Testing Painted Fire Sprinklers with Real Fire

[@CivilDefenseSoutherner]

If I owned a business protected with fire sprinklers and accidentally got paint of them, I would call a sprinkler contractor for replacement

[@alamedajon1453]

Retired Sprinkler Fitter, 39 years in the trade, great video, test, analysis, I have a installed 1000's of sprinkler heads and have replaced 100 + or - of painted heads. I have often wondered about the difference would it make. Very informative great video.

[@SERSafety]

This was interesting to watch! Neat results!

[@theblueexitsign8249]

The last one looked like the landlord special lol. Great video! I love seeing actual hazards put to the test

[@HGP1965]

Nice test, helped prove what I thought might happen. Thank you. Note that the diffusers are compromised and the spray pattern is not full and adequate because of this. If I may suggest next time place a temperature sensor inside your box to indicate what the temperature actually was when the "red" 68 Deg C (155 Deg F) head did activate?

[@jzzhang726]

Wow never knew painted sprinklers would make a difference!

[@FireTech7]

Interesting but I wonder if height would make a bigger difference

[@dabitzz]

I learned a lot from this

[@gentexguy]

Very interesting test; I think it would’ve been neat if the temperature was monitored at the level of the sprinkler head, as it could help compensate for variations in the development of the fire-though that’s probably beyond your available budget lol. Great video as always though!

[@ericauclair4277]

I would've never thought especially that last sprinkler would have activated. Very interesting indeed. I wonder how many building owners are going to argue with there contractors not to replace painted heads due to this video.

[@nics-systems-electric]

Great informative video I appreciate the time effort and materials You put into this video I’ve always wanted to so this so this was interesting to see

[@mikerichardson6973]

The painted head took 70% longer to deploy. You said that was not a significant difference, yet it is a huge difference.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

The fully painted head did not take 70 percent longer to deploy. If you watch the video, the fully painted head activated in 10 seconds, the same amount of time as the unpainted head. The other heads that were partially painted did technically take longer, but the fact each fire was slightly different is probably the cause for this. There is no reason the sprinkler head with only the plug painted should have been any slower than the normal head, yet it was 7 seconds slower. In a real fire emergency where the fire would be much hotter, these differences would be negligible. Like I said however, heads should still never be painted. This is just one test.

[@hamzahassan7730]

Wow the last sprinkler working is somewhat of a miracle but it was very underperforming

[@owenmccord5078]

Good stuff, man. Thanks!

[@thepurdychannel8866]

Good comparison

[@timhouser]

Would the test result in different results if the paint aged for a year or so? How long would it take for age to affect the results if at all?

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Good question. Perhaps I’ll test it again

[@timhouser]

@@FireAlarmDude5967 Thanks for your reply. I was more musing than expecting a reply. If you're going to test anyway, there are other questions you might explore. Do different types of paint, or multiple layers have an impact? I also like the idea posted earlier about putting a temp sensor by the sprinkler head, or using a remote temp sensor. happy testing

[@firesprinklerpodcast]

There’s more to the “proper activation” then just water flowing. Was the sprinkler capable of providing the originally intended volume (density) over the intended square footage (area) The spray patterns of the sprinklers tested was unable to be verified due to the closed quarters of your test. Good for a sprinkler demo, but extremely misleading to saw that the sprinklers will still operate the same either painted or not. Many organizations (NFPA, FM Global) have performed testing to verify and confirm the need to replace painted sprinklers, and the liability that this video and statements release is extremely high…

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

You are missing the entire point. At no point in this video did I make the claim that painted sprinklers are acceptable at all. I in face said multiple times that painted sprinkler heads should be replaced. No kidding, painted heads are not compliant. It was just a WHAT IF scenario to see what would potentially happen.

[@lukericciardone7408]

How many fire sprinklers do you have in your collection

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

I’m not sure, maybe 50

[@brandonmedinadjdan]

I’m actully curios where do you get your sprinklers and how much do they cost I want to get some for demos for my system too

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

eBay

[@brandonmedinadjdan]

@@FireAlarmDude5967 oh ok thanks

[@JayTechTips]

very interesting!

[@Earth_Number_12]

From that camera the water in the sprinkler Looks kinda like I guess either hail or snow or it could look like sleet

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Yeah It kind of does

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Yeah somewhat

[@spunky181]

yet the city makes you replace them if there's one spec of paint on them crazy

[@benjamingirlando2023]

Thanks

[@KarterHartzheim-go8fx]

I have a couple of fire sprinklers one was at my dads job

[@Honekawasuneo646]

Sprinkler glass paint thick will activate slow

[@GForceIntel]

Last test firebstarted extremely slow it only ramped up at 19 seconds which still would activate at 10 or 11. So no real difference.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Correct, in this test there was negligible activation time difference, however the spray patterns were compromised and there is unfortunately no way to guarantee if a head will activate

[@danapatilloytf2024]

Can cigarette smoke trigger these sprinklers?

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Obviously not

[@thomaswhitten468]

Smoke setting off sprinklers or sprinklers all going off at once is a Hollywood myth, only fire can set them off and only the sprinkler head in presence of a fire will activate

[@WhiskeyPatriot]

I wonder what it would be with just ambient heat instead of the flames touching the heads?

[@mikeandema6925]

Plunger. not plug surface.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Not even actually called that. It’s technically called the “pip”

[@SkylightAngel]

What's bro doing

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Making KZbin videos