Only in the movies.

 

I know they don't in High School ! Er, I mean I heard that they don't

 

A deluge system. Where a fire alarm panel controls a large clapper valve on an open system.

Not usually in restaurants.

 

In ~45 years in the craft I never saw a manual trip on a Deluge System and I built and repaired a lot of fire alarm and detection systems. Deluge systems are far more expensive than any other kind. Unlike all 3 of the other types of systems, and their various combinations, they must be piped to supply all of the sprinklers at once rather than just the ones that get heated to their rated temperature. They are only installed were a fire in the materials at risk would spread faster than the sprinklers would open individually. Once the fire outruns the number of sprinklers for which the system is designed not enough water can be carried by the piping to supply the larger number of sprinklers and the fire continues to spread out of control. A classic example is an aircraft hanger. The spilled fuel hazard can only be suppressed if the extinguishing agent can be applied to the whole area at once. Another is cloth manufacturing. From the moment the looms are started each day they are producing fine combustible fibers over which fire can spread very quickly. To protect the factory and its weaving machinery instant application of a large flow of water is essential. Such risks are monitored with optical flame detectors that monitor the protected area for the light signature of flame. Within a couple of seconds of flame detection by 2 detectors the Deluge valve's closure plate has been released, the water pushes it straight up and out of the way of the flow, and the suppression agent is flowing from every sprinkler in the system. The valve does not have any form of clapper and compared to the other sprinkler control valves the waterway through the valve is huge.

Commercial kitchen cooking protection systems do have manual trip handles which led to a humorous incident at a very upscale restaurant were the dining area overlooked the atrium of the building. A chef had just been brought in from France and the manager had told him to "pull this handle if there is a fire." The chef's English was limited and he misunderstood the instruction. Seeing a trash receptacle on fire on the atrium floor he pulled the wet chemical cooking equipment suppression system's manual actuator and put the restaurant out of service for a day and a half.

Tom Horne

 

The water out of a sprinkler is not nice and clean like the movies, the first minute it's black and stinks but in a fire, no one cares about that.

Tim.

 

Was on a job once where a carpenter broke a sprinkler head while making adjustments to the ceiling. In a panic he tried to hold the water back with his hands while yelling for someone to shut it off. He finally gave up and moved out of the way but he was covered head to toe in black stinky water

 

During construction, prey animals will hide in the pipe supplying a sprinkler riser. When work starts the next morning, they retreat further into the pipe and can be trapped. I saw a sprinkler system taken apart to find the blockage and it was said to be a rabbit.

Opening an Inspector's Test Valve does move some water through the system, but not really that much. So it's usually pretty nasty.

 

Cleanest water I ever heard of was from the library on parliament hill in Ottawa. Some engineer thought it would be a good idea to use copper sprinkler pipes to keep the water cleaner as to not do too much damage to the books in a fire. The copper pipe sweat quite a bit and caused other damage so it was removed years later and replaced with regular sprinkler pipe.

When they removed the copper, the sprinkler guys said it was so clean you could almost drink it.

 

Just so everyone is aware it is very common for residential automatic sprinkler systems to use the home's domestic water piping as part of it's supply piping to the sprinklers. That is often the most cost effective way to build such a system. Residential Sprinkler Systems use smaller orifice sprinklers because the compartments are much smaller than those in larger buildings and the fire load can be predicted from the very nature of residential use. Because of the larger flow required to meet the demand of the sprinkler systems, in spite of their using much less water than regular sprinkler systems, they are often copper pipe.

Tom Horne

 

The work on our F/A and sprinkler system never stops, same sprinkler contractor and foreman for the last 25 years.
He was filling the system one day and the Arrivals level started to flood, an inch of water everywhere, they had forgotten to put on a head and the pipe was wide open, it's happened more than once over the years.

Tim.

 

Years ago I saw a copper DIY sprinkler system in a cabinet shop. Weird.

 

Scottsdale AZ used to make people have 2 water meters. One for domestic and the other for fire. The builders, home owners and in general the public raised hell and eventually the requirement was dropped for two meters. They still have a 1" line into the house.
My neighbor has a full residential system in Pima County, Az with a single 1" water meter.
My house is all steel so no need for it.

Different places have different requirements.