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A River Ran Through It

A bunch of years ago we installed a burg/access system in a commercial building. No real problems. When a new tenant moved it we upgraded the system to make access management easier. About a year after they moved in we got a call that the alarm was flaking out. Condensation from the air conditioner on their communication room was flooding down the wall on the inside. I pointed out the problem and that they needed to remember to blow out the condensation line when they serviced it. Six months later they called again. Same problem. Both times I recommended moving the panel, but they decided not to pay the expense.

Now mind you the previous occupant had a burg access control panel in the exact same location for more than a decade, and they had never had a problem.

I received a call on Sunday. Yep. You guessed it. A plastic drip tray screwed to the wall in front of the AC over flowed because... the condensation line was plugged up again...

Now, I haven't verified that everything works yet, but the last two times it happened I blew out the water, let it dry, and powered it back up. Everything worked like a champ. That is an X255. Near the higher end of Napco panels.

Spare the judgmental comments please. There was no air conditioner in that location when the panel was originally installed, and I recommended moving the panel every time I was there after it was. The original occupant just kept everything serviced and it was never a problem. Today I finally get to move the panel.

WAIT!!! There's more!

Last year we had some pretty bad storms here in the desert. One of my customers had some damage and water ran through their P801 control panel. Not just a little. I was afraid to walk in the room as there was standing water still coating the floor. When I pointed out the problem they blew it out and powered it down themselves. They powered it back up and I started receiving signals again. A few weeks later a driving rain blew MORE water in through their not yet repaired damage and the panel flaked out again. Same thing. Its been working perfectly for a year after the powered it back up again. The P801 is near the low end of Napco panels.

I don't know if that is just luck or if Napco really builds their panels to withstand a flood, but...

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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I have had pretty much same luck with other panels if you catch them fast enough and dry them out properly but it does degrade them and they die earlier than they should.

Reply to
nick markowitz

I think a new board would be in order too.

Reply to
G. Morgan

Third times a charm I guess. We shall see.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

RHC: Sometimes it's astounding what a panel will take ! I had a client that told me she had a water leak that ran down the wall and shorted out her alarm panel. When I got there, I confirmed it had been totally flooded. I didn't think that anything would survive that drenching, but once the panel dried out, it worked perfectly. I kept an eye on it for awhile, but it's been running for a year since that happened and faithfully sends in it's test signals. Yet other times even a mild surge over the phone lines will short the panel dialers hopelessly destroying the board !!

Go figure !!

Reply to
tourman

Well, that X255 is doing everything its supposed to. I powered it up. Tested all the basic functions, and created some deliberate faults. Access, burg, communication, supervisory stuff. All works. Network module, EZMs, Panel. This thing has been wet enough to flake out three times that I know of, and judging by the condition of the floor and the layer of black mold on the wall where the panel used to be its been wet plenty of times that it didn't totally flake out too.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Well, that X255 is doing everything its supposed to. I powered it up. Tested all the basic functions, and created some deliberate faults. Access, burg, communication, supervisory stuff. All works. Network module, EZMs, Panel. This thing has been wet enough to flake out three times that I know of, and judging by the condition of the floor and the layer of black mold on the wall where the panel used to be its been wet plenty of times that it didn't totally flake out too.

Reply to
Just Looking

Well, it started acting flaky after a couple days, and the customer said to just replace it. They gave me the old board though, so I'll set it out in the sun for a few days to make sure its really dried out and power it back up to see.

It was having flaky key bus problems. If I shut it down and powered it back up it would communicate fine for several hours, but since the keybus provides data for the access modules, keypads, and expansion modules a keybus communication problem is huge. LOL.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

What I meant was, a NEW board would be in order (from the supplier). Not a dried-out one! lol....

Reply to
G. Morgan

And what I said was they got a new board. You being slow today? I have the old wet board at my shop to play with.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

"and the customer said to just replace it. They gave me the old board though,"

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Ohh! Gotcha!

Reply to
G. Morgan

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