Excellent News. As I have mentioned I have yet to 100% prove my ES has 9806s. I am only relying on the fact they are high pitched. Well guess what, tomorrow, I will be going back to my ES for community service hours. I will officially know what horns are behind those 2903 light plates. I will let you guys know what I see.
I remember you said the system at your elementary school was installed in 1989 when the school was renovated. If that’s the case, then the system is most likely a Simplex 4002, as the 2001 and 2120 have been discontinued since 1988 and replaced with the 4001, the 4002 and the 4100.
I was at my ES today doing community service at the after school program. I would like to apologize I made a mistake in what the alarms are there. They are NOT 9806s. They are 9838s. The reason I guessed that they were 9806s is because they are high pitched, yet some 9838s are too. I haven’t seen the system since I knew the difference between 9833s, 9838s, and 9806s. I thought 2903 plates were horn/light combos. Well now I love my ES’s system a lot since 9838s are my favorite electromechanical horn. If it was in march time it would be even better, but it’s in continuous. Pulls at my ES are 4251-30s like I remembered. Many more have the glass missing than when I went to school there. I also noticed the pegs were sticking out on a lot of them without the frame. That’s probably how it releases the frame.
Once again please forgive me for telling u guys the wrong info I had yet to prove it 100%. Remember, my ES has 9838/2903 light plates in continuous.
Well like I said, I don’t know if 2901-9806s were still being made, er, rebranded back in 1989. I DO know that the system could most likely be a Simplex 4002 (since you said the system was installed in 1989), or it could be a Simplex 4100 system and the pulls are actually the addressable version of the 4251-30.
And you said that more 4251-30s there have the glass missing now. That’s how it is at the Davis K-8 school! Last I was there in 2000, virtually all the 4251-30s I saw had the glass intact, but quite a few of them now have the glass missing, like this one in the main lobby (it is located near the Simplex graphic annunciator)…
Note the “Please DO NOT block alarm” sign above the pull. The annunciator also has a “DO NOT BLOCK PANEL” sign above it. Also, that gray thing you can barely see above the pull is not connected to the fire alarm system; it is a class-change bell (but it’s still a Simplex model). The signals are Simplex 4051+4050-80s.
In THIS one, the 4251-30 pull is missing BOTH the hammer and the glass! I remember back in 1993 and 2000, the hammer and glass were still intact. (BTW, I don’t know why that 4051+4050-80 is installed that way, I think it was done when they put in the Simplex 2001 panel and 2098-9806 test stations).
I remember here, there used to be a 4251-30 pull back in 2000. But some time afterwards it was replaced with an Edwards 270-SPO pull! I guess the old one died or something. You can tell the 270-SPO is obviously newer, because of how all shiny and new it looks, and it says “FIRE ALARM” on top instead of “LOCAL ALARM” and it has “PULL IN CASE OF FIRE” in the newer thinner font. Another one of the 270-SPOs (which I also remember seeing in 2000) did NOT have the silver stripes or an Edwards logo on the bottom, but was still a newer-style one. I guess the Atlas Alarm Corp. people (which usually install new EST systems, they are a local company that services my school district’s alarm systems and also installs the systems in newly-built schools since 1998 (which have EST voice-evac systems). But I remember once when they were testing the alarms in the summer of 2000, a 2908-9806 test station was defective. I think to replace other broken parts in this system like signals or test stations or panel parts they would just contact SimplexGrinnell and order the part. I have seen both Atlas Alarm Corp. and SimplexGrinnell service stickers on the Simplex 4100U panel at the South Junior High School, but I don’t think the 2001 panel here has a SimplexGrinnell service label (I DO know Simplex services the EST 2 system at the Arnone school, but that panel only has an Atlas Alarm Corp. label).
Overall, I definitely don’t know the 270-SPOs were not always there since 1974 when the school was built (the Simplex 2001 panel, annunciator and test stations are a later installation). And I think though several of the pulls are in not-so-great condition and one of the SAE AV32 light plates replacing a 4050-80 looks like a sloppy install job, the system appears to be in great condition for its age.
BTW, don’t take it too hard on thinking the 9838s were 9806s for a while. I often mistakenly referred to the Federal Vibratone 450s at the Downey Elementary school as Fire-Lite 450s, since it was a Gamewell system and because the Fire-Lite 450 is the exact same horn as the old-style Vibratone 450, just with a different company brand. And for a while I thought the Davis K-8 school still had a Simplex 4208 system or older when I was posting here until I did some investigation online and looked around the school as well last year, and I am pretty sure they actually have a Simplex 2001 panel, judging by the graphic annunciator and by the 2098-9806 test stations (they are the version with the newer Simplex logo where the “S” is the same size as the “Simplex” lettering, the same variant appears on the annunciator), and how the system does 20bpm March Time like a 4002, 4005 or 4010 or other modern Simplex panel does (4208s and other older coded Simplex panels would’ve done a more different-sounding March Time if you used the coding wheel to simulate Slow March Time.)
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Yeah, 9806s look older. I am guessing the Keohane Sports Center was built in the mid 80s since they have 4251-30s and 9806s behind 2903 plates. I believe 9838s were still rebranded in the mid 90s since I see them a lot with 9101 plates which I believe are early 90s since the pulls with those are often newer t-bars. I think I even saw 9838s on 9501s once.
I don’t know much about 9833s. I only saw one once. The Keohane Sports Center has one of the 2903 plates with a 9833 behind it. I don’t know when they stopped being rebranded.
I would guess the 9833s are from the mid-late 70s to the mid 80s. Last year, my foods class went on a field trip to a technical school on the west side (don’t remember the name). The alarms were mostly 9833’s (with the slightly less vandal-resistant grille) on 2903 plates (some had 4050-80s), with a few 9838s. Judging by the architecture, I’d say the building was built in the mid-late 70s. The panel is likely the original (either a 4208 or maybe a 2001) and the pulls (4251-20s) were rediculously high (I’m about 5’9’’ and the tops of the pulls were just slightly above my chin).
The only places where I have seen Simplex 2901-9806s are at a Greek church whose name escapes my memory right now, they have a Simplex 2001 system with 9806s behind 2903 light plate and 4251-20s, and I have also seen them at the Gilmore Middle School, they are again behind 2903 light plates, but the pulls are Gamewell Centuries, the originals from when the school was built in 1965. There is also a 9806 horn at Brockton High School in the Field House swimming pool behind a flush-mount grille (the other horn in the pool is a Simplex 4040, as are the other alarms) and the pulls in the pool are Simplex 4251-20s, but the rest of the building has Edwards 270-SPOs, the system is an old Simplex 4245. I’ve also seen one at the David E. Crosby Administration building on a 4050-80 light plate, but all the other signals are Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80s, the pulls are 4251-30s and the panel is a Simplex 4208.
I have seen Simplex 2901-9833s in a few places. There is one in the cafeteria in the Student Center at my college behind a 2903 light plate, and there used to be one in the Little Theater in the Fine Arts building on a 4050-80 light plate, but has since been replaced with an SAE VA4 horn/strobe. I’m lucky that I managed to take a picture of it! They also have 2901-9833s at the Expression and Payless shoestores at the Crescent Plaza near my college, behind 2903 light plates, the pulls are Edwards 270-SPOs in the Payless, and the Expression has 4251-20s; but the Fashion Bug has only one 2901-9833 horn behind a 2903 plate, all the others had Gentex GMS horn/strobes slapped onto the 2903 plates (I know they’re GMSs because I saw silver through the grille), and the pulls are once again Simplex 4251-20s.
I have seen Simplex 2901-9838 horns at a small womens’ medical center near the hospital on 4903-9001 light plates, the panel is a Simplex 4001 and the pulls are 4251-20s. I’ve also seen them at the Silver City Galleria Mall, here they are on 4903-9101 strobe plates and the pulls are Simplex 4251 T-bars that say “LOCAL FIRE ALARM” on top; and are in the main mall area. And I also saw a Simplex 2901-9838 horn at an office building downtown in one hallway, where they also have a GE-branded 270-SPO, but another hallway nearby has a Wheelock 7002T horn/strobe.
At my JHS we have EST gennisess wall mount and a few ceiling mount. We also have 1 weather-prof wheelock MT outside that does code 3 tone (I think, it may be horn but I almost shure its tone) and the pulls are edwards 4011 (lift-pull) rebranded EST. Its strange that it says “pull for fire” and not “pull for fire alarm”. The smokes are just the regular EST addressable photoelectrics. We have a few alarm protectors over the horns in the hall, but not in the gym. The panel is one of the new adressable types, I dont know the model number.
The EST addressasble smokes the ones that look like traffic cones?
I dont think so
You know the irony of it all, the day I posted the above message (yesterday) , we had a fire drill in 2nd block witch is orchastra, the EST gennisess started doing code-3 and I got to walk out by the MT! I does cont. horn, not code-3! And it was really quiet!
I have noticed some small things at my HS that I thought were sprinklers turned out to be heat detectors as I saw one in a room where a Chemtronics 500 series heat detector normally is. I think these are Chemtronics 400 series heat detectors, and they vaguely resemble sprinklers in my opinion (which I thought they were). It’s also funny how 500 series heat detectors look like bells. There is no sprinkler system at my school.
Well, we’re almost at 300 posts, and you know what that means!
But besides that, so far after spring break, I have not noticed any changes to the fire alarm systems in the Student Center, Business and Fine Arts buildings yet (the three remaining Simplex 4051+4050-80s are still intact, and the Simplex 2903+2901-9833 in the cafeteria is still there). I haven’t checked out the other buildings yet. I doubt anything has been changed in the Liberal Arts, Humanities, Science and Technology buildings, though. They may have done a few things in the Field House and Administration buildings.
What :?:
300 post limit for these. After which, we close this thread and create a second thread on the same topic.
Oh, well then there are 4 more avalible posts! 
I cannot believe I have not posted my specs of my school yet
ES*
-Federal Signal Explosion Proof Flush Mount horns on surface mount in Girls locker room
-National time and signal Fire horn
-Edwards 875 horn
-old break glass stations in the hallways
-Push Station in the office
-automatic bell system simplex time clock located in office
-unknown bells
-automatic bell system
-national time and signal bell
HS*
-old system
-Siemens EM horns {same as 9219}
-unknown EM horns
-surface mount Federal signal explosion proof horns
-National Time Fire horn
-National Time T bar
-Federal Signal Flush mount Explosion proof horns
-national Time MTLs
-Siemens ?UMS? remote Strobes in restroom in auditorium area
[color=#FFFF00]Simplex Bells with Flush mount Grille
HS New system*
Probably simplex 4100U
4099 addressable pull stations; i find it funny that there are two of them 10 feet from eachother
4098 addressable smoke sensors
Truealert Horn/strobes wall mount in atrium, auditorium, and gym.
Truealert Ceiling mount horn strobe; these are installed everywhere where horn and strobe coverage is necessary
spectra advanced along with a simplex horn strobe in the band room
mtls are still in tact, all other alarms were either replaced or swapped with other alarms but most of them were replaced. even ADA compliant ones.
Simplex Truealert ceiling mount remote strobes are used wherever strobe coverage is necessary
- means that I am not positive on the panel or it is hidden.
color means that it is part of the class change system.
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-KEEP NOTE THAT I WILL NOT TAKE PICS OF THE SYSTEM SORRY GUYS-
At a library some what close to me, there are two 4051-xx pulls about a yard from each other!
You mean 4251-xx s.
As I’ve said, that’s what it is like at the Davis K-8 school in some areas, they have two 4251-30s only three to four yards away from each other. I’ve also seen two 4099-9003s the same distance apart at the Brockton Public Library. This isn’t a bad install job, but I think it is overdoing it a bit. Did Simplex think something would block one pull station from being accessed during a real fire and decided to install as many pull stations as possible in case that happened?
That’s what I’m wondering.