My home fire CPVC sprinkler system has already exploded two times for no reason. Video shows the dang thing just running until your water bill is larger than the house payment. I am stuck with one of these suppression system things and no one talks about any of the pitfalls. I know it can save a life if the person does not drown in the process. In the end your not going to have a house to sleep in because just one of them things going off will flood the whole house. Now..if code included a cut off to the suppression system that would be stellar. It does not :( Another little kicker is that these 'systems' flow unregulated pressure from the source. Watch out for thermal expansion and 150-200 psi. Good luck!

Good question! Once a sprinkler head is activated, it will continue to flow water until shut off. It's purpose is to suppress a fire, giving you and your family time to safely escape. A sprinkler head flows about 18-20 gallons per minute vs a hose from a fire engine which flows about 150 gpm. There will be water damage in both cases, but the sprinkler head will be less and provides time for firefighters to arrive and fully extinguish the fire.

Love it. I'm definitely considering retrofitting residential sprinklers in my 1983 built home. No amount of insurance payout can replace a person's life. Even more so with small children & elderly people which often need assistance vacating a house.

Great demos, only difference was waste basket fire in left sprinklered was elevated to allow quick heating of sprinkler head and not typical opening of sprinkler. Also fire was started under the sprinkler head - again not typical. The 10 foot square room would not justify a sprinkler for 100 square feet. Toured a brand new apartment complex yesterday with the sprinkler over the dining room table, NOT over the open kitchen stove along the back wall of 200+ foot area = very much more delay of typical kitchen stove fire = was it placed to put out dining room table candle fire? As all sprinkler heads come in various sized nozzles, with varied water supply pressure = water flow rate could have been demoed at higher than that provided in typical home sprinkler system. Finally sprinkler head can trigger by electronic smoke/frame detection or have melting links as low as 200 degree through 400 degrees = doubt this demo had high temperature head. Again good demo of notifying fire department by opening of sprinkler head that can't put out fire by sprinkler water = still needed fire department response.

@jtman04401 You're correct, the waste basket was higher in the sprinklered room vs. the non-sprinklered room. It took a while to ignite the non-sprinklered room, so in the interest of time, the waste basket in the sprinklered room was moved higher to achieve quicker ignition.  The speed at which a fire is ignited, however, does not change the effectiveness of sprinklers. Simply put...sprinklers work. They can suppress a fire before the fire department arrives, giving your family time to escape.

I will check it out. thanks for the response.

@TualatinValleyFire thats great, theres really no excuse to get one now. being a ff myself i would love to see this system in every home and trailor.

Great informative video. Thank you👍🏽

The referenced fire test above introduces another complexity that commercial and large building use - noticed this in hallways of Wheaton, IL 121 apartments yesterday. Sprinkler heads like in the left test cell and 121 hallways can be covered with flat disk. The sprinkler is then activated not by heat melting a link in the sprinkler head BUT by an electronic sensor - either smoke or ionized (products of combustion). These sensors are located in multiple places in common public areas not isolated by closing doors - not a residence scheme. NOW the BAD part, these sensors are the weak point of these systems with some false alarms - get wet - and failure of sensor and needing periodic replacement of sensing element. At our corporate locations these sensors/false alarms/needing repair kept the fire department and/or contractor busy year round. Back to the staged fire tests, triggering the sprinkler head by electronic sensor is phony for residences..

@dpress95 A study by the Fire Protection Research Foundation found that the cost of installing home fire sprinklers averages $1.61 per sprinklered square foot.

Fire sprinklers are triggered by extreme heat only. Smoke will NOT set them off. A head would have to be physically damaged in a way to break the metal link. However, most residential type installations have heads that do not extend beyond the ceiling. Another common myth from the movies is that if one sprinkler activates then all the sprinkler heads will go off. That is not the case. Only the head(s) affected by heat or a damaged head will activate. This feature also limits damage from water.

There were a large group of students viewing the demonstration (:35) who were on a tight timeline, so there was a need to get the fire started quickly thus the need to move the combustibles. Regardless of how a fire starts, the video demostrates the effectiveness of the sprinklers. Check out another video link in the description above that shows the effectiveness of sprinklers.

Fire Sprinklers Save Lives :) :) :) ROCK ON!!!!!!

What is the BTU ouput of a residential structure fire in the 1950s compared to the late 2000s?

I live near Tualatin

The sprinkler is set off by the heat burning the red tube releasing the plug spraying water. Not by smoke.

something was cut out at 1:25. the couch cushions got moved for some reason. Someone went into that room and stacked the couch cushions on the burning trashcan. Why?!?!?

Weird how they put the trash can up high on the 2nd room so it would set off the sprinklers faster. Fact is if the trash can was put in the same place it would take more then 30 some odd seconds for the sprinklers to go off. Not saying sprinklers are bad.. but why lie and stack the test/demonstration ? If you are going to show the difference between with and without then do it under the same parameters.

how much does it cost?