Oldest system I’ve seen has got to be the Pyrotronics system at an Office Max with 7002T rebrands or the Wendy’s with a single MASS non-ada horn/strobe.
The oldest active system I’ve seen was a Simplex 4208 at my university’s sports building. This system was original to the building (1972) and was replaced in 2017.
The oldest I’ve worked on is between the Mirtone 7900 and the Edwards 6500. I did an annual on an Edwards 6500 MK II in a condo building that was built in the 90s, with Edwards 439-6AWCs and 270-SPOs. The next day I did one on a Custom 6500 in a condo built in 1979, original to the building. The bells were Edwards Durabells, and the system had absolutely no smoke detectors, all heats & pull stations.
The oldest I’ve seen was a school in another city, that was being used as an adult education center. I have no idea what the panel was, but the horns were Simplex 4040s I believe, with simplex T-Bars. That system has since been replaced with a Mircom system, with mini horns.
[quote="Simplex 4051" post_id=83816 time=1557464678 user_id=18]
Probably my middle school which at least for the time being still has its system in place. Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 flashers in continuous with Edwards SPO pull stations. Never saw the panel but its either an Edwards one from when they upgraded the system in the 1970s or a 4208.
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Most likely a Simplex 4207 or 4208, judging by the 4051+4050-80s. I have seen a system like that in a school originally built in 1957 with an old Edwards system, then added into in 1973, when a Simplex 4208 replaced the Edwards panel, and the old Edwards alarms were replaced with Simplex 4051+4050-80s, but they kept the Edwards 270-SPO pulls in the original 1957 structure.
Speaking of the year 1957, that’s the year the oldest system I’ve seen in operation was installed. It’s at my middle school built that year with an old Gamewell DurAlarm system with flush-mount Federal Signal explosion-proof horns and Gamewell Vitaguard dual-action pulls (1920s-style doors.) I know part of the building was remodeled after a fire in the late 80s, and they put in newer-style Federal Vibratone 350 horns and a Gamewell Century pull. The system was REALLY loud, not surprisingly. They might be finally replacing it all this summer, most likely with a Notifier voice-evac system.
The “newest” system from my public school days still had a lot of older equipment; this was at the elementary school I had kindergarten at, built in 1974. They still had the old Simplex 4208 panel still in use, being used as a slave panel tied into a newer Simplex panel that was put in when they added new duct detectors, with an 80s-style Simplex graphic annunciator installed in the main lobby (when I had kindergarten there it was either a small 2001 or 4002, then in 1998 with a Simplex 4004, and again in the early-to-mid 2000s with a Simplex 4010.) Despite this, they kept the old Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights intact (coded/circuited off the newer panel; they sounded in 20bpm March Time, and I was told back when they just had the 4208 the horns were on Continuous), along with the Simplex break-glass 4251-30 pulls and an old 4262 ionization smoke detector and 4255-1 heat sensors (these were run off the 4208.) There was some new stuff around, like the duct detectors (they were replaced again in 1998 with newer Simplex models that had 2098-9806 test stations linked to them), a Simplex 4903-9236 horn/strobe and Federal Signal/Autocall 4050 pulls in the boiler room (redone in 1998), and some replacement Edwards/AIP 270-SPO and Simplex 2099-9103 pulls, along with the 4050-80 in the small gym (and one in the main gym) being replaced with Space Age AV32 light plates. (The 4050-80s were presumably smashed by balls or something.) Unfortunately the old 4208 panel was failing a few years back, so they replaced it and the 4010 with a new Fire-Lite or Notifier panel, and replaced the Simplex alarms with SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes on adapter plates, but they kept the existing pulls and heat sensors (I would’ve replaced the heat sensors in the allowed areas with new smoke detectors.)
I service 6-10 Pyrotronics System 3 panels. All but one of them work flawlessly. Maybe a Notifier 4885 panel. The manual for that panel is dated 1993, so not super old, but old enough that I cringe everytime I need to work on it.
The oldest FA system I saw in operation has to be the Simplex 4030.
Where exactly did you see this system and is it still in operation now or was it upgraded since you last saw it?
[quote=fierlarmz_09 post_id=84382 time=1562144842 user_id=5255]
The oldest FA system I saw in operation has to be the Simplex 4030.
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The simplex 4030 is a notification appliance and not an entire system, what is the panel hooked up to the simplex 4030(s)?
I connected the appliance to a Simplex 4208 FACP.
[quote=fierlarmz_09 post_id=84401 time=1562334631 user_id=5255]
I connected the appliance to a Simplex 4208 FACP.
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Oh so it’s your system. This topic is about the oldest systems you have seen NOT setup by you, ones that were setup outside your own home, in different buildings.
Oh. Ok.