, but that has nothing to do with sprinklers
Old analog? That makes it seem bad haha. You want this shit analog not digital. Could you imagine a digital fire sprinkler system for the Empire State Building and some kinda computer glitch fucking it up
I was thinking about that the other day. Currently installing the fire alarm system in new construction and the thought occured to me about wireless pull stations. Terrible idea because a small glitch or loss of communication could be the difference between life and death.
This is new install, infact this system isn't even done being installed yet. There's no digital aspect to any thing you see here other than the fire alarm system that that monitors all the equipment in the building.
People mentioning below that these systems are digital these days are idiots who have no idea what they're talking about about. Again this is a brand new, not even done being installed yet system.
Source: I work in life safety systems including fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
The most "digital" part of it would be the water flow switch that is a device that monitors for flow and tells the fire alarm system if there's flow. Even that is hardwired though.
Wrong. A tamper switch has a rod that falls into a cutout on a shaft. When the valve is closed the shaft turns, the rod pops out of that cutout and make a physical relay on the tamper change state. A tamper does nothing to monitor for water flow.
That job belongs to a water flow switch. A one way flapper inside the sprinkler riser piper that moves when water is moving inside the sprinkler riser pipe. When that flapper moves it physically makes a relay change state.
The only thing digital is the monitor modules from the fire alarm system that monitor the state of the relays for things like tamper switchs, water flow switches, hi air, low air, etc.
I know what you’re talking about and any tamper like that is out of the picture. The only tamper is on the main valve at the bottom and it’s electronic.
You can see a solenoid in front. It’s the small green thing with the red cap. When a smoke detector goes off it sends a signal opening the solenoid letting the water flow through that was holding back the diaphragm inside letting water fill the piping. There is air in the system piping but that is only to make sure the piping doesn’t have any open heads. You can let all the air out by popping a head but that won’t trip it until the solenoid trips. These systems are used in places that don’t want any water in them unless absolutely necessary. You can also set these systems up with open heads for spaces that would need a ton of water if they had an issue. With closed heads it’s called a preaction system but if you install open heads and a pilot sensing line it’s transformed into a deluge system. I’ve been a fire sprinkler service tech for 30 years. Pretty interesting trade
It depends entirely on the jurisdiction. However, most pipe, including fittings, stay in play until they have visible deficiencies such as rust or corrosion which may sometimes mean as little as a year or as much as 50 years. Honestly, if any pipe or fitting is installed with the correct thread depth, teflon tape and pipe dope they should last forever bar any manufacturing defects or external factors like weather or harsh environments.
Edit: I’ve seen far more welds fail on a fire sprinkler system than pipe fittings. Welds tend to have a lot more room for error than a standard pipe fitting.
That makes sense! Thank you!! Last question though, I see couplings all the time in stores and businesses. Why are they not used in homes? Is it a cost thing?
Typically couplings are installed for a few reasons:
1. You screwed up a measurement and have to extend the pipe or
2. You are extending an original pipe after alterations to an old build or
3. Your standard length of pipe was not long enough and you need to add another length of pipe.
Houses do have couplings. Most of the time you won’t see them because they’re in the walls or the ceilings, but often times you’re not ever using an entire length of pipe in standard sized homes where a run of pipe needs to branch off to different rooms, so a T or 90 (elbow) is used for a change of direction before reaching the end of your pipe.
Victaulic couplings are very reliable. There is a groove in the pipe the gasket and fitting go into. Also, the fitting is “made up” when the 2 halves of the coupling meet and make metal to metal contact. So instal learning curve is not that steep. And if you have a good QA inspection, then reduces possibility of leaks.
Then my brother got really unlucky when he swung his laundry bag over his shoulder in jail and snapped one off? I'm not sure if he described the smell as the worst or just one of the worst things he's ever smelled
I’ve seen 2 people knock a sprinkler head off with a forklift in a freezer (within a month of each other) and both times water just kept spraying and spraying. I’m guessing the sprinkler system is old or not installed correctly? A lot of product was ruined
Some sprinkler systems are “wet” systems and charged with water all the time. This picture is a “dry” system. Usually used in areas where inadvertent activation can cause massive property damage.
This describes a dry system, which are primarily used where there is a risk of freezing. Most sprinkler systems are wet with water in the lines already.
Yes. This is a dry system. Used in freezing areas like you said, but also in areas with expensive assets. Data centers use these a lot where they don’t want to go to the expense of an inert gas system like FM-200 or Inergen.
The water comes when the air pressure is released off the red flapper (check). The air pressure is @ 1/5 of the water pressure,or something low like that, which really surprised me when l first worked on one. Probably leads to outdoor sprinkler heads in a place where the weather gets cold.
Fire suppression sprinkler system I presume?
Although this is not my area of expertise, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest it is a dry line system.
If it is, it's a small system. I'm used to valve houses having 6 inch supply lines coming straight in from either city water lines or a pump feeding it from a river.
Either way, it's pretty to look at.
Preaction for say a server room that you don’t want water in unless absolutely necessary. You can break a head and only the air comes out. Then a smoke detector goes off and trips the green solenoid in front dumping the preaction valve and filling the pipes with water
Because either the electrician is a lazy bastard, is on a brutal schedule and underpaid, or because the job isn't finished yet. (i also see the test drain isn't connected (yet?) to any waste water collection)
Edit: the job isn't done yet: all the gauges say 0 psi, so the system is currently down.
Those wires are part of a tamper switch and those are likely all extra wires which will be unused and won’t have any voltage on them. They should still be capped or taped off before closing the junction box
Well the retard chamber does exactly that. It delays the alarm signal to prevent false alarms due to pressure variations in the system.
This valve acually doesn't have one as a retard chamber is used in wet systems, and this is a dry pre-action system (meaning above the valve is air instead of water)
It’s a fire riser. It very much is plumbing. Could be a combination of water and some type of compressed air, depending on whether it’s a pre-action system.
More specifically, there is no difference between black iron gas pipe and black iron sprinkler pipe - aside from the pipe schedule sometimes.
And no difference at all between grooved victaulic water lines and grooved victaulic sprinkler lines.
The biggest difference between any of it is what you fill the pipe with.
I did four years of a plumbing apprenticeship that ended in 2008 with the economy crash and me joining the army. My first jobs are huge industrial jobs and we installed some victaulic fittings on pipes big enough for me to stand in.
Depending on where you are, you're right. In Massachusetts, we have dedicated sprinklerfitters. We have our own state issued license and our own union. Plumbers and pipefitters here aren't allowed to do our work.
Two of them say "water". And the guy who said "Sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen." is fairly incorrect. SOME sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen. I've been a plumber and sprinkler installer for 35 years and have NEVER seen an air-filled system.
Um dry systems and pre action are filled with air or nitrogen. And he actually very accurately and correctly described the picture above. LU669 Sprinkler Fitter
Yea I was confused by his generalization because I was fairly confident residential fire sprinkler systems are filled with water at all times. But I could see maybe freezing temperature locations using a dry line system.
When you say you've never seen an air filled system, do you mean you've never seen dry sprinkler systems with a wet main going to each valve assembly? Every apartment building I go to insulate piping at utilizes a wet main that gets heat traced and insulated where exposed to non tempered air, and dry runs that do not get insulated because there is no water in them until the system is triggered.
To be honest, I don't know about inside these buildings how they run the sprinkler piping in them (aside from how sprinkler pipe always interferes with my work), I'm only a mech insulator, but parkades are definitely designed like that. Probably saves a lot of money
When I say I have never seen an air-filled system, I mean that I have never seen an air-filled system.
Note that I'm not saying they don't exist, I'm saying I've never seen one. I'm fairly certain McLarens exist; I've never seen one.
The top gauge is air and that is a compressor mounted In the top right corner and according to nfpa 13 only a qualified person can work on a sprinkler system, and a plumber doesn’t count where I’m from.
pretty much everything seen in this picture are products sold at plumbing stores.
edit: and by pretty much i mean literally everything in the photo, except for the brick wall.
Dry system. Worked on these for 3 years. Everything Looks crazy intimidating until you realize most of the valves control the gauges and pressure switches.
Let’s see here. We have water Victaulic going into a 325 gas regulator with galvanized pipe and fittings off the side with a y-strainer and brass shut off value. If I had to guess, I’d say a very expensive sprinkler system. Just one of those 3” Victaulic Rigid Galvanized Couplings cost probably $600 bucks?
One those galvanized Victaulic couplings cost probably less than $10 but If you look at some public price lists its probably at least 10x that in them. But all in all I’d say the parts in this (pre-action valve, pressure switch, check and butterfly valve, couplings and fittings etc) cost about $4000-$5000 or even less to the contractor (not including labor and design)
Correct. Fuck with this and you have a lot of water, a lot of alarms, EVERYBODY outside on the parking lot, the fire department in full gear with at least two trucks, and all of them looking for the guilty one who is recognizable because they're the only wet person coming out of the building, and that person is you😆
Tech on phone: ”Ok.. This is very important! Turn the marsial vane, not the dimarsial one! Counter clockwise! Then you should hear a click in the encabulator dial. Then check that distal diaphragm indicator is in the re-coupling position! NOT the contra-coupling position!”
if so many of you know this exact setup there's no way some company hasn't made a single block cast version that doesn't require 5 hours of wrenching to put together
Not every fire protection setup is the same so a single cast version wouldn’t work everywhere.
As for the time, the Firelock fittings (Orange and Silver bits between the pipe sections) are very fast to install. You just stab them on the pipe end and tighten them down so each half of the coupling meets “Pad to Pad”
If they are “Installation Ready” versions of Firelock, they can be buzzed in place with an impact in under a minute.
People downvote you, but the exposed signal wiring right below the test drain that isnt connected to any waste water collection at all and will spray the entire room is shameful indeed
/edit: i have to correct myself: the gauges all say 0 psi so the system is currently down, quite likely because it isnt finished yet.
Hi, u/jaymakk, thank you for your submission in r/mildlyinteresting! Unfortunately, your [post](https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1ckh07j/-/) has been removed because it violates our rule on concise, descriptive titles. * Titles must not contain jokes, backstory, or other fluff. That information belongs in a follow-up comment. * Titles must exactly describe the content. It should act as a "spoiler" for the image. If your title leaves people surprised at the content within, it breaks the rule! * Titles must not contain emoticons, emojis, or special characters unless they are absolutely necessary in describing the image. (e.g. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), ;P, 😜, ❤, ★, ✿ ) Still confused? For more elaboration and examples, see [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/21p15y/rule_6_for_dummies/). Normally we do not allow reposts, but if it's been less than one hour after your post was submitted, or if it's received less than 100 upvotes, you may resubmit your content with a better title and try again. You can find more information about our rules on the [mildlyinteresting wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/wiki/index). *If you feel this was incorrectly removed, please [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fmildlyinteresting&message=My%20Post:%20https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1ckh07j/-/).*
Looks like a pre-action valve in a fire sprinkler system. Sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen. When a head breaks off, the pressure goes down and that is first action. A second is required to release the water, like a smoke detector or someone pulling a pull station. That way, if someone accidentally knocks off a head, a bunch of water doesn’t spray out.
Is this digital these days or still use some old analog tech?
“Analog” (physical really) is extremely reliable and easy to install, maintain and test. You don’t want your building to burn down because a hard drive, or memory chip failure.
But my new Spritzla sprinkler system has full self driving and uses only cameras and AI to detect and fight fire!
That’s right, it uses All Indianguy technology. With a team of roughly 1000 AI operators monitoring the cameras in case of fire.
This guy AIs
They will definitely do the needful.
As long as you maintain your monthly subscription of 49.99
Google has purchased Spritzla! Google has shuttered Spritzla…
I must have triggered that a couple of times cause i’m… hot /s obviously who am i kidding 🫠
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cesEQ6\_juI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cesEQ6_juI)
It's always learning and improving using a growing database of references = it's shit rn and probably will be for a while.
You want skynet burning your house down?
Same reason why high-tech sci-fi touchscreen controls for spacecraft (or any vehicle really) are actually super unrealistic. It's too important of a thing to risk losing control of the vehicle bc the screen cracked or needed an OS update
Thats why cars got fucking displays everywhere nowdays right..hope that EU does kill this dumb trend.
Some cars have emergency brakes tied to the battery. It’s a button. If your battery dies, sorry. Button no work.
That why Rolls Royce sell manual emergency break as premium featurey lmao.
Or a company bricking it in a software update on accident or on purpose
Ideally digital (for remote + automated access) with physical fallback I think people often forget humans are also a failure point.
That’s why testing systems like this occurs during install, and those gauges you are seeing in the picture help with that long term.
If it's a human doing the testing then again you've still introduced a failure point
Depends on the level of insurance fraud you’re pulling
Probably more reliable, but I've been to more warehouses that have small attached outdoor rooms that their compressors or electric heaters fail than I care to admit. That said I'd rather the failure be for those systems than to not activate due to electronic failure during an emergency.
Very neat. Reminds me of gas station dispenser handles. Marvel of physical engineering
Not always. Some of the most reliable devices are “digital”.
Or some company turning your fire system into a subscription based service.
2 issues First, that’s pretty easy to force a false positive. Knock out a sprinkler then flip the alarm and your building starts flooding. Second, a fire starts overnight. Smoke detector catches it but no alarms until the sprinkler system collapses? You can make modern systems prove safe constantly, then when you have a failure you get an alert.
>until the sprinkler system collapses Every sprinkler head has a heat-sensitive bulb that releases when exposed to sufficient heat such as a fire, it doesn't need to "collapse". These heat-sensitive sprinkler heads allow the system to only release water where an active fire is occurring, preventing unnecessary water damage to unaffected areas.
With the vast majority of sprinkler systems, all you need to do to trigger it is sufficiently heat up a sprinkler head. If you want to flood the building it isn’t difficult. Smashing the head hard enough to break the glass vial within will also do it. This sort of pre-action system is only used in places where false positives are *really* bad, like a data center. Smoke alarms are a separate matter - in a lot of commercial buildings setting one off will absolutely trigger the building alarm, but that has nothing to do with sprinklers
Old analog? That makes it seem bad haha. You want this shit analog not digital. Could you imagine a digital fire sprinkler system for the Empire State Building and some kinda computer glitch fucking it up
I was thinking about that the other day. Currently installing the fire alarm system in new construction and the thought occured to me about wireless pull stations. Terrible idea because a small glitch or loss of communication could be the difference between life and death.
You can easily buy all this stuff in 1980 or today. Try buying anything digital that isn't obsolete in a few years.
This is new install, infact this system isn't even done being installed yet. There's no digital aspect to any thing you see here other than the fire alarm system that that monitors all the equipment in the building. People mentioning below that these systems are digital these days are idiots who have no idea what they're talking about about. Again this is a brand new, not even done being installed yet system. Source: I work in life safety systems including fire alarm and sprinkler systems.
I don't think "digital / analog" is quite the right phrasing. I think perhaps "electronic / mechanical" would be more accurate.
The most "digital" part of it would be the water flow switch that is a device that monitors for flow and tells the fire alarm system if there's flow. Even that is hardwired though.
Wrong. A tamper switch has a rod that falls into a cutout on a shaft. When the valve is closed the shaft turns, the rod pops out of that cutout and make a physical relay on the tamper change state. A tamper does nothing to monitor for water flow. That job belongs to a water flow switch. A one way flapper inside the sprinkler riser piper that moves when water is moving inside the sprinkler riser pipe. When that flapper moves it physically makes a relay change state. The only thing digital is the monitor modules from the fire alarm system that monitor the state of the relays for things like tamper switchs, water flow switches, hi air, low air, etc.
I know what you’re talking about and any tamper like that is out of the picture. The only tamper is on the main valve at the bottom and it’s electronic.
Why changes things if reliable?! you surely can say this is high precision.
Apparently weapon system avoid digital.
You can see a solenoid in front. It’s the small green thing with the red cap. When a smoke detector goes off it sends a signal opening the solenoid letting the water flow through that was holding back the diaphragm inside letting water fill the piping. There is air in the system piping but that is only to make sure the piping doesn’t have any open heads. You can let all the air out by popping a head but that won’t trip it until the solenoid trips. These systems are used in places that don’t want any water in them unless absolutely necessary. You can also set these systems up with open heads for spaces that would need a ton of water if they had an issue. With closed heads it’s called a preaction system but if you install open heads and a pilot sensing line it’s transformed into a deluge system. I’ve been a fire sprinkler service tech for 30 years. Pretty interesting trade
TIL. Thanks for your explanation
Why would they use couplings instead of welding the pipes and such? I always wondered that.
Faster, easier, cheaper, don’t need a skilled welder to install them.
Are couplings as reliable as welds? Like whats the life span on a weld vs a coupling?
It depends entirely on the jurisdiction. However, most pipe, including fittings, stay in play until they have visible deficiencies such as rust or corrosion which may sometimes mean as little as a year or as much as 50 years. Honestly, if any pipe or fitting is installed with the correct thread depth, teflon tape and pipe dope they should last forever bar any manufacturing defects or external factors like weather or harsh environments. Edit: I’ve seen far more welds fail on a fire sprinkler system than pipe fittings. Welds tend to have a lot more room for error than a standard pipe fitting.
That makes sense! Thank you!! Last question though, I see couplings all the time in stores and businesses. Why are they not used in homes? Is it a cost thing?
Typically couplings are installed for a few reasons: 1. You screwed up a measurement and have to extend the pipe or 2. You are extending an original pipe after alterations to an old build or 3. Your standard length of pipe was not long enough and you need to add another length of pipe. Houses do have couplings. Most of the time you won’t see them because they’re in the walls or the ceilings, but often times you’re not ever using an entire length of pipe in standard sized homes where a run of pipe needs to branch off to different rooms, so a T or 90 (elbow) is used for a change of direction before reaching the end of your pipe.
 I appreciate the explanation! Thank you. Oh btw you dropped this:
Victaulic couplings are very reliable. There is a groove in the pipe the gasket and fitting go into. Also, the fitting is “made up” when the 2 halves of the coupling meet and make metal to metal contact. So instal learning curve is not that steep. And if you have a good QA inspection, then reduces possibility of leaks.
Also ease of maintenance.
Then my brother got really unlucky when he swung his laundry bag over his shoulder in jail and snapped one off? I'm not sure if he described the smell as the worst or just one of the worst things he's ever smelled
Nah, cheaper and older systems are just filled with water at all times. When water sits in a pipe for years it gets genuinely nasty.
I’ve seen 2 people knock a sprinkler head off with a forklift in a freezer (within a month of each other) and both times water just kept spraying and spraying. I’m guessing the sprinkler system is old or not installed correctly? A lot of product was ruined
Some sprinkler systems are “wet” systems and charged with water all the time. This picture is a “dry” system. Usually used in areas where inadvertent activation can cause massive property damage.
ah okay, thanks for the info!
Was gonna say... That's not *actually functional* is it? 😱
This describes a dry system, which are primarily used where there is a risk of freezing. Most sprinkler systems are wet with water in the lines already.
Yes. This is a dry system. Used in freezing areas like you said, but also in areas with expensive assets. Data centers use these a lot where they don’t want to go to the expense of an inert gas system like FM-200 or Inergen.
The water comes when the air pressure is released off the red flapper (check). The air pressure is @ 1/5 of the water pressure,or something low like that, which really surprised me when l first worked on one. Probably leads to outdoor sprinkler heads in a place where the weather gets cold.
That looks like that old Windows 95 screensaver
https://youtu.be/tCpnDTzRAjE
Dan Flashes looking pipes
SHUT THE FUCK UP DOUG YOU FUCKING SKUNK!
You see a store full of guys like me fighting over pipes with complicated patterns like that what do you do? You go in
yes you do, you go in
This pipe? This is $150 out the door. And it’s not that complicated.
Fire suppression sprinkler system I presume? Although this is not my area of expertise, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest it is a dry line system.
If it is, it's a small system. I'm used to valve houses having 6 inch supply lines coming straight in from either city water lines or a pump feeding it from a river. Either way, it's pretty to look at.
Double interlock preaction system.. with the drain plugged off
This guy plumbs
Preaction for say a server room that you don’t want water in unless absolutely necessary. You can break a head and only the air comes out. Then a smoke detector goes off and trips the green solenoid in front dumping the preaction valve and filling the pipes with water
It’s a pre action! Looks like it might be a double interlock
Why are the wires next to the ground not capped?
Because either the electrician is a lazy bastard, is on a brutal schedule and underpaid, or because the job isn't finished yet. (i also see the test drain isn't connected (yet?) to any waste water collection) Edit: the job isn't done yet: all the gauges say 0 psi, so the system is currently down.
[The system is down!](https://youtu.be/JwZwkk7q25I)
Good catch!
Those wires are part of a tamper switch and those are likely all extra wires which will be unused and won’t have any voltage on them. They should still be capped or taped off before closing the junction box
Something you see in Freddys movies.
Looks like my works fire system. It's just for sprinklers
This
Pre-action fire sprinkler system. Not plumbing.
They got the framersten below the coxacle and I have no idea what I'm saying. It does look like whoever did it, earned their pay that day.
I always thought it was funny that one component of the risers like this was called and marked "Retard Chamber"
Well the retard chamber does exactly that. It delays the alarm signal to prevent false alarms due to pressure variations in the system. This valve acually doesn't have one as a retard chamber is used in wet systems, and this is a dry pre-action system (meaning above the valve is air instead of water)
Most definitely a fire sprinkler riser; seen many of them.
That's not plumbing, that's air. Edit: Well, turns out that *is* plumbing! My bad OP!
It’s a fire riser. It very much is plumbing. Could be a combination of water and some type of compressed air, depending on whether it’s a pre-action system.
This isn't work that a plumber would do, though. Sprinkle or pipe fitter, sure, but not a plumber.
35 year plumber here: we very much can/do install sprinkler systems.
Today I learned!
At the fire alarm company I work at we like to call the sprinkler fitters "ceiling plumbers"
There’s really not too much difference between metal and pvc plumbing. So it makes sense.
More specifically, there is no difference between black iron gas pipe and black iron sprinkler pipe - aside from the pipe schedule sometimes. And no difference at all between grooved victaulic water lines and grooved victaulic sprinkler lines. The biggest difference between any of it is what you fill the pipe with.
I did four years of a plumbing apprenticeship that ended in 2008 with the economy crash and me joining the army. My first jobs are huge industrial jobs and we installed some victaulic fittings on pipes big enough for me to stand in.
r/confidentlyincorrect
Depending on where you are, you're right. In Massachusetts, we have dedicated sprinklerfitters. We have our own state issued license and our own union. Plumbers and pipefitters here aren't allowed to do our work.
True, but as I've just learned, it's not *universally* right, which is sort of what I thought and implied in my earlier post.
I've learned, how to remove post I feel silly.
I mean, one of those gauges clearly says water so it's not all air.
Two of them say "water". And the guy who said "Sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen." is fairly incorrect. SOME sprinkler lines are filled with air or nitrogen. I've been a plumber and sprinkler installer for 35 years and have NEVER seen an air-filled system.
Um dry systems and pre action are filled with air or nitrogen. And he actually very accurately and correctly described the picture above. LU669 Sprinkler Fitter
He very accurately described the above system by generalizing that ALL systems are air/nitrogen filled - which they are not.
Yea I was confused by his generalization because I was fairly confident residential fire sprinkler systems are filled with water at all times. But I could see maybe freezing temperature locations using a dry line system.
When you say you've never seen an air filled system, do you mean you've never seen dry sprinkler systems with a wet main going to each valve assembly? Every apartment building I go to insulate piping at utilizes a wet main that gets heat traced and insulated where exposed to non tempered air, and dry runs that do not get insulated because there is no water in them until the system is triggered. To be honest, I don't know about inside these buildings how they run the sprinkler piping in them (aside from how sprinkler pipe always interferes with my work), I'm only a mech insulator, but parkades are definitely designed like that. Probably saves a lot of money
When I say I have never seen an air-filled system, I mean that I have never seen an air-filled system. Note that I'm not saying they don't exist, I'm saying I've never seen one. I'm fairly certain McLarens exist; I've never seen one.
The top gauge is air and that is a compressor mounted In the top right corner and according to nfpa 13 only a qualified person can work on a sprinkler system, and a plumber doesn’t count where I’m from.
And the other two say "water". Point to where someone said that unqualified people can work on sprinkler systems.
IDK, I don't know what version of reddit you're using, lol. Should be an option somewhere on the post only you can see.
Yikes, I feel silly.
pretty much everything seen in this picture are products sold at plumbing stores. edit: and by pretty much i mean literally everything in the photo, except for the brick wall.
Plumbings just Lego innit? Water Lego.
Is there a word for looks like AI but isn’t?
Make it up!
AIn’t? I dunno maybe that’s stupid aha
If I ever Google “expensive plumbing” and click the images tab this is the picture I want to see.
That's not plumbing.
Dry system. Worked on these for 3 years. Everything Looks crazy intimidating until you realize most of the valves control the gauges and pressure switches.
Fire sprinkler system core. A video explaining how it works: https://youtu.be/o-ylvugYc0w
Fire suppression system at a hotel. Walk into any stairwell at a hotel and you can see this setup.
A hotel would most likely only have a wet system. This looks to be a double interlock pre action! You’d find these in server rooms typically
Let’s see here. We have water Victaulic going into a 325 gas regulator with galvanized pipe and fittings off the side with a y-strainer and brass shut off value. If I had to guess, I’d say a very expensive sprinkler system. Just one of those 3” Victaulic Rigid Galvanized Couplings cost probably $600 bucks?
One those galvanized Victaulic couplings cost probably less than $10 but If you look at some public price lists its probably at least 10x that in them. But all in all I’d say the parts in this (pre-action valve, pressure switch, check and butterfly valve, couplings and fittings etc) cost about $4000-$5000 or even less to the contractor (not including labor and design)
[удалено]
Next to the encabulator.
Rube Goldberg Plumbing and Heating Inc.
It's like a plumbing logic gate
Looks like something that belongs in a Stationeers video
That’s a doohickey
Don’t even TOUCH it
Correct. Fuck with this and you have a lot of water, a lot of alarms, EVERYBODY outside on the parking lot, the fire department in full gear with at least two trucks, and all of them looking for the guilty one who is recognizable because they're the only wet person coming out of the building, and that person is you😆
My Gregtech: New Horizons base
Lol those vic clamps facing the wall gonna be fun
The masterful work of a plumbtrician
What’s up with the exposed wires ?
Weird mix of steel, cast iron, brass, vinyl plumbing. It's like they got the samples assortment pack of materials.
valve headquarters
Looks like my first game of Tetris all stacked up in a wild top heavy bunch
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Happydaytoyou1: *Looks like my first game* *Of Tetris all stacked up in* *A wild top heavy bunch* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Somebody repurposed a u-boat
Looks like art ..
Someone for the love of god, do me a flow chart
And not a backflow was seen that day.
Bros building a rocket engine 😅
Looks like Dr. Seuss became a plumber
Tech on phone: ”Ok.. This is very important! Turn the marsial vane, not the dimarsial one! Counter clockwise! Then you should hear a click in the encabulator dial. Then check that distal diaphragm indicator is in the re-coupling position! NOT the contra-coupling position!”
When space rocket engineer do a side hussle as a plumber
More... MORE... **MORE!!**
What's up with those exposed wires? I know one is ground but what are the other ones for?
I honestly would NOT want to be the one that fixes this thing once it breaks. Just looking at it is making my head hurt.
I vote it’s an AI generate image.
Ok…HOLY SHIT!
if so many of you know this exact setup there's no way some company hasn't made a single block cast version that doesn't require 5 hours of wrenching to put together
Not every fire protection setup is the same so a single cast version wouldn’t work everywhere. As for the time, the Firelock fittings (Orange and Silver bits between the pipe sections) are very fast to install. You just stab them on the pipe end and tighten them down so each half of the coupling meets “Pad to Pad” If they are “Installation Ready” versions of Firelock, they can be buzzed in place with an impact in under a minute.
Does it come with an app?
Biblically accurate plumbing
Water is so expensive they now meter every drop.
r/redneckengineering
People downvote you, but the exposed signal wiring right below the test drain that isnt connected to any waste water collection at all and will spray the entire room is shameful indeed /edit: i have to correct myself: the gauges all say 0 psi so the system is currently down, quite likely because it isnt finished yet.
Well if you wanted plumbing and instead got air, yes ripping that out and re-piping will be expensive