As for my final answer as I never really said I would say horn strobes are the future and the way to go but in countries like mine Canada bells are superior as people just don’t care about horn strobes and don’t react the same way

Southeast US fire alarm tech here. Most of our business is healthcare with hospitals, nursing and rehab facilities, and assisted living facilities. We've been installing the System Sensor chime strobes. They still fulfill the NFPA 72 decibel requirements but with the handy added bonus of not making you bleed from your ears as you walk by them. Check out System Sensor part #: CHSRL. But bells are still definitely installed by the sprinkler guys on the outside of the building, usually right where the riser room is, to indicate water flow to incoming firemen. Oh and I've seen a bell right above a releasing agent panel that we didn't install but got called to relocate, it was just so it could alarm locally. The releasing panel was part of a larger system and triggered the main building FACP.

With the majority of devices over here in the states being mechanical horns, horn strobes and maybe we're slowly transitioning to speaker strobes where applicable, every now and then I will see bell's being used for sprinkler alarms and for general notification, too. I remember seeing a 10" Potter being used for that purpose. I do want to say this, however. Your results may've proved bells are louder, but as someone else in the comments said you'll need to factor in reverberations, room or hallway size, and some other things. I'm not trying to falsify your conclusion, but the results can vary with certain factors including installation vicinity, and type of device. With that chopped from the block, it is a nice video demonstrating the SPL of bells and horn strobes.

My primary school had bells and the hospital I work at has bells across the whole building. They are freaking loud but I prefer them to modern U.K. fire alarms.

Manitoban here!! All of the schools I've been too have bells. We have a university with horn strobes. The bells as far as I know was an Edward's.

Here in the US I've only seen mechanical horn strobes/mechanical horn lights, horn strobes, and speaker strobes. Haven't seen and fire bells at least not in action. My elementary had Specturalert advances (Horn strobe don't know model), my middle school had mechanical horn strobes/ mechanical horn lights (4903-9101, and don't know the other one). Then my highschool had speaker strobes (SPSCWL-CLR-ALERT SYSTEM SENSOR, SPSWK-CLR-ALERT SYSTEM SENSOR, SPSWL-CLR-ALERT SYSTEM SENSOR). The only time I see bells are on the outside of building but I've never seen/heard them in action.

Way back in my day, I preferred bells over horn/strobes and I still do. You are never going to be able to replicate the resonating and vibration gong noise that bells put out with a horn/strobe. And, that resonating vibrating gong noise is apart of the charm of bells. Especially when the bells do code 3.

Over here we just have bells on the outside on the building, and flush mounted, nonchalant, white speakers on the ceiling, and the bells are always on continuous. The internal speakers are code 3 and always are a low, deep tone. Although, sometimes a general evacuation is called for a fire, that is a rising tone in code 3, followed by "Evacuate now", "Evacuate as directed", or "Emergency"

I think it also depends on which province the system’s installed in, at least here in Ontario horns have always been a bit more common than bells, although Ontario’s building code had a big change in 2014 no longer permitting new systems to install bells and requiring any buildings with more than 1000 occupants at a time to upgrade to speaker strobes that sound like the previous alarms installed

Mainly in my school in Brooklyn, NY, Horn strobes are very common but i usually find Fire bells outside of any other schol or building.

It’s not always about being as loud as possible, it’s more about sending the message effectively. When I hear a modern horn strobe going off, with the crazy sound it makes, I just want to get away from it as fast as I can. Bells don’t have the same effect on me. Funnily enough, my high school repurposed their fire bells and used them as normal bells to signal when class starts.

Most 24V fire alarm bells have their striker driven by a small DC motor, thus knocks a little bit slower but brighter and more "grainy", giving it the distinctive texture of sound different from general-purpose 120V bells, which are typically solenoid-operated and knocks at higher rate, generating harsh, fuzzy and chaotic metallic noise as what an angle grinder cutting through metal pipes would sound like.

This is a very interesting discussion to me. I'm from the US, and based on my own experiences in school and such, I find horns to be a much more urgent signal than bells. In my elementary school there were bells mounted outside, but they never had much effect on me. Fire alarms used to scare me a lot as a kid, but I was scared of (and later fascinated by) horns, not bells. Having said all that, I think perceived urgency of a signal is very much based on past experience. I recently read that 2003 Canadian study which found that people didn't find the temporal 3 pattern to be urgent (I'd love to know what people think of it now; I certainly think it's urgent), and I was surprised that people thought the continuous bell was more urgent. To me, and I think to many in the US, that sound is a school bell (i.e., signalling a class change), not a fire alarm, although my schools happened to use a square wave tone for that purpose instead. However, the ISO temporal 3 standard specifically states that it makes no stipulations in regard to the signaling device used; it only dictates the pattern of said signal. My point being, why install horns at all? If Canadians in large part are used to bells and find them more urgent, there's really no need to change that unnecessarily. In fact, I can relate to the confusion in fire alarm signals. Again in my elementary school, the electronic horns and the bells were on march-time, and the mechanical horns were on continuous, and as a kid, that confused me at first. That's why I like the idea of universally adopting one pattern, even though some don't find temporal 3 to be urgent. But it's also why I think that if bells, rather than horns, are what will make people react quickly and evacuate, then the bells should stay. And vice versa.

I am in canada and we have a lot of bells in stores hospitals and a lot more places. I would say bells are better.

The bell is so loud that the panel is complaining

Hello, I'm in Canada, so bro. My school literally has covers over my Bells and bra. I tell them it's literally solid metal

I think it really depends on the specific Bell and horn in question. an old Edwards fire alarm listed vibrating adaptabel is lethal, and it’s sheer volume borders on unsafe, but a mircom BL6B 6 inch motor bell is barely louder than most fire alarm speakers! As for horns are we talking about a little 1st generation Edwards genesis or are we talking about a vibratone mechanical horn with the volume screw lifted off, I’ve heard techs in the field say horns are louder I’ve heard techs say Bells are louder! I say it really depends on the specifics of that particular device!

I think bells are better, because they seem louder and more noticeable. People are unreal that they ignore fire alarms in general, but I think bells would help, with strobes still in place.

I grew up with horn strobes my whole life

I'll be honest, I've seen people in the US who are just as clueless when they fire alarm goes off regardless if it's a bell or a horn strobe. I've seen many places now putting in verbal announcer systems which will tell you if it's a fire or Co or some other emergency that requires an evacuation.

All of my schools I went to(not including college) used wheelock, some I have seen wheel lock as, a special needs school reused a fire alarm bell as a period bell(they upgraded to a tone bell from speaker) that fire alarm bell will stil be used as a fire alarm bell.

The horn strobe you tested scares me because when I was younger our fire alarm was that horn strobe and it was so loud that we had to cover our ears

Calgary Catholic School District has always used EST. Old systems where usually bells. But now we have Horn-Strobes. So I’ve always been around EST Genesis’s/Integrities (with my high school). But I have seen either alarms, just not heard them. But of course given I am an enthusiast now I know what they all sound like so I won’t have a problem knowing whats going on. Great vid!

How do you not evacuate when you hear a horn strobe? Those things scare the shit out of me and make me want to run out of the building. I hated my high school years as our school had simplex TrueAlert horn strobes that had lots of false alarms, and they made us stay in so we had to listen to those awful things.

Herein the UK bells were the norm and still are in my area both my high and primary (elementary) schools used bells in fact at my high school the bells were on strobe mounts and also did a single blast to signal a class change

Horn strobes with like the lights are smart beacuse of deaf people wouldn't hear the bell if it went off and the bell wouldn't let deaf people hear the fire alarm going off.

Bells are cool I do like bells a lot for collection use but I’m not really a bell person for building use I’m a horn strobe person since I do live in the US

I wanna get a bell so badly!! Stay safe and have fun! ...

If possible could you do mechanical horn vs the spectralert advanced?

Honestly I think bells are a BC thing from what I’ve noticed. I’m not sure what province you’re in but I assume there. We stopped using bells in Alberta in the late 90s, it all horn strobes in new construction since then. I’m not sure if it’s written into certain municipalities fire codes but I remember when living in Vancouver seeing buildings built within the last 10 years still using gong bells. I can’t speak for other provinces though other than Alberta, BC and Ontario.

What happens 6 months later when the birds have nested in the bell

As a canadian, my school has mircom remote horns but theres 2 bells but not hooked up. But i see bells EVERYWHERE.

A lot of fire alarms here in the United States are horn strobes and my school has them

Sound difference levels of the bell and the horn at 10 feet and in the room Bell: 20.7 Horn: 15.5 So it appears that the sound of the horn dropped by 15.5 dB when it was in the room because the sound it makes is a Frequency Modulated sound and it makes it travel in great distances throughout the building and through walls because FM sounds are done by pushing the carrier frequency in the opposite direction so the modulated frequency can push the carrier frequency much further without the need to get more louder. The same thing applies for amplitude modulated fire alarm sounds like a SpectrAlert Classic. So yes that must be why the bell didn't do so well in the room because the sound it makes is from the striker hitting the gong at a really fast rate which is a mechanical sound and not an electronic synthesized sound that would make a amplitude or frequency modulated sound that's designed to travel further without the need to get more louder and penetrate through walls a lot better And by the way there are some horns that do very well or don't do very well through traveling great distances or penetrating through walls

@NIC'S - SYSTEMS & ELECTRIC horn/strobes,strobes only and horn only are very common in the u.s

What I find interesting is some fire alarm panels use dover floor passing buzzer

Just a quick note, the horns are not as loud by design. The sound output is limited by nfpa72 18.4.1.2.

Have u seen a 2901 9838 before i seen bells too but rarely

I love your videos

I’ve always thought bells just sounded vintage but they are still cool

You should also have done a Edwards Genesis since they are everywhere in my city

Are electromechanical horns louder than modern day electronic horns?

My school has some fire alarm bells

Would you consider the AS, NS, and/or Classic vintage?

(sorry for my bad english) I think one big problem with firebells is, that they are very often not taken seriously, especially in public buildings, such as for exsemple shopping centers, because the people aren´t clearly advised what to do, what makes them often simply egnore the alarm. That´s not only a problem with bells, but with all firealarms without a vocal announcement. Iam from germany, where you don´t find any firebells, but we also have the same problem. That´s why I think for the purpose of a safe evacuation it´s important to clearly tell people how to behave, why I think all modern firealarmss should be required to have a voice announcement, what makes devices with a speaker, instead of Bells necessary. Also the sound of a firebell may be alarming, but especially in areas with a high dencity of people, that may become a problem, because it could also result in a panic. Because most people aren´t that interested in firesafety, and don´t knew, how safe modern buildings are today, and that there is usally no necessity for a panic, but an orderly evacuation, what could cause them to overreact. But when there is a clear voice announcement, there is no need for a loud, aggressive or alarming soud. Voice Announcements also elliminate the problem of people not understanding the alarm, because they aren´t used to it. If they are told, that there is a fire and they need to evacuate, there isn´t anything they couldn´t understand. That lag of knowledge about the topic of firesafety especially stood out to me, after the incident at the Grenfelltower in London, after wich a lot of people thought that could happen to evry highrise. They didn´t know, that the fire in the Grenfelltower only got so big and deadly because the constructioncompany didn´t follow the firesafety regulations for facades, wich would have kept the fire isolated in one appartment, instead of climbing up the building, and that there are dozens of fires in appartmentbuilding, evry year, that turn out absoulutely harmless, due to working firesafety meassures. One more place where Bells could be problematic, especially today, are highrises, where you often have a stay put policy, or only evacuate the people from in and around the levels, effected by the fire, instead of the whole building. In Asia, and I think also in the US there are also often areas of refugee in very big buildings, wich make the evacuation of a whole building in the case of a fire, unnecessary. If you only have firebells, it can become difficult to provide theese specific instructions to the people effected by the alarm, especially, when they weren´t prepared. In Schools you can do firedrills, and you can expect the same persons evry day, in a building, they know. But in malls the customers change evry minute and in appartment buldings, as well as in malls there are no firedrills, becuase, at least in malls they wouldn´t make any sense due to the continous change of customers inside. So the people are usally confronted with the alarm unprepared, what makes it more important to provide clear instructions for the evacuation to avoid a panic, or people egnoring the alarm . In therms of avoiding a panic, here in germany for exsemple they often don´t say, they are evacuating due to a fire, but due to a "serious technical malfunction" or an "incident in the building". And in the London subway for exsemple, they have the phrase "would Inspector sands pleas report to .../ go to..." as a coded prealarm, to inform the person in charge, that the firealarm has been activated. In therms of the risk of people egnoring the alarm, it´s mostly already eanough, to directly tell them to do so. There have been studys, that showes, that egnoring the alarm usally doesn´t happen because people don´t take the potential thread of a fire seriously, but because they aren´t exactly shure how to behave and then tend to orientate there behavour by the bahavour of other people. So if the majority doesn´t evacuate, the single people are less likely to decide themselthes to evacuate. For theese reasons I think firealarms without a voice announcement, such as bells, should only be used in Buildings, where people are used to the alarmsound and fireaction, such as factorys, offices and schools, while all public buildings, should have voice alarms (ofcourse combined with a alarmsound, and at best in multiple languages).

Now try the bell without the gong. Would anyone notice the bell is even ringing? Also would love to hear the difference between Durabel, 439D and MB-24 bells as I've often noticed the tones differ slightly especially between vibrating and motor bells.

As much I love the bells but, the horns are louder to get your attention

In the us aot of schools use a bell Begin and end of classes so be weird to have the same thing for fire alarm.

Interesting 🤔 the bell might have proved to be louder in the dB test but I think it all depends on the tone the ding sound to me isn't as harsh as the horn sound from an advance, then you gotta factor in reverb and stuff I've been to places with 120v sprinkler bells hut they just don't seem as loud as the horn strobe

I was always in a school in Canada with bells

Are horn strobes older than bells?

Very great comparison video on fire alarms I saw the gate of your homemade crossing signal against the wall I'm wondering when you're going to do another video about your railroad crossing signal?

Wheelock 7002Ts and Federal Signal Vibratones are the way to go. Love those old mechanical horns. This new crap is cheap and disposable.

@PICKLE 700 - SYSTEMS & ELECTRIC Hi, Hayden here. I wanted to talk something related about schools. How cool do you uthink it is for the director of Operations to do plans and let you see mechanical rooms? I love it alot also, do all schools let people like you have apprenticeships for maintenance?

You ought to hear it in the bathroom!

Hi, I want to know if I can do something to go down the volume of a fire bell

I am in Singapore I think bells are better as I see them everywhere except my school

Do you have any notifier bells

Let’s do another panel test this time an MB-10 24 bell notifer or Edwards is the gone changeable between MB-10-24 and 439D I want to see if the pitch makes it louder?

Nic you would love mechanical horns. Too bad your country didn't ever really use them

In the hotel I saw a est genesis in Canada and I touch it. It didn’t sound how strange.🤔

The Gentex bell is so big it’s about the same size as the Edwards MB10-24 but it’s bigger then the 439D it’s very rare exit sign 250 has a Gentex. bell and it’s way bigger then a system sensor bell on the left and by the way horn strobes are louder then bells

I also occasionally see remote strobes

Yeah im not used to bells. Im more familiar with older mechanical hornstrobes.

The most popular fire bell in maple ridge is notifier MB 10-24

15:27 horn must’ve knocked it over lol

Kobishi bells sounds similar to potter bells

Hi

15:26 😂

Neat

kindve just Canada vs states

I'll collect bells

But I only seen Roshini Sounders in my school

Fire bell better than Horn strobe

Mn

Hey um at 13:13 what size number did you select on that tool to take off those hex nuts 🔩