Home Fire Sprinklers 101

Residential fire sprinklers are not new technology for preserving property and promoting life safety, but the modern systems that utilize the domestic plumbing system pipes for the sprinkler water have drastically reduced the cost of the materials and simplified the installation. Your new home may be well served by a fire sprinkler system and your builder has the capability to include a very simple sprinkler system that is highly effective in protecting your family and your property. The cost of the system is at an all-time low and the systems are unquestionably reliable. The experts all agree that fire sprinklers and smoke detectors work together to provide absolutely the safest home available today from a fire safety standpoint.

These pictures show two identical rooms that were subjected to a fire.

According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), over half of structure fires were in one or two-family dwellings resulting in 80% of all fire deaths. From a fire safety perspective, the home is by far the most dangerous of all occupancies!

A home fire sprinkler system might seem like an expensive addition. It is true that residential sprinkler systems can add up to $3.50 per square foot to new construction depending on the market where you live. When retrofitting existing homes, the costs can be as much as twice the cost of a new home system.

If you should choose to include fire sprinklers in your new home the cost should be less than 3 cents per square foot per month in your standard mortgage. For instance, an 1800 square foot home would be about   $ 5,000.00 which amounts to about $25.00 per month in your monthly mortgage payment.

Once the insurance discounts are factored in the actual difference in your house payment should be a reasonable amount. The sprinkler system will add value to your home by investing in tangible assets rather than insurance premiums. As the home insurance inches up over the years the sprinkler system discounts continue to increase accordingly.   

Once they are installed, sprinkler systems will actually save money because they will reduce your home insurance rates by 5 to 15 percent. If there is a fire, they will also save money in potential damages. The average cost of damages in homes with sprinkler systems was about $2,100. In comparison, the average cost of damages in homes without sprinkler systems was about $45,000.

Of course, what cannot be factored into this equation is the loss of items with sentimental value. However, it is easy to figure that if less damage was done to the home, less damage was done to the home’s contents.

The peace of mind that comes from knowing that your home, possessions and most of all your family is protected from the tragedy of a fire is the ultimate benefit.

Home fires caused 3,030 deaths – over 80 percent of all civilian fire deaths.

However, most of these deaths would have been prevented if a home fire sprinkler system had been installed. Combining a smoke alarm with a sprinkler system reduces the chances of dying in a fire by as much as 97 percent.

Not one person has died from flashover in a sprinkled home in 25 years in the more than 400 communities in the country that already require residential sprinklers.

What is true is that more people in this country die in fires than all natural disasters combined!

Many people worry that the water damage done by the sprinkler systems would be more extensive than the damage done by the fire and smoke.

This is not true. Fire sprinklers will only go off in rooms where they are triggered by the actual fire. If there is a fire in the kitchen, a sprinkler in the bedroom will not activate. This myth is usually perpetuated in the movies and on television. Nevertheless, it is only a myth.

In fact, 95 percent of the time home fires are controlled by one sprinkler head or as little as 8 gallons per minute or 80 gallons total per fire event. Fire department hoses flood the home with thousands of gallons of water often causing far more damage that the actual fire.

Sprinklers are extremely reliable and do not activate without heat and only the sprinkler closest to the fire will operate, thus the phrase “One-At-A-Time Activation”.

More importantly, home sprinkler systems rarely go off accidentally.

The odds of your sprinkler system going off accidentally are miniscule and the NFPA reports  about one device failure in 16 million sprinkler heads.

If the only reason you do not want a sprinkler system in your home is that you think sprinkler heads are too ugly, then you might be being a little fussy. You are also probably incorrect in this assumption. Home fire sprinkler systems look a lot different from the types installed in businesses. In fact, most come with sprinkler heads that are nearly invisible.

Fire Sprinkler Terms and Glossary

Thermally operated water valve that opens by means of a temperature sensitive link allowing a fine spray of water to discharge and cool the area of a fire to prevent catastrophic   fire flashover. Residential sprinklers are designed, tested and approved for use in fire situations that are characteristic of residential occupancies.

Electrically operated warning device that senses smoke particles in the ambient air and sounds an audible alarm. Smoke alarms are required to be supplied by a dependable power source and they must feature battery backup. They must also all work simultaneously.

Multipurpose sprinkler systems are systems that utilize a piping distribution and water supply that is common to the standard domestic cold-water piping serving the plumbing fixtures in a home. Multipurpose pipe and fittings are comprised of special fire code approved materials that are superior to the home plumbing piping and components.

Residential sprinklers are designed by a series of engineered calculations based on many factors including pressure losses in the pipe and fittings, elevation losses, and pressure or flow losses through components such as meters and back flow preventers to assure adequate flow and performance at each sprinkler head. Highly qualified design professionals prepare these calculations, and they are individual to every home. The design drawings and calculations are usually submitted to your local building department for approval and inspection.

Flashover occurs when the temperature of a room reaches the point where the smoke and fumes spontaneously explode. It is often related to a “backdraft” type condition. No one survives a flashover condition if they are in the vicinity of a flashover. Flashover can occur in less than 4 minutes.

An indicating valve that controls the water flow to a residential sprinkler system. If the control valve controls only the sprinklers it must be of a lockable design to ensure that it is not closed inadvertently.

An optional device that can be included in a residential sprinkler system to provide for an audible alarm when the sprinkler system activates. The waterflow alarm can be interconnected to the burglar or fire alarm if the home is so equipped. 

A method of proving the reliability and tightness of a sprinkler system. The materials and methods that are used for residential sprinklers are so reliable that they are permitted to be tested at their design working pressure.

A residential sprinkler system that is filled at all times with water supplied by a dependable water source such as a municipal supply or a private well and pump with adequate storage and pressure.

International Residential Code / National Fire Protection Association Code. These reference standards provide design and installation minimum requirements to assure that residential