Those silver clocks look like the ones at my school, except the ones at my school have a black second hand. The white clocks have red second hands.
Another alarm update for my HS!
I didn’t get the opportunity to tell you that there is an alarm where I have my World History class. The signal looked like (and it probably is) one of those http://www.mircom.com/products/fire/aud-visual/sfh45.htm seen here (it’s the alarm on the top left).
During my English class, I had to get sent down to the library (along with another student in my English class) with my speech therapist and I saw another EST Genesis. But here’s the weird part: it’s mounted both on a trim plate AND on a backbox! I think this might have been a rush job installation.
In gym class, as we went outside, I saw an Edwards 892 horn-only unit along with another EST Genesis in a room nearby. This is so unfortunate because I’ve been dealing with 892’s all my life! In my head, I was saying “Give me a break!”. But hey, it’s probably the only one in the building.
My school built a new extension near the back this year and from what i have seen its a Wheelock AS outside… the school said "all their new applications are code 3 so, fingers crossed… that means my school now contains:
-Gentex GX-90’s
-Gentex remote strobes
-Gentex commander 1
-SpectrAlert Advance’s
-Wheelock AS
More bad news update for my HS!
Sadly, I saw another 892 horn-only in a room near where the Wheelock NS is located.
here at my college we have Simplex systems throughout campus. They are all connected together and monitored by our campus police. I work in the student union. the other day we had a short on a magnetic door holder which caused all the door holders the building to release. our life safety department came out and I got to see the inside of the Simplex 4100 panel in our building. The fuse in the panel blew so they disconnected that zone until they could fix the fuse and the broken wiring. At the same time, our duct detectors in the Air handlers went down. Apparently these were on the same set of contacts on the panel. One of the annunciators went out as well.
We have a mix of newer and old horn strobes, strobes, and pull stations. They are all t-bars, some with the glass break handles. I’ll try to get pictures soon.
Today in another building, the power went out. I was walking around and heard an annunciator going off. Campus PD came to the building but did not silence it…
I had wellness in the field house today so I saw all the pulls and alarms in there. First of all, the boys locker room has a 4251-113 pull and a Simplex 4040. I think it was the boys pool locker room that I saw the T-Bar in a long time ago. The field house has Edwards pulls. I believe wile_e2005’s HS had these pulls with Simplex 4040s. There are about five Edwards pulls. The sixth pull is a Simplex 4099-9001 (the pull I thought was a 4251-20) probably replacing a broken Edwards pull. Although that pull is a 4099-9001, it’s in about as bad shape as most 4251-20s are since there is no cover on it and it’s dusty. The alarms are all Simplex 4040s and are in the worst shape compared to any of the other alarms in the school. Some have been painted over and many of the horns have dust around the sounder plates. One of the painted horns has cracks around the cinder block and looks like it might fall off at any moment (I’m kind of exaggerating on that). Who knows whether that horn still works. You can barely see the sounder plate. I haven’t seen any other alarms. No 4050s, 4051s, 9806s, 9833s, 9838s, 4903s, or TrueAlerts. If I do see any newer alarms, I will tell you guys. I look behind the grilles of all the alarms I see as I go past them.
Yes they did. The 4040s and the flush-mount grilles were red. The Field House building there had a Simplex 4246-1 system with the annunciators (and trouble bells) in one of the gym teacher’s office in the mens’ locker room. I believe the main building and the Fine Arts building both had the same too, though the main building now has an FCI panel.
Oh, and when was your high school built? Mine was built in 1969-1970.
Mine was built around the same time. Also, the field house is part of the school at my school, not a separate building. Maybe it was a separate building at your school.
The Field House building at my high school was a separate building, but it joined together with the main building via overpasses.
The freshmen at my HS had an assembly today for class officers (President, vice president, etc.). I was leaving the auditorium through the door I don’t usually go in. I noticed another BG-6 by that door. The rest of the pulls in the auditorium are Simplex Chevrons like most of the other pulls. Why do you think they are using BG-6s at random points? I have noticed two so far. One upstairs near the math department by the staircase there, and another in the auditorium. Did Simplex use BG-6s in old systems? Does it have to do with the fact that another ES in my town has BG-6s? What are your thoughts?
I doubt those BG-6s are part of the original system. I guess they replaced a couple of dead Chevron pulls in the late 1970s or early 1980s with them, and it was being serviced by Honeywell installers at that point. At my high school, we had five Simplex 4251-20 pulls, including one near a stairwell on the third floor in the Azure house, one on the second floor in the Red house, one near a drama classroom in the Fine Arts building and two in the swimming pool in the Field House building. Since I know the 4251-20s weren’t around until at least 1971 (the school was built in 1969-1970), I think they were later installations, replacing dead 270-SPO pulls, done in the 1970s or 1980s.
Something like this was at the elementary schools I attended, too. At the Downey school (where I went for grades 1-6), we had an old Gamewell Flexalarm system (cira 1971) and it had those Century pull stations (with “LOCAL ALARM”) on them, but one of the pulls in the main gymnasium was a Simplex 4251-20! I think that replaced a Century pull station that died in the late 1970s or the 1980s. (I think Simplex serviced the fire alarm system there in the 1980s, because the clock system was Simplex too). And the same story occured at the Davis K-8 school. When the school was originally built in 1974 (it had some old Simplex system, the panel got replaced in the 1980s or early 1990s with either a Simplex 2001 or a Simplex 4002), it had all Simplex 4251-30 pull stations. But during the mid-1990s/early-2000s, they replaced a few of the 4251-30s that died with Edwards 270-SPOs!
I actually remember there being a 4251-30 originally there where that pic was taken! BTW, the horn in that 4050-80 plate is a Simplex 4051.
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Were BG-6s around after Simplex Chevrons?
I believe so.
I think it’s interesting that my HS has many different kinds of pulls, but only one kind of alarm so far. The only alarms I’ve seen at my HS are Simplex 4040s. Most of the pulls are Simplex 4251-113 Chevrons, which I assume are the original pulls. The Fire-Lite BG-6s were probably replacing broken Chevrons. The Edwards 270-SPOs in the Field House might be original too since Simplex systems often used them. The Simplex 4099-9001 T-Bar probably replaced an old 270-SPO.
I’m starting to think that’s the reason my HS’s system is still there. I now know “grandfathering” is not an expression. It means by law to give permission to older things around before a rule is made to continue the way they are. My HS probably thinks as long as the Fire Alarms work, they will stay. They are probably too lazy to think about replacing the system since they probably don’t want to spend the money. They will probably at first just replace the panel (unless they already did) and keep the signals and pulls. How long are the oldest fire alarm systems allowed to stay? How does the grandfathering law work?
If a different company of whatever gains ownership to the building, then they must upgrade the system to meet the codes. But I can definitely not see that happening with my high school for some time.
I have heard talks about the Chemtronics heat detectors. I’m starting to think that my HS has those. There are even them in the classrooms. I guess Belmont High School’s fire alarm system has a lot in common with Brockton High School (as mentioned on another thread). What smokes were at Brockton High? Belmont High has these old big round smokes with a half circle grille with a line going through it. Some have been replaced with TrueAlarms. I actually saw a TrueAlarm in the downstairs science department with a mark from the larger smoke it probably replaced. So far, Brockton High has all the same components except the pulls and the panel.
Yes, Brockton High School had the Chemtronics heat detectors. However, in one wing in the core section of the main building, they had System Sensor 2451 smokes. And in a first-floor hallway in the Yellow section, they had a 9-volt First Alert smoke! And to be fair, your high school has 270-SPO pulls though only in the Field House, while mine had 270-SPOs as the main pulls throughout the campus, though some of them died and were replaced with 4251-20 T-bars some time in the 1970s or 1980s.
The Field House building at my high school still has the original Simplex 4246-1 annunciator intact, complete with trouble bells and the like. I assume maybe Belmont High School originally had that as well, and also had the 4040s in Continuous too, until they replaced it with a Simplex 2001 or whatever and recoded the system to March Time. I’ll try and get pics of some of the alarms at Brockton High School to prove it. And the Davis K-8 school’s original system panel (probably a 4207, 4208 or even one of the older 424x-series models) was probably set to Continuous unless they did some rudimentary coding via a 4208’s coding wheel, and when they replaced it with the current panel (either a Simplex 2001 or 4002), the system’s coding was changed to Slow March Time (20bpm). That’s when they also installed the 2098-9806 test stations. They also have the same Chemtronics heat detectors as Brockton High School did.
And I’ve heard you mention that Belmont High School doesn’t have any class-change signaling. Brockton High School did, though. They had a tone over the PA system. It was probably the first school in my city to do so, since it was built in 1969-1970. The Davis K-8 school was built in 1974, and they used bells. But now virtually EVERY new school they build in my city uses a tone on the PA system, and usually when they renovate old school buildings, such as the South Junior High School and the Huntington Elementary School, they replace the old bells with a tone on the PA system as well.
Rumor is the school may be renovated/replaced in the near future (but I may be graduated by the time its finished). Almost certainly they’ll have a new FA system by then. The Wellington Elementary School in my town has bigger priority of replacement over the High School. The Burbank Elementary School (where I went) was renovated in 1989 so thats probably when they installed a new system. The Winn Brook Elementary School was renovated in 1989 too so it got FCI dual action pulls with SAE alarms. The Butler Elementary school was renovated in 1979. I have never been there but I will assume they have old alarms. Newer than the High School’s, but older than the Burbank’s. They might have Simplex 4050 or 4051s on 4050-80s (unless the 2903s were out already?) since almost all the Schools in Belmont have Simplex systems. The Chenery Middle School was rebuilt after the old one burnt down by fire in 1995. The new one was finished in 1997 and got a modern Simplex voice evac system. The Wellington is in the worst shape of all the ESs in my town and has one of the oldest FA systems. It was renovated around the time the HS was built. It has these huge wedge like strobes or lights with horns. The pulls are all Fire-Lite BG-6s. Overall, it looks like my town replaces fire alarm systems when the schools are renovated.
That’s when they usually do it in my town too.
The Huntington elementary school (I went here for a summer program in 1999, and it’s not too far from our house so I’ve seen it many times) was built in 1896 and an addition was built in 1918. I think they had an Edwards system before they renovated the building in 1978-1979. They now have a Simplex 4208 panel (I saw through a window), and a Simplex annunciator that appears to have seen better days. They have Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates (with “FIRE” lettering on the lens), 4251-30 break-glass pulls, and Edwards heat detectors. In the gym/auditorium, the 4251-30s have red metal grilles over them. I haven’t seen any other types of alarms around the building, but outside they used to have an SAE AV32 light plate that probably contained either an SAE 2DCD horn or another Simplex 4051. But it was replaced recently with a Wheelock A-MT. Amazingly, they didn’t replace the alarms inside the school when they did that.
The Eldon B. Keith school (I went here for afternoon preschool) was built in 1906, and used to be the Brockton High School building until they opened the current Brockton High campus in 1970. Then they renovated it in the mid-1970s and installed a Simplex 4208 system (I know because I saw the annunciator, which is still intact and active). They have Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates (this time without the “FIRE” lettering), and 4251-30 break-glass pulls. I don’t remember seeing any other kinds of alarms in there.
The Howard School (where my brother went for afternoon preschool) was built in 1890, and used to be an elementary school, but now it’s a pre-K school. I know they had a fire in 1974, so after that occured was probably when they renovated the school. They now have a Simplex system with 4050 or 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates (I remember them having “FIRE” on the lens) and 4251-30 pulls. I think the panel was a Simplex 4208.
The Franklin School (which is now closed) was built in 1898 and was also renovated in 1978, and I saw through pics that they also had Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 plates and 4251-30 pulls. I think they had a Simplex 4208 panel as well. I don’t know what is in store for that building in the future, but maybe I’ll go and check it out.
The South Junior High School (where the voting center for our zone is located) was built in 1954 and unlike most of the others, I DO know what the old system was. They had an old Edwards system with 360-L fire horns, and 270-SPO pulls (older pre-ADA version). Curiously, the bell system was IBM. They renovated the school in 2003, and now they have a Simplex 4100U voice-evacuation system, they also have a 4603-9101 annunciator in the main entrance, TrueAlert speaker/strobes in most places, Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes in the men’s locker room (I had a friend that went here, and he showed me around the school a bit), 4099-9003 dual-action pulls (and at least one 4099-9001 as well) that have Sigcom stopper covers over them, and TrueAlarm smokes.
The West Junior High School (where my parents went for middle school) was built in 1952, but my brother and I peeked in through the windows this summer and we saw they put in a new fire alarm system! The old Gamewell panel/annunciator or whatever is still in the main office, but the new Notifier voice-evac panel is hidden somewhere. They mostly have SpectrAlert speaker/strobes, and SpectrAlert Advance remote strobes in the classrooms, Fire-Lite smoke detectors and Notifier NBG-12LX pulls at the exits. But the old coded dual-action Gamewell pulls are still intact, and a couple of the old projector-style fire alarm horns are still intact too.
However, a friend of mine who is in the Helping Hands Club with me suggested to the advisor of the club that since we’re helping out with the upcoming Baker Elementary School, we could maybe pitch in and help bring Brockton High School up to ADA codes. So maybe we’ll have a fire alarm upgrade too.