"Overkill" systems

Why would they need to place 2 of the LED strobe units next to each other one with a horn strobe next to a seperate speaker?

I went into a Walmart a long time ago that had 4 Wheelock AS’s on every other support beam.

I have read that in some areas all fire alarm systems are required to be voice evac. So that would include systems at gas stations, rest areas, and convenience stores.

When there’s a fire, these NA’s instantly kill your eyes and ears.

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I think that’s only for buildings with more than a few hundred people in it at a time.

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Recently, at a mall near me, they put in a sweetgreen restaurant, along with some other buildings (single-story). Anyways inside of the sweetgreen there is a 4100 ES, 4099-9006’s, and red TrueAlert ES speaker strobes! there is always the possibility that this system was connected to the other units in the building, however normally in this mall, each unit has it’s own fire alarm system.

This huge Dollar Tree store in Riviera Beach, Florida has an “underkill” system! There is NO fire alarm system at all, but just System Sensor duct detectors and their respective test stations!

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why would they have duct detectors if there is no system? that seems pointless

I was just in a hair salon getting my haircut and they had duct detectors, but no fire alarm system. I have been in other places that had duct detectors and no fire alarm system.

I once read that somewhere in the Midwest (don’t remember the city) that in that city all fire alarm systems have to be voice evac regardless of occupancy. You’ll find voice evac in Walgreens stores, gas stations, and convenience stores there.

Maybe they have devices in the back-of-house area, but I have no idea why, as the other stores have fire alarm systems.

I recently came across a similar setup at a public library. This is one of the smallest buildings I’ve seen with a voice system. I don’t know of any other library branches in my city—even much larger ones—that have voice systems.

The system originally used 4" Mircom speakers with separate Select-A-Strobe remote strobes, according to photos I’ve seen online. The building recently underwent an extensive renovation and now has L-Series speaker/strobes.

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The primary purpose of a duct smoke detector is to shut down the air handler so that smoke is not spread throughout the building.

I know this, however the duct smoke detectors would serve no purpose without a fire alarm system to act on the activation of the duct detectors, and in the op, they said that the building didn’t have a fire alarm system

Sure they serve a purpose, that is to shut a damper or shut down the air handler. The detectors have built-in alarm contacts to perform this function. There are plenty of duct smoke detectors installed and working in buildings without a fire alarm system. Most codes state that if the building does have a fire system, then the detectors shall be connected to it.

The Sherwin-Williams Paints store in Stamford, CT on Hope Street has the most underkill system! They just have a couple of First Alert residential smoke detectors! They should have put in a smaller Fire-Lite panel, BG-12s, i3s, and Advances for that size of building! Plus, the detectors are only in the back-of-house areas and not in the customer area!

intresting, I can name a few stores in Dallas that are like that, one establishment has old First Alert smoke alarms from the 80s.

A library can have a sizeable occupant load and people unfamiliar with the building emergency exit locations, I think voice makes sense.

The Mathnasium in Greenwich, CT has no notification appliances at all, but it has a SIGA-270 pull at the entrance and just two System Sensor detectors! Maybe there are devices in the other stores in the shopping plaza this store is located inside!

The Wapato Park Pavillion is also a really underkill system as well. It was remodeled in 2012 and has a Silent Knight Intelliknight series 5700 panel with an AES Intellinet 5340 communicator right next to it.
image
Here is the only detector on the system:


And the only pull station (Silent Knight branded BG-12LX):

Also the only NA on the system is the SpectrAlert Advance P2R on the outside where the red pole goes up into the ceiling. The building has sprinklers throughout the place but no way to notify anyone inside if there is a fire or even upstairs.

On a side note, this system seems really easy to tamper with how easy it is to get in the back storage room where the panel and sprinkler system is at and kids often try to go back there as well.

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