I would assume that despite you sounding your little alarm they would have known the fire alarm was going off even without that little tutorial. Just a guess …
yeah it would have been that loud horn sound with the flashing lights…
There was a fire alarm at the hospital today! My grandma is there to get a knee surgery, so as we drove in I hear sirens. At first I think it’s an ambulance, but instead it was a fire truck. Unfortunatley, they shut the alarm off when we got there, so no recordings. We had to wait to use the elevators, they had all dropped to the first floor except one that the FD was using. We waited until the elevator came down with the FD, and the one guy went to a panel with the key holes to disable/enable the elevators, and enabled them. I dont know the cause. I think the alarms are speakers, but then I noticed near the elevators with bells/chimes behind silver grilles. I saw a red 10" bell with a small black label in the middle, and the others had simplex silver chimes. I think I also saw some 6" silver simplex bells, but it’s hard to tell. The pulls are older simplex stations, some replaced with simplex t bars.
*Sorry if there’s spelling errors, I typed this on my iPod.
Today my ENV 250 class (Energy Sustainability) visited the Blenheim-Gilboa power plant. Unfortunately since 9/11, tours through the plant itself are no longer available but they do have this visitors center inside this 19th century dairy barn. It’s an interesting system. The signals are MT4-LSMs and RSSs (mounted sideways so the strobe is vertical). At the main entrance there’s a http://www.uploads.calvinet.com/uploads/1268611476https://cdn.thefirepanel.com/legacy/3092_6fd21bb48ddcf136c9e6c757ef70e19b.jpg generic T-bar pull station that’s labeled “aames security”, but the main weird part is the http://www.uploads.calvinet.com/uploads/1268544471https://cdn.thefirepanel.com/legacy/3092_6fd21bb48ddcf136c9e6c757ef70e19b.jpg smokes. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen these before, has anyone else?
But anyway, that’s the visitor’s center at the Blenheim-Gilboa power plant!
I went to this church in Walpole, MA tonight for a birthday party that one of my parents’ friends’ son was having. It’s a VERY old church built in the 1880s, so the alarm system is of course going to be somewhat newer than the building. They had a little old Fire-Lite MP-12 panel (probably from the 1980s or early 1990s), and quite a few of the signals were System Sensor MA sounders with no strobes. The hall room we had the actual party in had a Federal Signal Vibratone 450D horn/strobe (the non-ADA “wedge” strobe with “FIRE” on it). The only pulls I saw were a couple of Fire-Lite BG-12s mounted up rather high. I imagine they are replacing BG-10s or something. Seeing as this was a birthday party, when the time came to blow out the candles, I joked to the caterers “It’s a good thing this room doesn’t have smoke detectors!” However, in the halls they DID have Chemtronics 500-series heat sensors rebranded by Fire-Lite, and a 600-series heat sensor in the kitchen. There was also a Kidde carbon monoxide alarm above each BG-12 pull I saw.
One of the cafes at my school replaced some of the older alarms with ZNSs.
I found out yesterday that my moms work had a FA upgrade! Kind of makes me mad that i found out now, otherwise I would of asked her to get me some of the old alarms. She works at 2 nursing homes. One still has it’s old Edwards 6500 system, and the one I went to yesterday had a new voice EVAC system. The old signals were wheelock 6" bells. They also have old Johnston controls pulls. I’m guessing the new voice evac system is simplex, they have these “trackstar monitor” keypads made by simplex, they are EVERYWHERE! Every corner you turn at there’s one.
Today we went to a St. Patrick’s party at Penbroke Country Club in Penbroke, MA. They had an Applied American Technologies Inc. voice-evacuation fire alarm system in the building the party was held, with white System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance speaker/strobes! The restrooms had the white Spectra Advance remote strobes. All the pulls were Edwards 270-SPOs mounted up rather high, and a few of them were the newer GE-branded version. The smoke detectors were System Sensor i3s, and they also had System Sensor heat detectors in the banquet hall, too.
Kind of off topic here, but I found this website that has a page all about the edwards fire alarm company:
Today my college’s drama cub went to the Oak Point Nursing Home in Middleboro, MA, to perform as part of an event there. The nursing home is a very nice place that was originally built around 1998-1999 (the East wing), then a west wing was added onto around 2007-2008. Even though it is one building, it has two fire alarm systems tied into each other:
The East wing has a Simplex 4010 fire alarm panel. The signals are 4903-9238 horn/strobes, 4904-9137 remote strobes in the restrooms, and there are also Simplex 2099-9795 single-action pull stations. There is also at least one TrueAlert in this wing (a later installation.)
The West wing (this is where we performed) has a Simplex 4100U fire alarm panel (beige-colored non voice-evac version) with multi-candela TrueAlert horn/strobes and 4099-9003 dual-action pulls.
The smoke detectors in both wings are all newer-style TrueAlarms.
IDK when the 4010 came out, but I doubt it was around back in 1998-1999. I imagine they probably originally had a Simple 4020 fire alarm panel or some other MAPnet addressable panel, then replaced it at one point. (It’s definitely an addressable system; I could tell because the smokes in the East Wing had the LEDs on the base instead of the head.) Would’ve made a bit more sense to remove the old panel from the East Wing and wire everything into the new 4100U panel, but as long as they don’t have any problems tying into each other it should be fine.
Actually, according to archived Simplex sites, the 4010 came out in January 1998:
http://web.archive.org/web/19990128134852/http://www.simplexnet.com/new/4010.html
[quote] Would've made a bit more sense to remove the old panel from the East Wing and wire everything into the new 4100U panel, but as long as they don't have any problems tying into each other it should be fine. [/quote]Especially with it being a 4010…
Ah, so that proves the 4010 is indeed the original panel.
I’m currently staying at the Fairfield Inn in Verona, NY. It’s a fairly new building, as I remember not too long ago it was being built. It’s a Gamewell/FCI E3 series addressable control panel with BG-12 addressable pulls and Velociti Series smokes. The alarms are SpectrAlert Advances. There are no signals in the rooms (much to my surprise) but the detectors look different than the ones in the halls. I’m thinking they’re sounder/bases, but they don’t look like the ones from Gamewell’s site. Maybe the sounderbase is missing its cover?
EDIT: Here’s the pic:
Well, another college visit today. This time, Elmira College. It was founded in 1855, and the buildings were built between then and 1950. Some have since been rennovated and a new dorm is going up as we speak. We didn’t go to every building, but we went to quite a few.
First was Hamilton hall, which is basically an administration building. It used to have a Simplex system, as the pulls are 4251 t-bars mounted 5 feet above the floor, wiffleball smokes, and the some of the signals were -9833 horns on 2903 plates. The panel was a Faraday (didn’t have time to see the model) but it is conventional and some of the signals have been replaced w/ U-MMTs.
The next stop was Alumni Hall, which despite the name is an all freshmen dorm. This had a unique system. I didn’t see the panel, but the pulls were Simplex 4251 T-bars behind break-glass units (may have been easier to just install break-glass pulls, but whatever works) and the signals are again U-MMTs. There are no signals in the rooms, and as a result there are 6 signals per floor spaced only about 20 feet apart. The unique feature were the smokes. Most were System Sensor 2400TH (photoelectric thermal smokes) in the halls and in the dorm rooms, but some have been replaced with i3s - with built in sounders! Even in the halls! The basement floor was all i3s. Can’t imagine what that place sounds like during an alarm. BTW, I think the old signals may have been 4051s, as one of the U-MMTs was installed on a dark red trim plate, looking like the ones belonging to the 4051s.
Next was Carnegie Hall, which was donated to the college by Andrew Carnegie himself, hence the name. This building housed a science lecture center as well as science labs (also has a nursing department on the upper floors). Signals were System Sensor MASSADAs, 2400 series smokes (which may have been addressable, being as the LEDs pulsed pretty fast) and the pulls were http://www.notifier.com/products/datasheets/DN_1631.pdf Notifier LNG stations. That building is connected to Kolker Hall, which houses the science department and classrooms. This portion of the building has U-MMTs, Faraday T-Bar pulls, and Siemens smokes.
After that, we went to the Watson Fine Arts building, which houses music and theatre facilities on the first two floors, and the math department on the 3rd floor. This building surprised me, as I saw NO alarm signals. The only detection device I saw was a single EST classic pull in the middle of the first floor. There were no smokes or sprinklers and the stairwells were not enclosed. From there we went onto Harris Hall, which was identical to the Watson building except the pull was a Simplex 4251 T-bar and there was a single 4" bell (looked like an EST, but the building was too dark to see the label) above the pull. Hopefully both of these buildings get upgraded very soon.
We then went over to McGraw Hall, which houses the campus bookstore, post office, as well as more administrative offices. We didn’t go in, but I looked through the windows of the bookstore and there appeared to be ASs and BG-8 pulls installed. IDK if any different signals are installed in the other parts of the building, but all 3 parts are connected via skywalks.
From there, we passed some dorm cottages, and went to the library. The old signals were 10" bells behind grilles, but have since been upgraded to classic SpectrAlerts (mounted right on the grilles themselves) and the basement houses 3 computer labs and a lecture center. Pulls are Notifier BG-12s, smokes were also Notifier and the system was obviously Notifier too (all I saw was an annunciator).
From there we went to the Campus Center, which houses the dining halls, as well as student activity centers and groups. I believe the pulls here were BG-8s and the signals were ASs. There were no smokes, and the building was sprinklerized.
Next was the Speidel Gymnasium, which houses the athletic department, the gym, pool, and weight room. The signals there were Gentex GOSs or SHGs. One of them had also been replaced with a Wheelock ZNS. I forget what the pulls were, but the smokes were again System Sensor 2400 series.
Next was Tompkins Hall, which is female-housed only. It used to be that no men were even allowed into the building, but they’ve since changed that rule, but boys still aren’t housed there. Pulls were Simplex 4251 t-bars. I didn’t see any smokes, but I did see a heat detector in the main lounge area. Only saw one horn on the first floor, which was a Simplex -9838.
That was it in terms of buildings. However, there is one feature I neglected to mention about most of the alarm signals - they were painted purple! Not totally, but they were partially painted. I took some pics w/ my phone, but when I got home, I discovered they didn’t save, so I had to resort to online photos. I was able to find the Gentex alarms in the gym and ASs in the Campus Center:
As you can see, the Gentex alarms are painted up to the strobe, and they painted the sides of the ASs so that “FIRE” isn’t visible! Not all of the ASs were painted though, probably so that people will know what it is. Although not pictured, the mounting plates on the SpectrAlerts were painted while the rest of the signal remained untouched. As for the other signals, only the backboxes (just about all of them were surface mounted) were painted. The 4251 t-bars in Hamilton Hall had their sides painted purple (these were semi-flush mounted).
And there you have it! (whew!) 
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Wow! The Hamilton Hall and Alumni Hall at that college reminds me somewhat of Massasoit College; five of the buildings used to have Simplex 4207 systems with 4051+4050-80 signals and 4251-20 T-bar pulls, but now it’s variable; (only the Administration building now has a Simplex 4020 system, the others have Faraday panels, but Administration and two other buildings have the old 4251 pulls still intact.)
I also visited another college near our town last Thursday; the Stonehill College in Easton, MA. It’s a Catholic college founded in 1948, the buildings built between then and 2009. We did go to quite a few of the buildings. They had the following alarms…
The Shields Science Building, which is very new, has a Siemens system of some sort with Wheelock ZNS horn/strobes (rebranded by Siemens), RSG dual-action T-bar pulls (also rebranded by Siemens) and the Siemens FireSmart smoke/heat detectors.
The Cardinal O’Hara Hall has SAE VA4 horn/strobes (older version) and Edwards 270-SPO pulls. Must be a Fire-Lite or FCI system. We didn’t go in this building (it is a residence hall), but I saw through a window.
The Martin Institute was built in 1990, and has Wheelock 7002T horn/strobes and Gamewell Century pulls. They also have System Sensor i3 smokes, which were obviously added later, and a brand-new Edwards 270-SPO pull (with the GE logo) replacing a Gamewell Century. Outside there is a Wheelock 6" bell/strobe (pre-ADA version).
The Merkert Gymnasium/College Center was built in 1973, and has for the most part older Federal Vibratone 450 horns behind SAE AV32 light plates (without “FIRE” lettering). The smoke detectors are mostly older Pyrotector smokes. Several of the original pulls, which are older large Autocall pulls, are still there, but others were replaced with Edwards 270-SPOs, One was also replaced with a “LOCAL ALARM” Gamewell Century, and a couple of the alarms were replaced with 1980s-era SAE 2DCD+AV32 horn/lights, and one was replaced with a Wheelock 7002T horn/strobe. There is another 7002T outside the building.
The Sally Blair Ames sports complex was built in 1988, and has a Simplex system for a change! I think the panel is a Simplex 4002, and they have a late '80s/early '90s-style annunciator in the main entrance. The signals are Simplex 2901-9838 horns behind 2903 light or strobe plates, and the pulls are 4251-20s! There are NO smoke or heat detectors in this building (not even near the elevator!), but there are plenty of sprinklers. Outside there was a 6" Simplex 2901-9332 bell.
The MacPháidín Library also has a Simplex system from around 1998. I think the panel is a Simplex 4100. The signals are Simplex 4903-9236 horn/strobes, the pulls are the 2099-9761 dual-action T-bars without the Simplex logo on the bottom, and the smokes are older-style TrueAlarms on the smaller base.
The Cushing-Martin Hall has an FCI 7200 voice-evac system with SpectrAlert speaker/strobes (older version) and MS-2 pulls and unknown System Sensor smokes.
The Chapel of Mary has mostly Wheelock 7002T horn/strobes and Fire-Lite BG-6 pulls. The building was built in 1978, so the 7002Ts are probably replacing older horns of some sort. There is also a SpectrAlert in one office.
The Duffy Academic Center has mostly Wheelock 7002T horn/strobes, installed in the 1980s. A few were replaced with SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes. All of the pulls are Edwards 270-SPOs. Some are the really old ones from when the building was built in 1957, others are newer. There are also System Sensor 2400 smoke detectors, and there is a Wheelock MT-24-LSM horn/strobe near an elevator. IDK what the old signals were, probably old Fire Horns (they did a pretty good job covering up the old remains). There were also a few Edwards quartz clocks installed where old electric clocks probably were, and old 6" Edwards Adaptabels, probably used as class-change bells. The alarm panel is probably a Fire-Lite model of some sort.
Stanger Hall has SAE 2DCD+AV32 horn/lights and older FCI MS-2 pulls (which have “FIRE ALARM” in big bold ugly letters), and there is a SpectrAlert horn/strobe in the compuer lab. Aside from the SpectrAlert, it’s a typical 1980s FCI system.
Donahue Hall has Wheelock 7001 horn/strobes, and older Notifier BNG-1TSL “LOCAL FIRE ALARM” pulls.
The Alumni Hall has Wheelock 7001T horn/strobes and key-reset Gamewell Century pulls. There is also a 7002T outside the building.
The Merkert-Tracy Science building was built in 1949, but it has a Simplex 4207 system of some sort (I saw the annunciator in the main entranceway), installed in 1979-1980. The signals are Simplex 4051+4050-80s (with the black “FIRE” lettering on the lens), they have at least one Pyrotector smoke and some Simplex 4255 heat sensors, and of course, the pulls are Simplex break-glass 4251-30s (yet again). There was also a gold-colored Simplex 4090 bell in one hall, probably a class-change bell.
The Education Center (we stayed in here a while because a thunderstorm had hit, and we needed to wait it out) has SAE 2DCD+AV32 horn/lights and some Wheelock 7002T horn/strobes. Pulls in the wing with the SAE alarms are the older FCI MS-2s, and the area with Wheelock 7002Ts are Edwards 270-SPOs. All smokes are System Sensor 2400s. The SAE alarms and FCI pulls are probably the originals from when the building was built in 1983.
I did take some pictures with my phone of the unusual/interesting stuff, but not all of it had saved though. Here we go anyway…
Old Vibratone 450+SAE AV32 signal in the College Center.
The old Autocall pulls in this building.
The 1980s Simplex annunciator in the sports complex.
One of the signals in that building. Looks kinda weird with the 2901-9838 horn behind the 2903 plate. They all look like this.
One of the 4903-9236 horn/strobes in the library.
Older TrueAlarm smoke next to a sprinkler.
2099 pull without the Simplex logo on the bottom. All of them are like this, and behind Stopper IIs.
One of several older Edwards 270-SPO pulls in the Duffy Academic Center. Others are newer.
Wheelock 7002T horn/strobe in the same building. Many on the campus are installed like this, on a backbox onto the trim plate.
Simplex bell in the Merkert-Tracy Science building. IDK if it still works, but if it does it’s probably LOUD! Good thing they only have one on each floor, unlike the Davis K-8 school.
Simplex 4051+4050-80 in the same building. It seems usually when I see a place with 4051+4050-80s, it is in a building that had them installed decades after it was originally built (like this one), and the pulls are almost always 4251-30s!
So as you can see, there are a LOT of Wheelock 7002Ts and SAE AV32 alarms in this campus. There seems to be a bit more variety with some buildings, and they don’t seem as upgrade-happy as the Massasoit and Bridgewater State Colleges are currently.
I went down to Virginia, to visit the town I was born and raised in. We stayed at a really nice Holiday Inn hotel. It was either new or renovated, but I’m guessing fairly new. Here’s the fire alarm system for the place:
Simplex FACP (presumably a 4010 or a 4100U) but there was no visible annunciator to clarify
Simplex Pull Stations (forget the model numbers but it’s the ones with the “PUSH” plate
White Simplex TrueAlert Horn/Strobes in the halls and lobby
White Simplex TrueAlert Strobes in the elevator lobbies on the floors
White Gentex Mini Horns in the rooms w/ a nice trim around it (refer to picture!)
2 Red Wheelock AS Horn/Strobes in the pool area (water-proof)
Simplex Smoke Detectors through out the building. They were mounted on the wall in the hallways due to the lower ceilings and in the room was a Gentex smoke detector, which I’m assuming is just local.
All in all, nice stay and it was a great hotel.
I went to Boston today and took the Green Line MBTA train on the way in. I got off at Government Center, as I have for the past couple of times, but this time something was different - they seemed to have gotten alarm installation! Before hand, I don’t remember seeing anything, which was a bit odd considering the rest of the stations all had alarm systems installations. When I got off the train, I saw TrueAlerts everywhere, and as I got to the street-level stairway, there was a dual-action pull that looked VERY new.
BTW, on the way back, I boarded at Park Street, which as weatherproof ASs and single-action T-Bars. As a matter of fact, a lot of Boston is Simplex.
That is true, especially when it comes to certain places like the Prudential Center, New England Aquarium and the State House.
But to be fair, Boston does has its share of Honeywell systems too, ESPECIALLY using Space Age Electronics signaling (or in other cases, Wheelock). The Museum of Science is mostly Gamewell and Notifier, using Gamewell and Wheelock bells as well as SAE and Wheelock speaker/strobes, but the Theater of Electricity wing used to have a Simplex system installed in 1979-1980 with Simplex bells behind grilles, remote 4050-80 lights (with black “FIRE” lettering) and 4251-30 break-glass pulls. Only two of the old lights and pulls are intact (one of these setups can be found in the live butterfly garden); I assume the pulls still work, but the other pulls were replaced with NBG-12LXs, and the old bells and lights were removed (the old grilles are still intact, but painted black and boarded up behind them), and they installed Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes. Most of the Gamewell bells also have Simplex 2904 strobes added to them.
The South Station in Boston, MA also has some older voice-evac system with Wheelock ET speakers using the 7002-style strobe, a few Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes and SAE VA4 speaker/strobes, and older Kidde dual-action pulls. I also remember many subway stations in Boston using BG-12 pulls and Wheelock horn/strobes.
Other former Simplex systems in Boston I know, like the New England Aquarium (originally with a Simplex 4030 horn and some 4050+4050-80s with 4251-30 pulls), got replaced with newer Simplex systems, mostly voice-evacuation (the aquarium now has probably a Simplex 4100 system with the 4903 speaker/strobes, some 2099-9796 pulls, TrueAlarm smokes and a couple of Wheelock NS horn/strobes, but other 4251-30s are left intact). There is also Quincy Market, as user TrueAlertSS told me about, which was all mostly Simplex 4051+4050-80 signals and 4251-30 pulls, but now most of the pulls are dual-action 4099-9003s, and only the North Building still has 4051+4050-80s; it’s now mostly TrueAlert horn/strobes and speaker/strobes, and some Wheelock AS horn/strobes. I think the panel is a 4100U.
Depends where in Quincy Market you are. I have yet to see any ASs in Quincy Market, but the main bulding with all the eateries has single-action t-bars and TrueAlerts, and Faneuil Hall has 7002Ts installed.
Somehow I doubt the panel is a 4100U because I went there in 8th grade (May 2002) and all the alarms were installed. To my knowledge, the main building has no smokes, just pulls and sprinklers. Infact, shortly after I visited, a fire broke out in Quincy Market from Pizzaria Regina, and there used to be a news clip online about the fire and you can clearly hear the TrueAlerts going off in code-3. Plus, I know there’s the south and north market buildings as well, and I remember seeing QuickConnect detectors installed, which means that probably all three buildings each have a 4010 system, and Faneuil Hall has an old Fire-Lite system (if I recall, I believe the pulls are BG-10s).
Didn’t know about the Fire-Lite system at Faneuil Hall; sounds like their system was installed in the late 1980s or early 1990s since it has 7002Ts and BG-10s. As for the Simplex systems, 4010s sound very likely, as with the North wing, all they installed were new pulls and smoke detectors, the old Simplex 4051+4050-80s were left intact (these were NOT the original alarms, but were installed some time in the late 1970s as part of a fire alarm upgrade occurring at the time). I think the South building had the ASs installed some time after the 4010s were put in, but this was in the South building only, replacing the 4051+4050-80s there to make it a complete fire alarm system overhaul. I remember I was told a few areas had TrueAlert speaker/strobes, so it could be likely that one area with the speaker/strobes has a 4003 voice-evacuation panel tied into the 4010, or it could even be a 4100 or 4120 (the 4100U actually came out in mid-2001).
I will probably go to Quincy Market some time this week with a more detailed report on what the systems are like.