Moving Into A New Home? Two Tips For Ensuring Your Sprinklers Are Safe
Moving into a new house or apartment is an exciting time, but it can also be a lot of work. In addition to moving your household goods, you also want to inspect your new home before you move in. One area of inspection that you don't want to forget are the sprinklers. In the event of a fire, a properly functioning fire sprinkler system could serve as the difference between saving your property and losing your property. Here are a couple of tips to help you with the inspection of the fire sprinklers.
Test the Sprinklers
If you are moving into an apartment, contact the leasing office to find out when the sprinklers were last inspected. If they have not been inspected in the last year, request that maintenance come and test them for you. If you are moving into your own home, you can perform the test on your own.
You first want to perform a visual inspection of each sprinkler to ensure there aren't any obstructions over the water valve that would prevent the water from flowing out properly. For example, if the ceiling was painted prior to your move in, you want to be certain that it wasn't painted over as this can also prevent the sprinkler from functioning properly. Next, locate the main control valve for your sprinklers. Depending on the design of your home this will be located in either the attic or the basement. Once you've found it, you want to make certain the valve is in the open position. In the open position, the lever is pointing upward, when in the off position it is down.
Make Sure The Sprinkles Aren't Blocked
Depending on the design of your home, it can be fairly easy to block your sprinkler heads. When determining how you will arrange the furniture in each particular room, take into account the location of the sprinklers in the space. Take a home library that has sprinklers installed on each end of the room, for example.
If you have several, tall bookshelves placed in the room and one of the bookshelves is near a sprinkler, in the event the sprinkler is activated, the bookshelves may prevent the sprinklers from properly dispersing the water. You want to arrange your furniture in a manner that ensures your sprinklers have proper clearance.
Your safety may depend on the proper function of your fire sprinklers. Make certain you are inspecting the condition of the fire sprinklers in your new home to ensure your safety.
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