I just think there is a lot of nostalgia about fire alarm bells. A building for a Catholic high school that I used to see occasionally had bells, but the school was renovated and they probably dropped using bells. Who else misses them?
My elementary school had bells I went there. The system was replaced this year with a EST3 speaker system. I did love the sound of vibrating bells, and they dont suprise you as much when they go off while still being effective. They were on continuous and still didn’t bug me at all. I’d like to see them in more installs, but I also really like speaker systems for the same reason.
Off-topic: this was a different system then my last post, a majority (14 of about 20 buildings) in my school district had their systems updated to EST3 addressable speaker systems.
Never really have been exposed to bells so I can’t say whether or not they were better. Honestly, my whole life I have been exposed to Simplex alarms mostly.
the only bells i see in my area are for sprinkler alarms.
Well they were phased out for horns because they sounded like class change bells, a Mechanical Horn can’t be mistaken for that and you know it’s a fire alarm. Same with TrueAlerts and MTs they sound weird because they need make a sound nothing else will.
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that maybe why schools would go with horns over bells, but what about other places?
and also, newer schools typically use a tone over the intercom for the bell, so they could actually use bells for the fire alarms and there would be no confusion. many older schools have also done away with there old mechanical class change bells in favor of using a tone over the intercom.
One reason why they’ve fallen out of favor has to do with the electrical interference they cause being a problem with modern fire alarm panels.
This isn’t a problem for sprinkler bells because they’re powered by mains voltage instead of being connected to the fire panel.
Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen bells used as fire alarms in my area. The only time I’ve even seen working class change bells was at my first elementary school. They had 6" brass-colored school bells (probably Simplex), but since the renovations and demolition, they probably use a PA tone.
Bells are also MUCH more likely for mechanical failure. Electronic and Mechanical horns are a good deal more reliable. Also horns sound much more alerting than bells. Horns are all around superior to bells.
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There are places where bells are quite common. Take Washington, DC for example. If a place doesn’t have an EVAC system, it’ll probably have bells. IIRC, it has something to do with fire codes.
My grad school has bells in several buildings, generally on continuous.
We have bells in my HS, but they were for the old Simplex time recorder system that was put in with the Simplex fire alarm system. They mostly are beige 4090-1 bells with some older Simplex/STR bells and some IBM bells mixed in, but in the early 70’s or so they installed a Dukane PA system, and since at least the 80’s they run the bells through the intercom…there is an old 1920’s elementary school in my town that’s been abandoned for years and is going to be torn down soon to make way for a housing development…I imagine they have bells in there, but it’s possible they could’ve had horns too.
Go ask them! (Nicely…) if you can perhaps have some, if it’s being torn down they’d oblige.
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Yeah, I need to get ahold of the mayor’s office or something…or the council; but yeah, I’m working on it! We’ll just have to see what they say.
Plus, the fact that bells take up more power/current than newer horn/strobes.
I’ve grown up my whole life with bell systems surrounding me. My elementary school until 2005, and then my high school, had single stroke bells in them. Even today, I still see some new installations with bells in them.
My school has bells,
They were adaptabels from the 1950s and they still work!
In Canada there are a lot of bells
bells are expensive, don’t sync, don’t do code 3, so they’ve naturally been phased out over time.
there are 24vdc sprinkler bells we connect to the fire alarm all the time, although i’ve seen more and more horn strobes used instead because they’re more readily available.
it’s nice when 120vac sprinklers are tied directly to the main waterflow, but it doesn’t always happen so they depend on the FACP to drive it.
They do code 3 in the same way Simplex horns do code 3 - with a panel. Common in Canada and I’ve seen a couple in the US. My grad school has a building with code 3 bells.
I actually am more a fan of electromechanical horns but in a few years I’m sure they will be extinct also.
Who even makes electromechanical horns anymore? The only one I can think of is the Wheelock 31T, and it’s a 120VAC horn.
In addition to Wheelock, Federal Signal still manufactures explosion-proof FHEX series vibratory horns for fire alarm service. They also still produce the 350, 31X, and 41X series horns, although they are no longer intended for fire alarm applications.
Edwards also maintains its Adaptahorn product line, although again they are no longer for fire alarm service.
However I know that if there is stock that install around somewhere, it can be used as new-old stock. My high school did it with replacing some horns in my high school with U-MMTs horns where the 2DCD horns on AV light plates were after I had graduated. I have been told that they are set to code-3. There are TrueAlerts in bathrooms now also. But I don’t think you will ever see 4051s or 892s as new-old stock.