This time, I have an unfortunate system DOWNgrade to mention… :evil:
I had mentioned that the former Pet Food & More on Merriman in Livonia had some sort of Admeco/Potter system. A Family Dollar recently remodeled and reopened this tenant up, and when I went for the first time yesterday, I noticed that ALL Admeco/Potter appliances had been removed from the store! These notification appliances are now taking their place:
Alarms:
There are two black Detex EAX-500 door alarms on the fire doors here.
I noticed some sort of turn-key smoke detector on one of the store pillars; I have no idea who makes it…
I can’t seem to understand why Family Dollar would choose to get rid of the old system here and not upgrade to a more “all-out” kind of system…
My guess is that they just wanted to have the minimal amount required by code to save money. Remember, this is a dollar store. Really no need to upgrade if it’s not needed.
These updates comes from the Livonia Community Recreation Center:
Near each emergency exit door is a white, strobe-less SpectrAlert classic, which goes off whenever one of these doors is opened.
There is at least one Wheelock E50 series speaker/strobe in the gymnastics area.
There are some Siemens U-MCS strobes scattered throughout the building.
I may have made a mistake when first describing this system; it is a Siemens system, w/ MS-51 pull stations and LP70 series speaker/strobes. I may have incorrectly described this as a Cerberus Pyrotronics system.
Well keep in mind, Cerberus Pyrotronics was acquired by Siemens in 1998. They continued using the CP name for a while, then around the early 2000s, they dropped it and just referred to the company as Siemens’ fire protection division. I’ve seen a few systems with a mix of CP and Siemens-branded devices.
I have looked carefully at the alarm system here and while I do see some mixes of Siemens strobes and CP speakers/strobes + pull stations, I do not see any mention of the CP name anywhere, just Siemens. Plus, the center was constructed in '03, around the time the name was dropped.
Update to the Sanctuary at Clinton Villa in Clinton Township–I had the chance recently to be in one of the housing units, and it had what I believe were two Kidde(?) smoke detectors, likely from the mid to late 2000s when I assume the complex was renovated. I think that these detectors are either battery-operated or wired into the electrical housing. My assumption is that these detectors are the same ones used in other housing units throughout the complex.
The first update is from the Kroger store in Clinton Township–the old bell I described in the customer service areas appears to actually be a single-stroke chime, made by Edwards (model 328). I would guess that this chime has been in the store since it first opened. This is also the second time (I believe) I have seen an alarm-related chime in my life; the first chimes I ever saw in relation to being in an alarm system was at the Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center, where they had Simplex 2902-(9234/9240) chimes.
The second update comes from the Bed Bath & Beyond store in Northville Township–I noticed that the store uses some older Alarm Lock push bars (model 250x28) on the north end of the building where there is an emergency exit. There is something very interesting about the exit, however…
If, for example, one had to evacuate to the emergency exit on the north end, one would have to first open a door to get to the corridor in the back (the door has a 250x28 on it, which was not in particularly good shape as part of the push bar was missing). Then, one simply has to walk to the end, where they exit by pushing on an unmarked push bar (looks similar to a modern-day Alarm Lock Trilogy series push bar (w/ holes for the speaker output on top), but I don’t know for sure who makes it). In addition, there are two stockrooms adjacent to the corridor that have their own fire doors that lead into the corridor (one has a 250x28 on it, the other doesn’t even have a push bar (one simply uses his/her body to open the door)).
One thing that is very striking also about this exit is that ALL THREE doors were propped open when I saw them, w/ the exception of the fire door that leads directly outside. My only assumption is that these doors served as actual fire exits one had to go through in the past, but likely serve now as alternative entrances into the two stockrooms I mentioned earlier.
One more thing about the emergency exits here–there is a lone fire door on the front of the store, which I suspect has a golden Detex push bar (Advantex series). This door was partially obstructed by a retail chair( :evil: ).
Another McDonald’s in Brockton, MA had a fire alarm install job, but this time to replace an existing system. This one is near the Good Samaritan hospital (the one I mentioned last year that formerly had no fire alarm system is near my college.) They kept the existing Fire-Lite MS-9050UD (replacing an FCI panel of some sort), but the Gentex GOS horn/strobes were replaced with SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes, the Hochiki detectors replaced with Fire-Lite SD-355 smoke detectors, and the FCI MS-2 pulls replaced with Fire-Lite BG-12LX pulls.
The first update is from the Bed Bath & Beyond store in Northville Township; I forgot to mention that the store has air duct detectors located on pillars throughout the store. There are two kinds of detectors used for the air ducts; the first type is some sort of National Time Digicomm series detector, while the second type is an older tan detector (unknown manufacturer/model).
The second update is from the former Glen’s Supermarket in Oscoda Township, which has been remodeled into a Family Fare Supermarket. I had mentioned that the building has a Simplex system, but the horns are NOT 2901-9838 models; the horns are 2901-9806 models. The building also has older Detex ECL-230D push bars, one of which was on a former fire exit (which now has a sign that says “NOT AN EXIT”.
The local library in my area had another FA upgrade. I don’t know the systems it had before, but when they had renovated the library a couple years ago, they got an EST Quickstart panel. The alarms were Edwards 10" Adaptabels, With Edwards 270-SPOs. Not too long after that, they replaced the 10" Adaptabels with EST Genesis Horn/strobes. Now, just recently I assume, the system got an upgrade, which I dont understand because the other system was pretty modern. The system they have now is either a Simplex 4100 or 4100U, I don’t exactly remember, I know it looked like http://www.campusfiresafety.org/assets/media/useruploads/images/simplex_4100_es.jpg this. The alarms are Simplex Truealerts, the pulls still remain the same.
The local library in my area had another FA upgrade. I don’t know the systems it had before, but when they had renovated the library a couple years ago, they got an EST Quickstart panel. The alarms were Edwards 10" Adaptabels, With Edwards 270-SPOs. Not too long after that, they replaced the 10" Adaptabels with EST Genesis Horn/strobes. Now, just recently I assume, the system got an upgrade, which I dont understand because the other system was pretty modern. The system they have now is either a Simplex 4100 or 4100U, I don’t exactly remember, I know it looked like http://www.campusfiresafety.org/assets/media/useruploads/images/simplex_4100_es.jpg this. The alarms are Simplex Truealerts, the pulls still remain the same.
Maybe it was a similar situation like the one with the middle school in wiley’s area? (The library/school/etc. gets fed up with the current situation/service/etc…)
That’s a Simplex 4100ES. It replaced the older 4100 and 4100U panels, along with the 4120.
It could be likely the Edwards panel stopped working, and this time they decided to go with another alarm company.
That’s along the lines of what U8oL0 said. Additionally, there’s also Stonehill College fed up with Simplex and replacing their stuff with Siemens!
But back on topic, at the K-8 school I went to for kindergarten I discovered a few minor changes to the system…
Photo Storage
I found this Edwards 270-SPO pull station in one hallway. It’s been here for maybe ten years now; I just never noticed it there until very recently. I can tell it was done back then, because the most recent replacement pull stations installed to replace a couple of worn-out Simplex 4251-30s were 2099-9103 break-glass pulls!
In another hallway I remember one of the 4251-30s looking like this: Photo Storage
(Obviously someone broke the glass or even pulled the alarm at one point, and they never bothered to put the frame back up!)
Well, that pull station had the glass frame and hammer removed, so now it’s single-action: Photo Storage
In fact, I wasn’t even sure if I had the right pull station until I recognized the paint marks on the side!
Another update to the Sanctuary at Clinton Villa–I noticed that in one of the recreation rooms, there is an old First Alert smoke detector (w/ incandescent light in the center) that was left intact when the rest of the system was upgraded.
The FYE store at the South Shore Plaza Mall in Braintree, MA was converted into a Newbury Comics store. When it was an FYE, it had the vertical Simplex 4903 speaker/strobes, like the main mall areas and some stores have, but the pull stations were Autocall, and there were ESL/System Sensor smoke detectors of some kind.
However, when it became a Newbury Comics, the alarm system was redone, probably for better consistency on the mall’s 4120 system network. The Autocall pulls were replaced with Simplex 4099-9003 addressable pull stations, and the older smoke detectors replaced with TrueAlarms. In addition, they even replaced the old speaker/strobes with new TrueAlert speaker/strobes! (They just installed them right where the old alarms were.)
A local restaurant used to have a Simplex 4001, with 2903+2901-9806 horns, and 4251-20s under STOPPER IIs. They have upgraded their system to an MS-5UD, but the pull stations and notification appliances still remain. The 4001 is still up, but the hole is covered, and there is a sign says “FIRE ALARM RELAYS”. Pretty cool if you ask me.
They did that in the main building at my high school. They kept all the old Simplex 4040 horns and Edwards 270-SPO pulls intact (and at least two 4251-20s), but the panel was upgraded to an FCI FC-72 in the 1990s, and the old 4247 cabinets had the lights removed so they now just have “FIRE ALARM TERMINALS” on them.
As I mentioned previously, my old K-8 school where I had kindergarten at is having many of the rooms with pods converted to divided individual classrooms. In the process, in classrooms with direct exits outside, they’ve been putting THESE up:
These backboxes are obviously the kind that go to Fire-Lite BG-12s! I can see why they’d want more exits with pull stations, but would they really need them in classrooms? The hallways may be a more ideal location (unless they put Stopper covers over the new pulls…
They might also install signals of some sort in the new classrooms (probably remote strobes or something.)
They still have the Simplex 4010 and 4208 fire alarm panels and it’s a little too late for them to replace them completely or do any costly upgrades before school starts next week (not to mention the duct detectors running off the Simplex 4010, as well.
Now here’s the real big news I found out regarding the alarms: the school is due for a full fire alarm system upgrade in the future, probably next year. It’s also a coincidence, as my old middle school is supposed to have the fire alarm system replaced next year too! I’m pretty sure they’re both going to have Notifier systems installed (probably voice-evac)…
