Sprinklers

Nancy Ash <nash [at] philamuseum__org> writes

>New storage in a renovated historic building is being planned for
>our collections of works of art on paper . We're interested in
>learning from the experiences of anyone who has dealt with issues of
>installing sprinklers (especially wet pipe) in storage (especially
>compact) for art on paper or archival materials.  Thanks in advance,

During recent renovation activities at an archives repository in New
Brunswick, a sprinkler head in an exit stairwell was hit hard enough
to cause leaking, perhaps four or five gallons a hour. However the
low flow rate did not activate any trouble alarm despite assurances
that this scenario would not happen.  It appears that the design of
the system allowed too great of a tolerance.

In many large commercial applications a greater tolerance may be
acceptable to minimize trouble alarms resulting from minor drips
that may be difficult and costly to trace.  In an archives, alarm
systems should be designed to react to potential leaks even it means
responding to a trouble light more frequently.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:53
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 18, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-53-003
                                  ***