I saw this in an eBay listing. I’ve always wondered what the institutional version of the MS-2 looks like!
There is a manual health facility we service that has these. Every staff member is required to have a FCI key on their keyring. The fire extinguisher cabinets are keyed to the same key also. I was also at a pre-release center for prisoners that had the Simplex version of these. Basically the same pull station but with the T-handle removed and a black cover over it.
Thats really cool!
I actually own one and I have to say as nifty as it is, it’s a bit of a pain to use. Obviously, it requires a key to activate, but in order to be able to reset, you have to leave the handle unlocked, which requires leaving one key in the top lock while opening the bottom. Therefore, resetting this pull station requires two keys. On top of that, for some reason, closing this pull station will NOT automagically reset the switch, unlike most MS-2 pull stations. FCI seems to know this as well; there’s a small sticker on the backplate saying “switch must be manually reset.” Which I find odd given that it seems nearly identical to the MS-2 except for the key on the pull handle to lock it shut and the lack of a lift gate on the top.
I assume an institutional pull station is what would be used in mental institutions?
it’s a pull station that requires a key to activate, used in prisons, mental health facilities or parts of hospitals where mental health patients are kept (usually dementia wards), etc.
Installed anywhere you don’t want the “clients” messing with the fire alarm. I’ve seen Simplex, FCI, and just recently EST versions. It is interesting because every staff member will carry around a pull station key, and that same key will open fire extinguisher cabinets. The place with the EST version, nobody had a key and the Cat45 key would not activate the station. Whereas Simplex will use the B key and FCI the PK625 key.
SAFETECH just did a video where the alarm system he was testing was in a former mental health center so the pulls were only able to be operated by key so this would be the second time I saw such a thing that existed.
I recently got one of these NIB, and it seems like a modified MS-2 with extra labels applied and an L written after the regular model number in pencil. Its very unique.
I just got one of these, the model is an MS-2L. The funny thing is that it uses a Simplex “B” key to unlock the pull in order to activate it, and uses the regular PK625 key to reset.
Yeah. I am thinking about buying one
** UPDATE ** well I bought one. It took a little while to ship but here it is
1 Like
Yeah i saw that video, the “ pull stations” in that video were really just key switches fastened to a single gang plate with the words “ fire pull” plastered on the front of the plate