Triggered Fire Suppression System, questions and concerns

valley pressure wash

valley pressure wash

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I was washing the galvanized pipe the contains the wire for the Kitchen Knight II by Pyro-Chem when the fuseable link to the left rips apart and lets the system go. The initial burst was lack luster but definately spraying a watery oil like substance out of a few of the nozzels on the hood. Now the bar I was spraying was vibrating a little bit but nothing unusual. The fuseable link pictured below is still intact... just as the picture, it seems the wire came out of the little hook on the opposite end but the link in the middle it self did not seperate. After review of this system on youtube.. there was no burst of foggy air comming out, there was just oil water sorta spurting out, does this sound normal? From the other system ive seen activate, it makes one hell of a mess all over the place in a instant so to say. Called the owners and let them know they didnt wanna come down and said to do a good job like normal.. wtf. Either way we are going back right in the morning in a few hours.. one thing I know for sure is they cant cook with out the system charged, but I feel the system is a pos that would NOT have put out a fire... let alone a out of control one.

We are going to call a gentleman from tyco simplex grinnel that has installed a new system for a customer of out and get his opinion as well as estimate for the refil.. sigh... so tired....Ansul-551525_lg.jpg
 
I just watched a company attempt for multiple hours to recharge the system. they failed multiple times to rechage the tanks and lost a great deal of liquid chemical in their attempts to inflate the tanks, they then installed only 1 of the tanks at below the full charge level pretty much they still no pressure. Additionally they did not use any sort of sealant such as teflon on the connections, this caused the tank to spray the wall where it was attached to the pipework and cause an electrical short in the wall switches below the tanks.
 
That definitely isn't normal operation. There is enough tension on the cable that the link can't fall out, especially just by cleaning the pipe. Sounds like a new fire suppression system is in order. I would make sure to document the inoperable fire suppression system and have the client sign it to alleviate any potential issues if they have a fire. I would assume since Simplex wasn't able to get it back into proper working order they red-tagged the system?
 
Simplex was only asked for a opinion on the status of the hood, they said it would fail. The hood trigger it self 6 months ago for an unknown reason they line cooks told us. They also stated half of the nozzels never shot any fluid or chemical out at all. the tips where not clogged or trapped with grease at all. On the receipt we had written that we where not responsible for any spray related damage to tile/fire/cooking oil etc and they sign every time and this was no different. Phoenix fire suppression said the system was operational and safe after they only put up ONE half filled canister back on the wall that could not be pressureized properly. They did not red tag it. I recorded on video all of this as it happened from the sideline not letting them know. Multiple times did they state they did not change the links over the past year, that they could not get it operational as required.. but told the owner of the restaurant it was safe untill Wednesday 5 days later. I went straight to the owner with this information to which he brushed us off to his co owner. We explained the system was unsafe, not completed andthe chemical was not added or pressurized properly.
 
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