ou sit in your office estimating a fire alarm system installation project. The design calls for a large number of smoke detectors. You received bids from your fire alarm equipment suppliers, and their numbers appear high—way...
Some of the greatest changes in NFPA 72 over the last couple of code cycles have been the changes in ways to transmit signals from the fire alarm control unit to the monitoring facility. I’d like to take this opportunity to...
Every January, many of us make New Year’s resolutions. However, sometimes we can’t get through February before we have forgotten about them or we have little internal motivation to follow through. One resolution we should all...
Happy New Year! Now that there is a lot of new construction going on, it is easy to put testing and servicing of fire alarms on the back burner. Since a number of companies will do just that, now is the best time for...
One of your business’ primary goals is to ensure the work is done right the first time, everything is code-compliant and that the installation will reliably operate well into the future. To meet your profit and reliability...
What will fire alarm systems of the future be like? Technology is changing rapidly, and historically, fire alarm systems have not kept up with these modifications. That is starting to change. In the 2016 NFPA 72, National...
The Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles stands at 1,100 feet and has 73 floors above grade with 900 hotel rooms, 16 floors of office space, meeting rooms, ballrooms with supporting kitchens, restaurants and lounges. It also...
Jim Dollard has an extensive background in codes and standards. If you have a query about the National Electrical Code (NEC), Jim will help you solve it. Send questions to codefaqs@gmail.com . Answers are based on the 2017...
There have been so many technological and code changes in the last 10–15 years that it makes sense to step back and discuss why we install fire alarm systems and how the components of a fire alarm system work? Unfortunately,...
For many years, the installation of fire-protection systems has been strictly a capital expenditure with recurring operating costs. Typically, the standard procedure has been to read the fire alarm system specification, look...
In layman's terms, a retrovirus is a virus that inserts a DNA copy of its genome into the host cell to replicate and is very hard to kill. The life cycle continues on ... and on ... and on. Here in the electrical world, we...
Nineteen years ago, author Spencer Johnson wrote “Who Moved My Cheese?” This book features a fable about how to cope with change. The story involves four characters who live in a maze: the mice Scurry and Sniff, and two...
It never ceases to amaze me just how much people in our industry have been either misled or misinformed concerning technical and code information. I often encounter installers, authorities having jurisdiction, engineers,...
The tools and equipment necessary to install and test a fire alarm system have changed over the years, and until a fire official asks to perform a particular test, many contractors may be unaware that they need a new meter or...
Did you ever wonder why some companies succeed and expand even in a down economy while others struggle to keep their doors open? It is a question worth considering because, once you analyze their reasons for success, you may...
I often get calls from professional contractors who have become involved in design/build electrical projects that include the design and installation of fire alarm systems. The reasons for the calls vary, but most are born of...
In the January 2012 issue of Campus Safety Magazine, Robin Hattersley-Gray reported from a 2011 survey stating that “more than half of university, hospital and K–12 school district fire protection professionals rate system...
The captain of Road Prison 36 in “Cool Hand Luke,” played by Strother Martin, said the line that appears as the title of this article. Here, it leads to a discussion on the art and science of designing an effective...
Sometimes I wonder if contractors read NFPA 72 2010, the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, when they decide to begin installing a fire alarm system. Of course, it should not be considered optional. To install a reliable...
During the course of a typical workday, I suspect you design electrical systems. Moreover, when you design those electrical systems, I am sure everything seems to flow easily because you have developed a familiarity with and...
