Allen Park Church of the Nazarene (Allen Park, MI)
Alarms:
A gray Federal Signal 4" Vibratone bell in a large room.
In a hallway near the front is this very rare gem: a Spectri-Faraday 6" bell behind a unique grille (but hard to describe–looks similar to a loudspeaker). It is very similar to one Stevenson has in a portion of H Hall (near the custodial area).
I am not sure if these are used for fire alarms because I did not see any initiating devices or annunciators/panels while I was here. Plus, there is a Sunday School program here, so they may be used for class change.
Loyal Order of Moose 2143 (Westland, MI)
Alarms:
One silver 2" bell (unknown make/model) at the main entrance that rings to open a door to let members in. It is manually rung by a bartender from two different points (bar area or small hall towards the kitchen).
Misc:
There is one ceiling-mount blue beacon (unknown make/model), but it is used only for entertainment purposes and does not serve as an alarm.
The Home Depot in my area has Gentex ceiling mount horn/strobes with wall-mount horn/strobes in certain areas and remote strobes in the bathrooms.
Lowes has horn/strobes that I’m not sure what brand they are. They also have some horn/strobes by the emergency doors without the FIRE label for door alarms.
Lowe’s
Alarms: Wheelock ASs (this store was built int 2010(?) and was probably the last new place I saw to get these alarms before Wheelock discontinued them)
Pulls: Either generic metal tbars or the SK pulls mention above
Home Depot
Panel: Mircom FX-2000 (replaced a Notifier 5000)
Pulls: Notifier NFM-950Bs
Signals: Wheelock MT horns
Lowe’s
Panel: Mircom FX-2000
Pulls: Mircom MS-401ADs
Signals: Select-A-Horn/Strobes. Blue Gentex Commander horn/strobes are located over the emergency exit doors.
Recreation Center and Auditorium Are at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado:
Although the buildings are connected, the auditorium part of the building and the recreation center have separate systems. The panels are most likely tied together.
Rec Center
Pulls: Notifier NBG-10s
Alarms: System Sensor SpecterAlert Classics, SpecterAlert Advances, and speaker strobes (I only saw ceiling mount versions)
Panel: a Notifier panel with voice evac capabilities
Auditorium
Pulls: Gamewell-FCI M46-Ls (The Gamewell-FCI version of BG-12s) or similar
Alarms: System Sensor SpecterAlert Classics, SpecterAlert Advances, and speaker strobes (once again, only ceiling mount versions)
Panel: a Gamewell panel with voice evac capabilities
Some Strip Mall
Pulls: Gamewell-FCI M46-Ls or similar
Alarms: System Sensor SpecterAlert advances
A Clarion Hotel
Pulls: FCI MS-2s
Alarms: Federal Signal horns with iStrobes on them
Detectors:
There appeared to be only one detector–a System Sensor 2400TH smoke detector–throughout the whole store, located near the checkout desk.
Sam’s Place Family Restaurant (Livonia, MI)
Detectors:
A couple of ESL 104 series heat detectors near the bar seating area.
One older heat detector (unknown make/model) near the bar seating area.
All three detectors mentioned are in violation of fire code, and the reason I say this is because they have–over time–accumulated a significant amount of dust, which leaves the detectors prone to false activations (they didn’t activate while I was there, however). Also, the restaurant serves Flaming Saganakis’, and the fire that shoots up from the food comes quite close to the detectors…
Quality Inn in Cañon City, CO
Pulls: Fire-Lite BG-12LXs
Alarms: System Sensor SpecterAlert Advances
Annunciator: Fire-Lite ANN-80
Panel: Probably a Fire-Lite MS-9200UDLS
This hotel has been around since probably the '70s, so this obviously wasn’t the original system. I didn’t really like the way that it was installed. Practically every device is connected to each other by visible metal conduit. It just looks bad running down the hotel’s long halls.
Cañon City High School
Pulls: Siemens MS-501s and Generic Metal T-Bars
Alarms: Red Siemens ZHs, Red Siemens UMMTs, and Red Simplex 2901-9838s.
Smokes: Siemens Smokes
Annunciator: Siemens Annunciator
Florence High School
Pulls: Simplex T-Bars
Alarms: White Simplex TrueAlerts
Annunciator: Simplex Annunciator
I was at a graduation party last night which was in a club-house for an upscale apartment complex. Although the building was small, it had its own system:
Panel: Addressable Gamewell Panel; don’t remember the model
Pull(s?): Gamewell Centuries
Alarm(s?): White Wheelock AS
Smoke Detector; Gamewell smoke detector; don’t recall the model
Throughout the entire party, the panel was in trouble mode, and nobody had acknowledged it. So, it was beeping the entire time. This particular panel had controls that weren’t obstructed by glass, but a key had to be put in to operate the controls, so multiple people tried acknowledging it themselves, but of course, it never worked.
Biker Bob’s Harley-Davidson (Taylor, MI) The property is made up of two buildings–the showroom/service area, and the storage area.
Showroom/service area:
Alarms:
SpectrAlert classic horn/strobes throughout the building.
Weatherproof MT4 horn/strobe outside of the service area.
Annunciators:
Fire-Lite LCD-80F annunciator at the main entrance.
Detectors:
Unknown heat or photoelectric detectors (Fire-Lite?) throughout the store.
Misc:
There are a couple of red beacons hanging from the ceilings of the store–I have no idea what they’re used for, whether it be for alarm signaling or just for fun.
Pulls:
Fire-Lite branded NBG-10 pull stations throughout the building; these pull stations are mounted lower than usual.
Storage Area:
Alarms:
One SpectrAlert classic horn/strobe inside; the building is very large, and I was surprised to see only one alarm in there! Although, this could be because the building has high ceilings.
Weatherproof SpectrAlert classic horn/strobe outside near the main entrance.
Detectors:
One unknown wall-mount heat or photoelectric detector at the main entrance.
Panel:
What appears to be a Notifier(?) panel of some sort; for some reason, the door to the panel was open, so I couldn’t tell who made it.
Pulls:
NBG-12 pull stations, w/ one at the main entrance.
An update to my mall upgrade on page 29. I went back there today and while the work STILL isn’t totally complele (keep in mind, this has been ongoing since December at least), I’d say the project is about 85%-90% as all the new devices are installed and operational and the Spectronics annunciator is gone. All that’s left to do is uninstall the old devices and possibly do a replacement or two (the old ADT pull http://www.uploads.calvinet.com/uploads/1323990122https://cdn.thefirepanel.com/legacy/3092_6fd21bb48ddcf136c9e6c757ef70e19b.jpg in this pic still remains in place, I assume they’ll replace it). The stuff that still remains are some old smokes and signals in the food court area as well as in the mall’s south wing (both old and new detectors are hanging by their wires, I assume all that’s left to do is uninstall the old stuff and mount the new stuff). Also, an iO series annunciator has replaced the Spectronics annunciator at the mall’s north entrance and another annunciator has been installed at the mall’s east entrance (by the food court). Surprisingly, there’s no annunciator at the mall’s south entrance by the county sheriff’s office, but that entrance isn’t far from the movie theater entrance, which is where the pic on page 29 was taken.
So, hopefully soon this project will be 100% complete!
Haha that reminds me of how long it took for Copley Place in Boston to finish their alarm upgrade. They formerly had an 80s system with Autocall pulls and SAE A34 horn/lights (the larger looking AV32s with electronic horns under them) for the majority of their alarms. A few VA4s could also be found, along with a horn behind a federal signal flush mounted grille with a non-ADA iStrobe on it. A few older Edwards strobes could also be found, and IIRC, there might have been some non-ADA Wheelock strobes as well. Overall, quite a mix. Most of the old alarms were ceiling mounted, although a few were wall mounted.
The new stores already were getting new Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes and 4099-9003 pulls, which leads me to believe that maybe the old alarms were also voice evac, although I don’t know for sure.
Nonetheless, around 2008, they started installing ceiling mounted TrueAlert speaker/strobes and speakers in the hallways and installed 4099-9003 pulls next to the old Autocall pulls. They also installed wall mounted TrueAlert speaker/strobes next to some of the exits. For awhile, about 2-3 years, the old alarms and pulls were still intact, and while the ceiling mounted TrueAlert speaker/strobes had no tape on them, the wall mounted alarms had tape over their strobes, and the new pulls were completely taped over. The mall put signs over the new pulls saying “This Pull Station is Not Yet Active”. They put signs over nearby old pulls saying “In Case of Emergency, Use This Pull Station”, with an arrow pointing to the old pull station. Most of the stores, however, already had their newer Simplex alarms and pulls active.
The mall’s system was set up like this until sometime in 2010 or 2011, when they FINALLY finished the upgrade. They removed the old alarms and pulls and put white trim plates over the ceiling mounted alarms and trim plates over the wall mounted alarms and pulls that matched the color of the respective wall. They removed tape from the new alarms and pulls, and removed most of the signs. There is still one “In Case of Emergency, Use This Pull Station” sign left over, pointing to a blank wall plate. It definitely looks misleading, although the average person would probably find a new pull station next to an exit. As for the new system’s panel, it is probably a 4100U, although it could even be a 4100ES if it was installed toward the end of the upgrade. The fact that active TrueAlert speaker/strobes and Simplex pulls existed in stores for awhile leads me to believe that maybe they have multiple panels that were installed at different times.
Overall, why would a system upgrade take a long time like this? Poor funding?
Greenmead Historical Park (Livonia, MI) This is a historical park composed of several buildings from the city’s history. One of these buildings is a small house, and has these inside:
Detectors:
Two Firex ionization detectors can be found inside the house.
That’s good that no one was able to acknowledge it. Only a person responsible for the system should acknowledge it so they can be sure that a fire alarm technician is called to fix the problem.
Sanctuary at The Villa (Clinton Township, MI) This is more of an “open-air” living community, w/ most of the alarms located outside.
Alarms:
Through close observation, the original system likely consisted of Adaptahorns (as hinted by the vague outline of one of them now covered by a backplate), possibly w/ 270-SP0 pull stations.
The current system consists of mostly ceiling-mount CX series horn/strobes located outside.
Inside some parts of the building are wall-mount Commander horn/strobes, w/ strobe varations in the lavatories. There is one weatherproof variation on the exterior of the mech rooms.
There is one 4" National Time 304/704 series fire bell in the main office, w/ its backbox sticking out. This is likely used as the trouble bell.
Detectors:
There is at least one National Time (DigiComm) photoelectric detector in the lobby area.
Panel:
One National Time 902 series panel, located next to the main entrance.
Pulls:
541 series pull stations throughout the complex–the pull stations outside, for some reason, are not ADA-compliant (not at the appropriate mounting height).
Comfort Inn, Fort Dodge, IA: Panel
Notifier System 500 Initiating
System Sensor 1400 Ion smokes
Notifier BNG-1 pulls
BRK 4120B smoke in our room, 9120 in breakfast area. Notification
System Sensor MA/SS24s, unknown tone setting, obviously.
SpectrAlert Advance PxR in pool area.
I’m guessing that museum originally had a Simplex 2001 system or something, then the 4100 was installed when the building was added onto, or it could even be a 4120 or 4100U.
I’ve never seen bilingual 4251-30 pull stations before! I’ve only seen bilingual 4251-20s and the 2099/4099 versions.
I still wonder who makes those newer Simplex bells. They could be Edwards or Potter (the 6-inch models sound like Wheelock’s 6-inch bells.)
