Fire Suppression System Water

[Guest guest]

I

recently replied to a colleague about whether fire suppression water that

floods part of a building should be cleaned up as a Category 1, 2 or 3 water

damage. My response is:

General

industry consensus is that fire sprinkler water in: (1) polyethylene pipes is

at least a Category 2 contamination and can become a Category 3 contamination.

Facts include: stagnant water in pipes creates an increase of anaerobic

organisms. (2) Galvanized and iron pipes almost always creates a Category 3

contamination.

Corrosion

in the pipe increases sulfur compounds and along with the absence of oxygen

hydrogen sulfide conditions develop. I’ve tested several commercial systems and

found high sulfur compounds in sprinkler system water. In fact, the area or room

where a sprinkler system breaks you may see an orange, red or black staining

that came from the sprinkler hear or broken sprinkler system pipe. The color

difference depends on many factors including chemical and biological. There is

an agreement among the sprinkler system industry, microbiologically influenced

corrosion (MIC) damages pipes causing a premature breakdown of the sprinkler

system.

Interesting

Reading:

http://www.nobackflow.com/Impacts-of-Wet.htm

http://www.c-ad.bnl.gov/esfd/monday/2_16_06.pdf

http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files//PDF/Proceedings/Preventing_Hydrogen_Sulfide_Formation...-_R.Sheinson-B.Willi.pdf

http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/ARMYCOE/COETM/tm_5_692_2.pdf

http://www.cispi.org/handbook/handbook.pdf

http://www.fpemag.com/_pdf/archives/FPE_WINTER_2001.pdf

[Guest guest]

Pat,

" wet type " sprinkler system water is also Cat 3 in my opinion. I have

seen some really gross examples over the years.

Another case occurs in emergency eye wash/shower systems, that are not

flushed on a weekly basis.

The only exception may be a dry type system. For those systems, it

depends on whether they are fed from the city main when they discharge.

Bob

[Guest guest]

Bob,

Thank you for confirming what I believe is a Category 3 loss. Somewhere

in my past life I’ve read that the union for the fire suppression industry diagnosed

an eye infection common to their workers who must look up to inspect sprinkler

pipes that are leaking. I don’t remember the name of the eye infection and the

bacteria causing it. Maybe someone else has the reference.

From: iequality

[mailto:iequality ] On Behalf Of Bob s

Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:26 AM

To: iequality

Subject: Re: Fire Suppression System Water

Pat,

" wet type " sprinkler system water is also Cat 3 in my opinion. I have

seen some really gross examples over the years.

Another case occurs in emergency eye wash/shower systems, that are not

flushed on a weekly basis.

The only exception may be a dry type system. For those systems, it

depends on whether they are fed from the city main when they discharge.

Bob

[Guest guest]

Pat.

It may be Pseudomonas aeruginosa, if my memory is correct.

Bob