# Outdoor spinkler heads above heat pump condenser



## BLangley (Dec 13, 2018)

Good afternoon!

Short: Is there a minimum temperature spec for sprinkler heads / bulbs in outdoor / freezing applications?

Long:

One of the condo communities I manage has 16-space garages under their buildings partially open to the air and they have had a couple dry pendant sprinklers break over the past couple years (in the same building).

The garage walls are poured concrete. North and East sides are solid with no openings to the outside. South side is the gate, and west side has two ~6 foot tall and ~10 foot wide openings. At these two openings sit three  heat pump condensers each.

I can't speak to details about the first head that popped about 3 years ago, but the one in January this past year was a day or two after a little bit of snow. Temp was right about freezing and the morning had a misty kind of rain. Air was almost foggy. The pipe above the drop ceiling was fine, the heater in the space was working, the pendant was not cracked. We found the frame/deflector in two pieces like a broken wishbone.

The bulbs are JOB FX-3S and their website doesn't have any readily accessible info I could find, and engineers I've chatted about it with haven't pointed at anything in code I can bang on the table to have the sprinkler company modify the system.

My theory is that when the condenser kicks on, the sprinkler heads are getting intensely cooled. Add a high humidity and it can cause icing,  breaks the bulb and creates a mess. The sprinkler estucheons in the three buildings with similar setups all show surface rusting in the vicinity of the heat pumps.

I can't imagine this is the first time sprinklers have been above an outdoor heat pump condenser.


----------



## TheCommish (Dec 16, 2018)

Photos?


----------



## cda (Dec 16, 2018)

The answer is NO.


In short, and non techinical, the same sprinklers used indoors are used in deep deep freeze food storage rooms.


----------



## cda (Dec 16, 2018)

How long is the metal piece from the sprinkler to where it connects to the sprinkler fitting??


Do they look like this::


https://browse.startpage.com/do/sho...064735522e44ba30904072b34f2&rl=NONE&t=default


----------



## cda (Dec 16, 2018)

How old are they???


----------



## cda (Dec 16, 2018)

What brand and model is the sprinkler


----------



## cda (Dec 16, 2018)

found this article looking for something else, did not read it yet looked interesting::

https://www.tyco-fire.com/TFP_common/DrySprinklers.pdf


Dry sprinklers are supposed to either be

Tested every ten years

or

Replaced every ten years


----------



## BLangley (Dec 17, 2018)

Hope I do the image thing right- haven't joined up as a supporting member.







If it shows correctly, this one is from 2013 (as labeled). Not sure the brand of sprinkler head.

One of the buildings is getting close to a ten-year inspection. 

I believe the dry pendant lengths vary building to building due to differences in pipe distance above the ceiling.

The surface rusting is typical of the locations near the open window by the heat pumps.

If there isn't a special spec for freezers, then that sort of answers the main question


----------



## BLangley (Dec 17, 2018)

I think I had read that Tyco article after the last one broke- I remember learning about the weep hole from it. Good refresher to re-read now that I've been poking at this off and on the last few months.


----------



## cda (Dec 17, 2018)

BLangley said:


> Hope I do the image thing right- haven't joined up as a supporting member.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




If not a paying horse you have to make a link and post the link


----------



## BLangley (Dec 17, 2018)

Here is the link:

https://imgur.com/a/Ckkr0mn


----------



## cda (Dec 17, 2018)

BLangley said:


> Here is the link:
> 
> https://imgur.com/a/Ckkr0mn



I see no problem with it

On the very bottom and possibly on the other side of the frame is the brand and model.

Problem is what you are showing is a replacement.

Do you have a picture of an original, and show the bottom and both sides.

And do you have a picture of a broken one.


----------

