Thomas P. Hammerberg

Spacing heat or smoke detectors can be quite confusing. Many factors must be considered, such as the ceiling type where you plan to install them (flat, smooth ceilings; joisted or beamed ceilings; sloping or shed ceilings)...

Anyone who has ever serviced a fire alarm system knows that ground faults can be quite a challenge, especially if the fault is intermittent. Many don’t realize the importance of testing the ground-fault feature and the effect...

There is a functional test for smoke detectors that essentially allows an installer to pretest the circuits and ensure the smoke detectors will report to the fire alarm control unit when they go into alarm or trouble. There...

Let’s kick off the new year by reviewing changes in the 2022 edition of the NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. While most jurisdictions won’t adopt this for a while, it’s good to know what’s coming. Let’s start...

We all know the importance of testing fire alarm systems, so this is a good time to review some recent changes in the NFPA 72 testing requirements and discuss some best practices. While teaching seminars, I always used to say...

In my July column, I reviewed the reason and importance for performing battery calculations. In this article, I will continue the conversation and review voltage-drop calculations. There has been some confusion about what...

Knowing how to perform battery and voltage drop calculations is essential to ensuring an installed system will operate properly, and especially important in the plan review process. Battery and voltage drop calculations are...

In the 2018 edition of the International Building Code, the documentation information in paragraph 907.1.2 on fire alarm shop drawings was deleted. A statement was added telling users to prepare the shop drawings per NFPA 72...

Because March is still winter, the weather can be very cold and stormy or it can be nice and warm. Since a lot of people will be staying inside with the heat on, this seems to be a good time to review the carbon monoxide...

Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Developing relationships and good communication with other stakeholders for a project will certainly save time, increase profits and...

How well do you understand the NFPA 72 requirements for pathway survivability? Like many other fire alarm applications, the code is not always clear, and there are quite a few different interpretations on this subject. Having...

Your life could depend on being able to hear and understand emergency messages broadcast from an emergency voice alarm system. Originally, NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, only stated that the message had to...