I stumbled upon this YouTube video earlier this week and I was wondering if anyone knew what the alarms sounding where at the beginning and at the 1:10 mark.
I know the horns either are Wheelock AS’s or MT but what in the world is the other two horns, I have never heard anything like them before.
(This was a Walmart in the United States)
Edit: I accidentally posted this in the wrong section, I apologize for my mistake
The first is a Electronic Siren, hard to tell model because most sound the same. It sounds like my First Alert one but that’s my opinion. The second one sounds like a messed up specter alert advance or some type of whistle siren. And you posted this in the right section… Why would you think you didn’t? O_o
The two sirens are part of the security system, not the fire alarm system. The fire alarm has tripped the security system, making its own sounders – one indoor, and one outdoor – go off. I’m pretty sure this is against fire code.
The same phenomenon can be seen at the end of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFQA3H5eXEc
Why would you have the fire alarm system trip the security system? Unless the fire alarm override relay to drop the security doors unintentionally set off the intrusion detection system?
The code doesn’t care about security sirens or when/what they do that I’m aware of.
Since this is Walmart it is probably a multi-partition Bosch Radionics system. If the security system is set off by the fire alarm then this is the result of bad programming. I have heard that fire codes prohibit the use of a security siren as a fire alarm signal as it is not intended for the purpose.
However I have also heard of other cases where the fire alarm trips a fire zone on a security system so that the building owner can save money by not needing two monitoring accounts and extra phone lines for the fire alarm. Unfortunately, though, this opens a whole new can of worms when it comes to fire alarm reporting as normally this means fire troubles do not get reported.
I never thought it was against fire code to have the security system tied in with the fire alarm system. Pretty much every school in my city does that. Every time we had a fire drill, the security sirens sounded as well, except for a few times they wouldn’t.
could I have a link? I’m on mobile.
That isn’t always the case nowadays; IDK if they use Radionics for new systems anymore. The Walmart I work at has an addressable Fire-Lite MS-9600UDLS system that was installed early this year during a big expansion/renovation project.
It may also depend on AHJs, for example Radionics systems require a passcode to silence and reset the system – Bosch has fixed this making a newer annunciator that operates with a key – but I have heard of some AHJs, and actually know of one, who do not allow fire systems that need a passcode, such as an Ademco Vista. Portland, ME has it in their document detailing amendments to NFPA 72 (for their local code) that this is prohibited, and they also added that all fire alarm devices in a building that take keys must use the same key. This means installing a CAT30 lock in a Notifier panel that replaced a Simplex system since all the pull stations are Simplex. Going back to Walmart, since anyone can buy Fire-Lite pretty much anywhere then this is probably why they used a Fire-Lite system.
It’s a Canadian Wal-Mart however It’s how the exterior looks. There is a video that was taken in Cold Lake, Alberta. (not trying to be a bully or anything)