On Jun 26, 12:51*am, Harry K wrote:
On Jun 25, 1:42*pm, Evan wrote:



On Jun 25, 3:40*pm, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:46:20 -0700, "bob" wrote:
I live in an apartment with several fire sprinkler in the ceiling.

So leave them alone. **

If the sprinkler goes off due to fire or malfunction, can I turn it off
after the fire is out? Is it the same valve near the water heater or is
there a different one?

No, No! *Speak to your local fire captain at the fire house.

I’m more worry about water damage (to electronics and computers) than fire
damage. Perhaps because I’ve never had a fire before and this is the first
time I moved to a place with fire sprinklers.

Get renter's insurance.

Alternately, is there a switch to cut off power to computers or other
devices when it senses water? This would reduce short-circuits caused by
water when the device is powered.

Yes

**

Prisoner tampers with his "apartment" over-head sprinkler and sets it
off. *The smart thinking officer used linens and laundry to make a dam
at his door. *Cell, er "apartment" fills knee deep. Then he looked
like a oil field worker. Many years of dirty water in black pipe.

@Oren:

It is not that the water is dirty, as it is the same water that you
could
drink in most places... *It is that during the many years of sitting
in
the black pipe the manganese and other dissolved solids settle out
of solution...

~~ Evan- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It also will tu rn stagnant, stsink like a sewer and turn black. *We
discovered that the day I had a fire in the jail and spinklers
activated. *One real mess to clean up. *I suppose what happens to it
depends on the local water supply but turn stagnant it will.

Harry K

@Harry K:

Definitely sounds to me like some sort of neglect on the part
of the jail has gone on here... Your sprinkler system should
be having at least annual flow tests -- where inspector test
valves in each zone are opened to determine the responsiveness
of the water flow sensors for each zone (which can go bad) as
well as each supervised zone valve being exercised from fully
opened to fully closed and back to open to test the tamper
switches...

If your water in your sprinkler system expires and smells
like sewage after only 12 months then there are local
water quality issues at play -- if your sprinkler system
is being fed from a potable water supply... Some regions
of the country maintain a separate system for fire hydrants
and sprinkler mains which is NOT potable and your system
might be connected to such a water supply...

Generally even good treated water in a sprinkler main will
have the manganese dioxide (fine gritty black powder)
precipitate out of solution from sitting a year in the pipe...
It is better to rinse any of the powder down the nearest
drain with clean water than to wait and try to sweep it
up once it is dry...

~~ Evan