residential fire protection what’s possible? chris roberts president, ghs...
TRANSCRIPT
Residential Fire ProtectionWhat’s Possible?
Chris Roberts
President, GHS
Cell 972-672-5907
To know where you’re going…
You must know where
you’ve been…
Residential Fire Protection
The first single station smoke alarms were
made available to the public in the early
1970’s. By 1976, the technology had been redesigned and the
cost was low enough that every home could
own one. Prior to 1989, every home was either recommended or required to have at
least one in the hallway.
Residential Fire Protection
In 1989, newly constructed residential homes were required
to have interconnected (hardwired) smoke
alarms on every level of the home and
outside the sleeping areas. With
interconnected smoke alarms, all the smoke alarms will sound if
any individual smoke alarm detects smoke.
Residential Fire Protection
In 1993, the standard required the
installation of hardwired smoke
alarms inside bedrooms or sleeping areas. Smoke alarms
were required in bedrooms to address
the concern associated with sound level losses when occupants sleep
with the bedroom doors closed.
Residential Fire Protection
In 1996, the requirement to have
hardwired smoke alarms with battery
back-up in new construction was
added to address non-operability during power outages.
Residential Fire Protection
The Code saves lives.
Member of NFPAMember of Education
SectionAlternate on NFPA 720
Carbon Monoxide Detection
I believe in Codes…
I believe in smoke alarms…
I believe it all saves lives…
But the codes are often
reactionary… or at least they have been my
whole career… and the law can slow the reaction time to a snail’s
pace.
Here’s what the NFPA
says…
40% of fire deaths occurred with an operating smoke alarm…
23% of fire deaths occurred with a smoke alarm that wasn’t operating…
37% of fire deaths occurred with no smoke alarm…
The death rate was much higher in fires in which a smoke alarm was present but did not operate (1.94 out of 100) than it was in home fires with no smoke alarms at all…
So the experts and the facts
back up what I am going to
share…
My personal experience
from a small sampling of homes in the
U.S.
Our network of Dealers are in over
36,000 HomesPer Year
Over Half Present…
• Dead or missing batteries
• Disconnected wires dangling from the ceiling
• Old Code Minimums
• New Style vs Old Style
36,000 HomesPer Year
9 out of 10 Present
• No Escape Plan• No Meeting Place• Misconceptions
Nearly All
• Are missing something…
36,000 HomesPer Year
In addition to the lack of residential sprinklers, there aremany missingpieces…
In addition to the lack of residential sprinklers, there aremany missingpieces…
I didn’t come to share a problem
without a solution!
Here’s What’s Possible Today!
• Wireless Interconnectivity which allows for retrofitting as well as additional products as technology improves
• Reliability without consumer responsibility– Self Diagnostics– Long Life Batteries– Microprocessors
• Education and Awareness through personal coaching
• Early warning of fires in the rooms of origin
Crossfire Smoke
Crossfire Heat
Crossfire Carbon Monoxide
CFS10 Smoke Alarm
• Photoelectric Sensitivity at 2.1% obscuration
• Removable, cleanable smoke chamber
• Required protection for bedrooms and hallways
• Additional protection for living rooms, dining rooms and other occupied spaces.
• Will communicate with all devices on the Crossfire network
CFH10 Heat Alarm
• Made for hard to protect areas – Attics, Garages, Utility Rooms and Kitchens (The common places where fires can start)
• Can handle extreme temperature ranges in these non-climate controlled spaces… Our San Diego based engineers were shocked that attics can go below 0°
• Will communicate with all devices on the Crossfire network
CFCO10 Carbon Monoxide Alarm
• Required/Recommended protection on every floor of the house (including basements)
• Installation not sensitive to wall or ceiling position. Can be used as an easy access Test/Silence button for the whole network
• Alarms with the T-4 Warning pattern for an easy to distinguish signal
• Will communicate with all devices on the Crossfire network
• Fastest reaction time of all CO alarms on the market due to our quartz crystal oscillator (time keeping device)
• Advanced Feature Highlights:– 10 Year UL Certification– Wireless communication with dual
frequency hopping– Lithium Manganese battery that will last
the life of the alarm– Heat sensor for Rate of Rise and Fixed
Temperature (Heat only is field programmable)
– 100 dB horn achieves 89 dB horn at 10 feet– Thick walled, flame retardant ABS and
Polycarbonate plastic housing – Quartz Crystal Oscillator– Semi Conductor Driven Micro Processor
All Units have the following features…
What’s really possible?
• The Crossfire’s radio frequencies are 905.2MHz and 913.2MHz. The radio “hops” between the two frequencies in order to ensure the signal gets through to the other alarms on the network
• The alarm only transmits when being tested or during an actual warning situation…therefore it cannot possibly interfere with other electronics in the house (i.e. garage door openers of internet routers)
• The alarm’s UL tested range is 200 ft in open space. • If an alarm initiates a fire or CO signal, its red Fire (or CO
Warning) light will flash every 32 seconds for three days (no chirping). This can help you locate an alarm that has false alarmed. Pressing the Silence/Test button will stop this.
• All alarms are “burned in” for 16 hours while running the software at a rate 40X faster than normal operation. This process is part of our quality control procedure to weed out alarms that would die of electronic “infant mortality”. No burning or raised temperatures are involved.
Quality US Manufacturing
2015 and beyond…2015 and beyond…
Or more formally known as the Annunciating Accessory for the Hearing Impaired
The Bed Shaker
• 520 Hz Square Wave Horn• Vibrating “Puck” that gets inserted between
the mattress and box springs• NOT an alarm…has no detection capability• Triggered by the Crossfire radio signal• Binds into the network the same way as any
new alarm• Uses the same display as the Crossfire• A Silence/Test button that functions in the
same way as the Crossfire
The Base Station
• Features:– text messages– emails– relay room information– relay maintenance messages:
low battery, dirty chamber, etc.
• Wi-Fi and/or cellular networks to relay information
• Works with existing Crossfire alarms
• Fire safety isn’t improved by all the fancy lights and voices coming from an alarm.
• If a piezo horn isn’t working, it’s doubtful a phone app is going to wake you while you sleep?
• Fire safety is about having quality alarms in the right locations!
• What is possible in today’s world is to make the finest aspects of commercial fire detection available to homeowners without the wires and the panels and the monitoring fees.
• It is possible to make a wireless alarm that does all these things and lasts 10 years or even more.
• Interconnected protection for kitchens, attics, garages, basements and utility rooms? These are places where fires commonly start.
It’s Not About Pretty Lights!
