The urge to paint over your fire sprinkler heads is completely understandable. This can easily happen if you hire another person or company to paint , or if you 're using a paint sprayer to quickly coat a large area.
But painting over a fire sprinkler head is one of the most dangerous mistakes to make. Beside above, how many square feet does a sprinkler head cover? In the case of the extended coverage heads the square footage can range between square feet per sprinkler head. If fire sprinklers are to operate properly when you need them most, it seems only too obvious that they should never be covered , decorated, painted or otherwise tampered with. Each individual sprinkler head is triggered automatically when the air rising to the ceiling reaches a fire-specific temperature of to degrees.
Often, only one or two sprinklers are required to fully extinguish a building fire. It is important that your fire sprinkler heads and cover plates are free of paint. This is because common paint dries thick. This does not allow for the fire sprinkler heads and cover plates to function properly in high heated temperatures.
How often do sprinkler heads need to be replaced? As a result, once activated, the water spray coming from the sprinkler could be disrupted or blocked completely by the melted plastic, making the sprinkler less effective or completely non-functioning. Cellophane, however, is constructed from plant-based material organic cellulose, aka plant fibers and is biodegradable unlike plastic.
As a result, moisture can permeate it unlike plastic , and it is typically weaker than plastic as well. When under testing by the NFPA, lightweight cellophane bags caused no adverse effects on the function of fire sprinklers. While the rules now are quite clear, applying them in your building may still seem difficult. Here are some of the biggest reasons why:. With regards to cellophane thickness, it may be best to contact a manufacturer directly in order to attain cellophane bags with the proper thickness.
If you are still unable to find them, then simply using thin paper bags may be the easiest solution if your fire sprinklers must be located in the spray area or paint booth. Since no thickness is specified for the paper bags, finding the thinnest bags you can is likely the simplest and most cost-effective solution, as well as the easiest way to comply with the code.
But going beyond the code to ensure true safety for your building and all those within is even harder. Similar to the glass bulb, these cover plates react to a specific temperature and drop off, allowing the sprinkler head to be exposed to the fire and activate. Painting the cover plate changes the temperature needed for the system to work properly. The sprinkler water itself should be checked for any black coloring, and to see if it has any offending odors.
The concrete around the pipe should be checked for rust staining. If you see any of these signs during maintenance, MIC could be an issue. The earlier it is discovered, the easier it will be to repair and avoid future repair costs. See Corrosion Frequently Asked Questions.
If you must paint the area around your fire sprinkler heads, be sure to cover them with paper and tape the area around the ceiling, taking care not to disturb the sprinkler head itself. Fire sprinkler systems are a very important tool in protecting your property against fire.
But, aesthetically the fire sprinkler heads and concealed escutcheons cover plates are sometimes not the most beautiful things to look at. It is common for people to want to paint their fire sprinklers or cover plates to blend into their ceilings. But a painted cover plate or fire sprinkler head would make your system out of compliance. NFPA 13 6.
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