Sprinkler system filled with antifreeze cause house to explode when activated

I didn't know that antifreeze could ignite!

What the hell are they doing for crisake!

I can just imagine how that design was arrived at:

Ok now guys, we have to put something in the sprinkler system that will stop the lines from freezing. What should we use?

We can use antifreeze, of course, and it's cheap too.

Does anyone know if antifreeze is flamable?

Nobody knows?

No. not for sure. But I think I remember hearing that if you mix it just right with water, it wont ignite.

OK, sounds good to me. That's what we'll use.

But we'll have to put a disclaimer on the container that warns them that it's dangerous to mix in too much and that we're not liable if they do. Make sure it's written in Spanish too.

several things had to conspire to make this happen .but why you would use a substance you know is flammable in the first place is beyond imagination. you mix it and them it sits there and degrades over time in pipes and you never know what the result could be. I just cant wait to see what the idiots on the code panels are gong to come up with this time for an excuse. some code panel members need to have there professional licenses removed and jailed. for even thinking about some of this stuff like putting sprinkler heads in elevator shafts and then designing the code that someone could be trapped in a car and die.

got one better, had an AHJ (ie.. state inspector) require us to remove all smoke/fire detection equipment from elevator shaft after a single sprinkler head was installed at the top of a 3 story shaft... RTS

Businesses which have large frozen food areas have air filled fire sprinkler systems. A head pops, this releases the air pressure, then that activates a water valve. Water then flows through the pipes.

And they of course don't want the alarm guy to test the flow switches on these! Then they would need to drain the pipes to get air back in...

"Bill" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion : snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

we do test those in here..And let me tell you that we have a LOT of them... its so damn cold here sometimes..

The only problem with air filled sprinkler, is that you need an air compressor for them to work properly, and that can be cost prohibitive..

And now that we have sprinkler that use plastic tubing in residential building ... under air pressure I am not shure it would last long...

Dry systems have an inspector's test valve on the riser that flows water past the pressure switch (just as a dump would do) without flooding the system. I did it all the time.

Dry systems have there problems as well drip drums can freeze and pumps die etc etc. I have several dry systems I watch and there a pain.

There is an hybrid system where there is a pipe full of air under pressur that have heads like regular sprinkler head, but its not connected to any wather supply.

when one head is poped cause of over heat, a valve is release on an other pipe network that has open head and all over the place and water is pourred every where...

we call that a deluge systeme here, and you dont want to trig those by error ;-)

We have those in the States, too, but they're not all that common. One warehouse where I worked on the alarm had a deluge system in it. I don't know what they originally had there but my customer was a branch warehouse for a national chain selling computers and office supplies.

You can only imagine the damages if someone triggered that. :^)

seen one in operation once, was working on fire system and asked the sprinkler company to come test it so that would have all my signal tested..

he didnt closed the main water valve, he only closed one leg of the system... it was so fun to see the rainbow inside the warehouse when we were outside looking in..(the sun was comming in by the garage door wide open ;-)

Geeze - you would think that his insurance company would have required him to have that system changed. Probably could have been done just by changing out the heads and main valve. Wouldn't have been cheap but a real money saver in the event of a small localized fire somewhere in the warehouse.

To warrant a deluge system around here it usually means some sort of flammable chemical storage or the like. Something you really don't want to take any chances with.

Though to watch TV & movies, ALL systems are deluge systems...

Heh, heh, heh. That must have been a sight to behold!

I asked about it. No one seemed to understand. We monitored then for several years until someone else offered to do it for a dollar less or something like that. Oh, well.