I’m still pretty salty about this one months later. I’m an electrical apprentice in the field, so I often see fire alarms being removed and replaced on a job. About 6 months ago, we helped out another affiliated electrical contractor at a brewery, and the old building contained an Simplex 2001 system, but by the time I got there, there was only a Back-box for a Simplex 2903 light plate, a lone Simplex 4251-20, and the Simplex 2001 panel itself. For whatever reason, someone mounted a security keypad over the “Simplex 2001” text. I was going to inquire about acquiring the remnants of the system, but was told by the GC that they were planning on reusing the 2001 panel. Fair enough I thought, until I went back to the job a few weeks later to find that the 2001 panel had been replaced by a Silent Knight panel. To this day I still wish I would’ve known they were removing that panel, and at the very least go fish it out of the dumpster.
Yeah, I hate when that happens too.
That happened to me, we have been doing this theater for years, with Edwards 333-Ds. I was trying to save all the single stroke bells because they were talking about an eventual renovation. Thing was, we didn’t get the contract unfortunately, and now the bells are gone and replaced with those System Sensor ‘L’ series horn/strobes.
I completely understand that, went through the same thing 2 summers ago. I live about 15 minutes away from a small shopping plaza that had a movie theatre in it. The theatre was pretty small, having four small screens. What was interesting, though, was the system. It had a 2-bay Simplex 2001-8001 panel, with 2902-9732 speakers and 4251-20 pull boxes. The theatre was one of the last businesses open in that plaza, closing in 2015. The whole plaza went up for sale not too long after, in 2016 if I remember correctly. I waited for a while to see if anyone would buy it, hoping they would either renovate or demolish the plaza in hopes of me obtaining that system. Fast forward to July of 2020, I was caught off guard when I came back to see the insides of each business in that plaza gutted, stripped down to the metal studs and construction workers on site. I guess whoever bought it started work rather fast, as I had checked on it a month prior, and it looked the same as it always had. I ended up talking to the construction workers that were there, and they told me the panel was hauled off in the scrap metal dumpster the day before I got there. So, yeah, that still hurts to this day…not only was that system very rare, but it was also the first 2001 system I ever saw in person, pretty much solidifying my interests in vintage Simplex equipment. I’ll put a picture of the panel below for those who are curious.
Oh how I wish companies saved devices by default (I plan on doing this with my future company if it ever goes anywhere, & I’ll attempt to encourage other companies to do the same), if they did things like these wouldn’t happen (along with standard demolition procedure including calling the local fire alarm service company to come & remove the devices before the building is demolished).
Believe me, I wish these systems would be salvaged as well. However, most fire alarm companies and general contractors don’t care enough about these things to pull them from service before a demo. In their eyes, it’s easier and cheaper to trash them or let the GC’s rip them out. And while it may be true that it is easier to pitch these systems rather than pull them and store them somewhere, it still sucks. Makes you wonder how many uncommon systems that would be valuable to people like us meet their fate at a landfill…
I know they don’t care, but I still wish they’d do things the “hard” way.
Too many I’m sure, far far too many.
You gotta say something next time! I typically don’t pull fire alarm equipment, I’ve only pull some strobe from a renovation that stayed onsite and I haven’t heard from that job since, it’s a slow job. I used to bring home burglar alarm panels that the customer upgraded from. I’d ask my mentors “hey man, is this being thrown out?” “Yes, why you ask?”. “I wanna take it home and work on it!” "Oh, well, one man’s trash I suppose… it’s an older version working on this won’t teach you any of the new feature, blah blah blah.
It’s a little different now that I’m a lead guy, it’s not that simple for me to justify bringing equipment home, 'specially since the equipment is property/former property of universities, hospitals, and bigger commercial sites.
I gotta say, please continue doing that, that’s how devices get saved.