Ok, I may as well post my current past school system knowledge.
Pre-School-1st Grade (ALCS)
For grades Pre-1st I went to a private school in my hometown of Madison. The building had two separate systems somehow linked to each other and was done very poorly. We had a science fair in 1st grade and girl pulled the fire alarm in the pre-school wing (the fair was in the older wing gymnasium) and the 2903-9806 horns only buzzed twice a few minutes apart. Anyways they built the entire building in three parts. The original wing contained middle-high School classes, the gymnasium, music room, and the administration offices. They installed a Simplex system (assuming 2001) into it. The system had 4251-20 pull stations and two different types of notification appliances (2903 strobe plates with 9806 horns and 9838 horns on 4903-9101 strobe plates). The second wing was built on not that long after and was designed to match the first. It contained the K-5 classrooms, library, and the art room. The system was Faraday (unknown panel, though sometime 80s-90s). It had Faraday re-branded RSG t-bars with key locks as well as Faraday 6220 horn/strobe combos for notification appliances in the hallways. They had Faraday remote strobes in the classrooms. The third addition was a preschool wing built on to the second addition. This wing included three floors (daycare, preschool, a basement phy-ed space, and a cafeteria). This addition also had to have been built not long after the first. I don’t remember the initiating devices but I can assume they were added on to the existing Faraday panel as the notification appliances were a Faraday version of the Siemens U-HNH. I can say that this is where I found my love for mechanical horns only since I loved all the different pitches as you would walk by during a fire drill. All of the systems were set to continuous and are all still functioning today (on YT I found the school channel and sure enough in some of the videos you could see various FA devices).
2nd Grade Elementary School
I moved schools in 2nd grade to a public school closer to where I lived. The classrooms had no true walls and consisted of portable panels (very different learning environment). They had a Simplex system which consisted of 2099 pull stations and TruAlerts.
3-5th Grade School
I moved the summer after 2nd grade to an entire new city where I live now. The school I went to here had an EST system (FireShield panel I assume). They had 270-SPO pull stations and EST Genesis notification appliances. Fire drills here were a pain since they went all out and put horn/strobes in the classrooms instead of remote strobes and your ears hurt for awhile afterwords.
Middle School
This school was built in two parts and both sections had its own Simplex 4001 located in the same closet. Very simple, 4251-20 pull stations and 9838 horns on 4903-9101 strobe plates. A few TruAlerts were installed here and there (one actually slapped on the original 9101 strobe plate). Everything was on continuous. Simple, but yet I loved the system. As of this past summer they (to my knowledge I have yet to go and check it out since I have only seen this through pictures) tore out the old system and put in something with Wheelock HS Exceeder horn strobes. Ill check back with you all on this when I get a chance.
Current School/High School
My high school was built and completed in 1998. It has a newer simplex system with (I believe, I have only ever seen the panel once last year) a 4010. For initiating devices it consists of 4099 dual-action t-bars and some sort of addressable smoke detectors. They have an interesting notification appliance setup. It may be just a coincidence but at all the exit doors they have electronic versions of 4903 horn strobes and everywhere else (with the exception of a new TruAlert in the commons) are a mix of remote 4903 strobes and electro-mechanical 4903 horn/strobe models. The system is set on continuous (I will get a video of it as soon as we have a fire drill). I can say the system works very well since last year some idiot put a hot pocket in a microwave in the commons for three hours (from lunch till 7th hour when we evacuated). The smoke detector above the microwave at the top of the common area stairs activated after the microwave decided to catch fire. We all left the building and came back in to that putrid smell of burnt food smoke.
Well, thats about it for now. I plan on checking up at my first elementary school and middle school to take some pictures of what I find.
my school’s alarms are integrity horn strobes and edwards 278-1120’s. The school has two panels, one for the gym, locker rooms, and the portables, and another for the hallway (south), the panel for south hall is really small, and the smokes are siga-ps’s
my school has system senser p2rs throw out the bilding smok and heat i have no idea nor the panel but i know the panel is addresable
This past October, I went to an elementary school down the street from my current high school (it was for my 11th Grade’s Challenge Presentations), here’s what they had:
FIRE ALARM
Panel
[*]Probably either an Autocall or FCI Panel, tied into a Notifier NFS-320 for the new classroom wing
Signals
[*]FOS rebranded Simplex 2901-9846 Horns with 5512 Retrofit Strobes (outside ones are behind cages)
[*]Gentex Commander 2s and 3s (probably replacing broken signals; also in the new classroom wing; there are a few with GOE covers
Other Signals: Probably Wheelock and maybe other Gentex Signals too…
Pull Stations
[*]I think FCI MS-2s and/or Autocall pulls
[*]Notifier BG-12LX’s in the new building
Smokes
[*]No clue
INTERCOM
[]Rauland Telecenter system from 1994 or 1995!
[]Megaphone Speakers outside
[]Ceiling Mount Speakers in Classrooms and new building hallway
[]Each classroom has one ceiling mount speaker and one CRT-3 Phone or call button (depends on building)
[*]The bell is a tone over the intercom, they also use tones to signal different emergencies too!
We have ALL wheelock MIZ’s for notification and a cerberus Pyrotronics control panel with system sensor 2400 detecters and i3’s
Are they MIZ’s with strobes or just plain old MIZ’s?
My Middle School Had a upgrade when I got there in 6th grade. Here is what they have now.
In all hallways they have these, choir room also have 2 of these. Lockerrooms have these also
4903-9461’s white ceiling mount truealert rectangular hornstrobes. There are so many models on the website!
Classrooms have these:
4904-9360’s white ceiling mount rectangular strobes,
Gymnasium, pool, auditorium, band, orchestra rooms have these
4906-9127’s red wall mount truealert horn strobes. Not the speaker or chimes. The gym has wire guards over them
All restrooms have these
4904-9352’s, red wall mount truealert strobes. All the system is smart sync.
All the pulls are these:
4099-9001. But there are 3 different models and they all look the same.
No stoppers as what i have found so far
smokes are these
4098-9601’s. I dont know this is just what they look like. I have not seen the heat detectors so i dont know.
We have at least 4 nac extenders. The pannel is a 4010 or something like that
Been a while, but now I think its time for a refresher.
Nathanael Greene Elementary School (K-6)(1998–2004)
The main signals were Simplex 4903-9219 horn/strobes
The cafeteria, elevator room and the exit next to the cafeteria (all new additions sometime before 1998) have Simplex 4903-9101+2903-9838 horn strobes
Two basement rooms (one being an ESL room which was formerly the Art/Music room and a Reading Room) had Gentex SHG horn strobes
The room that used to be the cafeteria kitchen (now an Enrichment room) has a vertical Wheelock AS that is the only code-3 horn in the school.
All the bathrooms had Simplex 4904-9138 remote strobes. This was what made me terrified of going to the bathroom because I was afraid of a fire alarm going off while I was in there. And of course, long after I graduated, I learned that they were only strobes. The only bathroom that didn’t have them were the gym bathrooms.
Pulls were Simplex 2099-9795s on the basement and first floor and Simplex 2099-9756s on the second floor.
I do not remember the smoke detectors.
System except for the vertical Wheelock AS is continuous.
Samuel Slater Jr. High School (7-8)(2004–06)
One single type of horn in the school: My first experience with Simplex 4050-85+4051s. I do not know if they are still there, since Simplex is picky about removing old alarms even if they still function. I can hope they are still there though. My cousin goes to Slater now, but I doubt she would know anything about the horns.
Pulls were ironically enough, Edwards 270A-SPO pulls. Somebody told me that they must have had Edwards signals there first.
I do not remember the smoke detectors.
System is Continuous.
William M. Davies Technical Career and High School (9–12)(2006–10)
Main alarms in the main building are Simplex 4903-9101+2903-9838 horns.
These horns were just replaced, though there was a horn outside the Cosmetology theory room (formerly a radio studio), in a bigger classroom (formerly the assessment center) and ceiling mounted next to some 9838s were SAE 2DCD horns with light plates that blink. The ceiling horns next to the 9838s were removed and the only two wall-mounted horns were replaced with Wheelock Exceeders (now if only I can edit my other post).
In the Biotechnology Lab hallway, next to the Machine Shop room, and in the Aquaculture Building (now two classrooms) are Simplex 4903-9219 horns.
Outside the Aquaculture Building is a Wheelock ASWP weatherproof horn.
The modular building has Edwards 892-2B horns.
The lecture hall has a classic SpectrAlert.
Don’t know the smoke detectors.
Pull stations in the main building and Aquaculture Building are Simplex 2099-9795s and in the Modular Building they are Edwards 270A-SPO pulls.
System is continuous except the Spectra and the AS and I’m sure the Exceeders. It was Code-3, but switched back because the AS didn’t work. I pointed that out.
CCRI Flanagan Campus (2010—)
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 (2011 for Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec.) 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. Some are wall-mount.
Pulls are Notifier BG-12s.
And I don’t know the smoke detectors.
Simplex is pretty picky about leaving old alarm systems intact, actually. Bridgewater State University mostly has newer Simplex systems from the mid-1990s to the present. The only building I know that has old alarms that isn’t going to be upgraded for quite a while is the Art Center, as they have 4051+4050-80 horn/lights and 4251-30 pulls from 1974, but are run off a Simplex 4002 panel installed in the early 1990s (replacing a 4208.) But this is due to grandfather clauses, I was told. It’s not like other buildings like Hart/Burnell Hall (which formerly had a Standard system with SAE 2DCD+AV32 horn/lights, replaced in 2009-2010 with a Simplex 4100U system with TrueAlert horn/strobes) and Boyden Hall (which is getting rid of their Simplex 4051+4050-85 horn/lights installed during a 1979 upgrade in favor of Simplex voice-evac.) Except for many dorms, the whole campus is Simplex.
Simplex is especially picky about older fire alarm panels, too. I’ve seen places that may have had a 2001 that had it replaced with a much newer panel (More often than not, they might just replace the panel and leave everything else intact; they did so at my hometown’s YMCA Youth Center, replacing a 2001-8001 panel with a Simplex 4006 panel installed inside the gutted 2001 cabinet!
Quick Update: According to this (for an upcoming HVAC Project in Building 12): http://myvolusiaschools.org/facilities-design/Documents/Spruce%20Creek%20Elem%20124333/SpruceCreekElem_124333_Specs.pdf It appears that the panel has been replaced with a Notifier NFS-3030!!! Not sure if everything else is still there though…
I have simplex addressable truealerts and 4099 tbars with the push button. I may have a 4010 or 4100u at my school.
Notification Appliances
All four of the older buildings have Gentex SHGs in the hallways, set to steady. One of the older buildings also have them in the classrooms. They all have STI plastic covers over them.
Another one of the older buildings have Gentex GXSs in the classrooms. They all have STI plastic covers over them.
http://www.gentex.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/fire_product/GXS120.png
The new science and band building has Gentex Commander 3s in it with no protective covers (nice!), set to temporal horn. They were installed when the building was built around 2008.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t71YX8fnMns/0.jpg
The new gymnasium building has Gentex speaker strobes on the inside and outside that play the Fire-Lite female evac message, after a few whoops. The speaker/strobes in the court have wire guards over them, the speaker/strobes on the exterior have STI plastic covers over them, and the speaker/strobes in the locker rooms, dance room, weight room, etc, have nothing over them. The voice panel is a large Notifier panel with a lot of buttons. There are also Gentex Commander 3 strobes spread throughout the building. The speaker/strobes, Commander 3 strobes, and voice panel were installed when the building was built around 2008.
http://d2vv81yn11nqlu.cloudfront.net/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/2/120234-1_10.jpg
http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/ohw4x.hc9cd/v/vspfiles/photos/GENTEX-GEC3-24PWR-2.jpg
Our very old auditorium (the only building left from before all of the older buildings were demolished and rebuilt), has a Gentex SHG (like the other buildings), and two Wheelock remote strobes. These alarms were obviously not installed when the building was first built, so they were probably installed when the other buildings were rebuilt.
The exterior of three of the older buildings had Wheelock MTs on them, set to steady horn. Only a few of the MTs had STI plastic covers over them. One of the older buildings does not have any notification appliances on it. One of the MTs had a red strobe (and the body was red, not white).
The old MTs in one of the courtyards have been replaced with new MTs, I think still set to steady horn.
In the cafeteria there is a Wheelock NS, two Wheelock RSSs, several of the horn/strobes that look like the Farady horn/strobe with the vertical strobe pictured below, and a few Gentex Commander 3s. In the culinary kitchen, there is a Siemens horn/strobe.
http://www.buyfirealarmparts.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/i/file_7_24.jpg
All other old MTs on the exteriors have been replaced with Gentex Commander 3s (the same alarms that are installed in the new science and band buildings). They are also set to temporal horn. They were actually replaced the first semester of this school year.
During a false alarm last school year, I heard a SpectrAlert Classic sounding in temporal code, but I have no idea were it is. It is on the exterior of one of the buildings.
All of the notification appliances have a red body (housing), and are not synchronized in any way (including horns). The only notification appliances synchronized are the strobes in the gymnasium building.
Everything is flush mounted, and the only notification appliance that is has conduit or Wiremold, is one of the SHGs, which has been moved to a lower level. There was an extension ring with a blank plate put over the electrical box where it used to be, and then Wiremold was sent to the new electrical box where the alarm is now mounted to.
In one of the buildings one of the SHGs is missing a strobe (even though there is a STI plastic cover over it)(you can see where the strobe used to be).
Initiating Devices
Spread throughout the buildings (and even in the general kitchen area of the cafeteria), are addressable Notifier photoelectric smoke detectors. There is also one in front of every elevator in every building. These actually have green LEDs, just like the Notifier addressable pull stations.
Spread throughout the buildings are addressable Notifier pull stations with key locks (dual action). They have STI Stopper covers over them (no spacers, with horns).
http://www.firefocusshop.com/shop/t/thaimakro/img-lib/spd_20110721220759_https://cdn.thefirepanel.com/legacy/2817_587e63a065023718ee444bf183aa8257.jpg
There are unknown waterflow switches connected to the spinkler lines. I know this, because there is one outside.
There is no conduit or Wiremold, except for a new pull station that was added in the new band room. It has Wiremold going all the way down the wall to the new pull station. There is not STI Stopper cover over it. Oddly enough, someone “accidentally” pulled a pull station in that same room last school year.
Control Panel
There is an unknown Notifier addressable fire alarm control panel, with a battery box below it in the back of the front office. This is one big fire alarm system that all of the 10 buildings are on.
Condition
There is a NAC fault (I think). We haven’t had fire drills at my high school for the past few years. So, I asked one of the administrators why. I kind of already knew there was a problem, because there were electricians using multimeters and testing sticks on the notification appliance circuit. They were also inspecting devices, and replacing notification appliances. The administrator said that ever since the new buildings were installed, the control panel stopped working properly. I assumed that it was displaying a trouble, and the administrators/staff didn’t know what it meant. All they probably did was fill out a work order from the school district to have people come repair it. I wonder if they know that they can call the monitoring service or fire department first, then just pull it? I looked online, and found a document for a project that was done on the campus, and was completed in 2009. Part of it was building the gymnasium, science building, band building, and renovating the fire alarm system. They probably messed it up while they were doing it. I know for sure that most of the alarms work, because there has been three false fire alarms since I have been attending this school (this is my second school year here), and I have been in different buildings for all of them. They all seem to work.
One day this school year, a custodian was emptying a vacuum cleaner, and all of the dust exploded everywhere, and into the smoke detector above her. The alarm sounded. (Whenever it is a pull station that has activated the alarm, usually someone from the main office will go and reset it as everybody is evacuating.) Well, this time they read it was a smoke detector, and they also evacuated. We had to wait while the fire department figured out the location and headed there. Once they hit the alarm silence button, all of the Commanders went into selective silence, but I could still hear the MTs sounding in the distance.
My school has one messed up fire alarm system.
NA’s:
SpectrAlert P1224MCA (Hallways, Music Room, Office, Gym, GTR, Computer Science room)
SpectrAlert S1224MCA (Music practics rooms)
SpectrAlert H12/24A (Auto Shop + drama room)
SpectrAlert P2/4R (Elevator addition + one on first floor)
System Sensor PA400R (classrooms, washrooms, change rooms)
Some random Notifier mini horns (random 3rd floor classes)
Pulls:
Notifier MPS-950s (w/ Stoppers, everywhere)
Edwards 270-SPOs (no stoppers, elevator addition)
Smokes:
System Sensor 1424 or whatever
Panel: Mircom something
What are the difference between each of the different Spectras? Are some Advanced?
I am going to be doing volunteer work at my college’s TV studio! Here is a recap of that building’s CURRENT fire alarm setup, as they had an upgrade of sorts last year…
PANEL:
Notifier NFS2-640 system (large LCD version, replacing a Faraday MPC-2000 panel) tied into a Johnson Controls-rebranded NFS-320 (used for duct detector/RTU units.)
Notifier FDU-80 LCD annunciator at the main entrance (replacing an old Simplex annunciator.)
SIGNALS
System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes. I think they are P4Rs (as they are replacing SAE VA4 horn/strobes and Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights.) The candela rating varies in several areas, and the alarms are on Code-3. Most of them are on trim plates covering up where old alarms were, except one (directly mounted by itself on the wall, because the old alarm there was on a large backbox, thus making it appear the Spectra Advance isn’t replacing anything.)
PULLS
Simplex 4251-20 T-bar pull stations in many areas (left over from the building’s original Simplex 4207 system from 1978), several with Stopper II covers (some without the sounders.)
One Faraday F1G Chevron in the auditorium.
SMOKE/HEATS
System Sensor/Notifier 2151T smoke detectors in many areas.
A few System Sensor 2451TH smoke detectors scattered around, most notably in the Little Theater.
Maybe a couple System Sensor i3 detectors; there used to be a lot more, but they were replaced.
Old ESL smoke/heat detector in the elevator machine room.
Notifier heat sensors in the restrooms.
Old Simplex 4255-1 mechanical heat detectors (Rebranded Chemtronics 500-series sensors) in the basement and in at least one office.
Simplex 4265 heat detectors (rebranded Chemtronics 400-series sensors) in the TV studio.
Uniquely, this is also the only building on campus with a sprinkler system, as it was the final building completed in 1978. They only have sprinklers in the basement and in the men and ladies’ dressing rooms.
P1224MCA is the standard multi-candela version of the classic, just the Canadian version (Only says “FIRE” on the front of the devices). Same with the S1224MCA and the H1224A (no fire markings). The P2/4As are the Advanced series, again the Canadian model. There’s no difference between the Canadian and US version, though.
ALARMS
-System Sensor SpectrAlert P1224MC (varies in location)
-System Sensor SpectrAlert Advanced P2RK (one in entire school, located in hallway)
-Wheelock EHS-DL1 (hallways)
-Wheelock HS-24-W (outdoors)
-Wheelock MIZ 24-LS-FVR (varies in location)
PULLS
-Notifier BNG-1R (all around school)
-Notifier LNG-1R (one in entire school, located in gymnasium)
-Notifier BGX-101L (one in entire school, located in gymnasium)
The alarms sound continuous mode, strobes are 30 candela.
My elementary school has a REALLY old system, mainly Simplex Chevron pulls, and 9201-9838s (I think) on a Simplex strobe plate. It was controlled by a 4005 panel.
My middle school has a really ANNOYING system, comprised of TrueAlerts and someSimplex horn-strobe. The system is controlled by a Simplex panel that I haven’t been able to see long enough to identify.
Edwards Integrity and Edwards 270-SPO inside the main buildings
System Sensor SpectrAlert Advanced outside the main buildings
Notifier NBG-10L in the portables, i dont know what the alarms are.
I can’t tell what the smoke detectors are
My school just installed a temp system in a a couple of bungalows…
It consists of:
Panel: Fire Lite MS-9050UD
Pull Stations: Fire Lite BG-12LX’s (total of 13)
Smoke Detectors: Fire Lite SD355’s (total of 33)
NAC’s: System Sensor P2R’s and SR’s
The MS-9050UD was linked up with the EST 3 in the main building.