Installing a fire sprinkler system into your home is one of the simplest things you can do to dramatically reduce the risk of a house fire. Still, most people think of fire sprinklers as something best suited to commercial spaces—not residential ones. This notion is commonplace due to a few persistent misconceptions about home fire sprinklers. Today, we’d like to do our part to dispel some of these myths.
Too many myths surround home fire sprinklers. Today, we’ll lay a few of them to rest.
Home Fire Sprinklers Require Frequent Maintenance
Fire sprinklers in commercial settings may require frequent maintenance, but this isn’t true of residential sprinklers systems. This is because they typically have a simpler design. All that is necessary in terms of maintenance is a flow test once or twice a year—and this is simple enough to do on your own!
They Will Be Activated By Your Smoke Alarm
Your smoke alarm might go off in your home every now and then, such as when cooking or lighting your fireplace with a cold flue. Don’t worry—it’s okay for your smoke alarm to go off once in a while. Your home fire sprinklers won’t go off when your smoke alarms do. Heat is what activates them, not smoke.
Home Fire Sprinklers Will Soak Your Possessions
This ties in with our previous point: heat activates fire sprinklers. When a sprinkler comes into contact with intense heat, it will go off. Just because your sprinkler goes off in one room doesn’t mean it will go off in another. In fact, in the overwhelming majority of cases, only one fire sprinkler goes off during a house fire. The only possessions your sprinkler might damage are those that have already been damaged by fire.
They’re Unsightly
We get it—no one wants to look at an unsightly commercial fire sprinkler in their home. But the good news is that you don’t have to. For one thing, most home fire sprinklers are more pleasing to the eye than their commercial counterparts. Second, you can hide them behind a cover plate, which is extremely unobtrusive to the eye. When the sprinkler senses heat, the plate will pop off and it will get to work.
Home Fire Sprinklers from Judd Fire Protection
If you want to ensure your home and business are safe throughout the year, trust Judd Fire Protection, LLC. We have over two decades of experience designing, installing, inspecting, and repairing residential and commercial fire protection systems. We serve clients throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia. If you are interested in finding out more about our services and protecting your home and business, give us a call at 410-871-3480 or contact us online. For more fire safety tips, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.