Third year at CCRI Flanagan campus. When I first went there, the alarms were Simplex 4050-80+4051 horns on light plates that said “FIRE” on them in black letters. Near the end of the semester, they started removing them (no, I did not get one since I probably would never set it off) and at first replaced them with Wheelock Exceeders.
Cue 2012 my second semester. Apparently, the college changed their mind, because when I came back to CCRI, the Exceeders were gone and replaced with ceiling SpectrAlert Advance speakers (first time I heard a speaker/strobe in person) in all classrooms and hallways and bathrooms.
In some areas I noticed that there are Advances on the walls rather than on the ceiling. Would they be the actual horn/strobes or are they speakers? I have no pictures, but I know the ceiling alarms are speakers. Can a building have a combo of speaker/strobes and horn/strobes?
It could be that the building was required to have voice evac due to it’s size or occupancy. I’ve actually heard of situations where the AHJ inspected a building after horn/strobes had already been installed, but determined it to need voice evac and the horn/strobes had to be ripped out. It could also be that the college switched service companies after the Exceders were installed and decided/was persuaded to do a total upgrade.
More than likely, the alarms on the walls are also speaker/strobes or maybe remote strobes. There are some installations where speaker/strobes will only be installed in large spaces with high occupancy capacities where voice evac is required (such as auditoriums, gyms, and cafeterias) while the rest of the building has horn/strobes. Doesn’t sound like that’s the case at your college though.
I’ve seen the opposite thing where Chimr/Strobes were installed in a building and had to be replaced by horn/strobes. But this makes me wonder: don’t system plans have to be approved prior to their installation in order to avoid those types of scanarios?
Also Simplex 4050, it’s great to hear from you again. :mrgreen:
The speaker/strobe version is noticeably larger than the horn/strobe version.
Also, it might just be me, but the SpectrAlert Advance speaker/strobes are RARE where I am. Only two places in Brockton have them, two of them being schools that had Notifier voice-evac systems installed around 2009-2010 (one of them replacing a Gamewell FlexAlarm system with Vibratone 450 horns, the other replacing a Simplex system with 2903+9806 horn/strobes.)
If they’re still sticking with Notifier, my middle school might be getting these installed this summer if they finally go with their plan to replace the fire alarm system (old Gamewell FlexAlarm system with flush-mount Federal horns from the '50s.) But the K-8 school I went to for kindergarten (also scheduled for a fire alarm upgrade at the same time, with a Simplex 4010+4208 system with 4051+4050-80 horn/lights) might be different: if THEY also go with Notifier they’ll probably only install speaker/strobes in the cafetorium and main gymnasium, and install horn/strobes everywhere else (it’s not as large as the middle school and is one story high.)
I do t think I’ve ever seen a SpectrAlert Advance speaker strobe in real life. Most voice evacuation systems that I see have either Simplex or Wheelock signals.
Just about the same thing my high school has, except they have Gentex Speaker/Strobes in the Main Cafeteria, Auditorium, & Gymnasium and Gentex Commander 2 & 3 Horn/Strobes everywhere else!!!
Also a newer high school in my county has a similar setup, except… They have Speaker/Strobes in:
[]Not only the Gym, Cafeteria, and Auditorium but also the Locker Rooms, Culinary Arts Room, and the Voc/Tech Buildings!
[]and Horn/Strobes Everywhere else
