http://confocal-microscopy-list.275.s1.nabble.com/Problems-with-Red-Safe-tp6927958p6932628.html
Sprinklers are not the only concern - overhead flooding has obliged me to disassemble and move a confocal under a tarp amidst indoor rain, twice. It is not a bad idea to take basic precautions like lifting everything a few inches off the floor.
Against overhead water, I saw one fellow put a slanted corrugated plastic 'roof' above his scope. When a noachian flood hit the floors above him his stuff was spared. Even if building codes do not force you to live with a sprinkler of Damocles, that may not be a terrible idea in an older building or a lab space located below street level.
Dept. of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology
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> Yes.
>
> But first a diversion. Worse than the sprinkler systems are the Koldwave air conditioning units that building engineers squeeze into the plenum in the tiny microscope rooms. These are guaranteed to collect condensation that will drip, if not stream, down. I have repeatedly been involved with renovations where we specified cooling unit locations in the plans only to be ignored by the builders.
>
> We are in NYC and we have sprinklers installed directly over everything. (When I was at Einstein, also in NYC, we didn't have sprinklers in the lab; I wonder whether this was a grandfather clause or some other reason.) I bet we could not get an exception in Manhattan. Short of building a tent over the equipment (which may or may not violate the fire code in other ways), we have to trust the plumbing.
>
> A quick Google of the NYC fire code suggests that there is a loophole of renovating to have one hour firestop walls as per "all unsprinklered floor areas shall be segregated by one-hour fire separations into spaces or compartments not to exceed seventy-five hundred square feet." As for relying on the plumbing, the fire code does specify, "Where connected to a standpipe riser, provision shall be made to prevent excessive pressure on the sprinkler heads." Also, there is a provision for high pressure testing when installed. I assume this is to check for flaws in the plumbing and the sprinkler itself. Sprinklers are not supposed to release water unless the temperature gets hot enough to melt the valve.
>
> But having said all of this, I do know of a lab in the Bronx where the sprinklers failed at RT and there was a flood and it shut down the research for a while.
>
> After this hot air, I hope not enough to set off your sprinkler systems, good luck. If it's an in-house institutional or insurance requirement rather than local code, they may be willing to grant an exemption with the installation of other safety monitors, as already specified on the listserv, when they see the price of the equipment.
>
> ________________________________________________________
> Michael Cammer, Assistant Research Scientist
> Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine
> Lab: (212) 263-3208 Cell: (914) 309-3270
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:
[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Naomi Book
> Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 4:47 AM
> Subject: sprinkler systems in microscope room
>
> Our institute has decided to install sprinkler system in the institute for
> safety reasons, the engineer that planed the system has put at least one
> sprinkler right above every confocal/microscope we have in our unit. Can
> anyone tell me please if you have sprinklers in your microscopes room? Is
> there a way to avoid this ??
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Naomi Book
>
>
> Naomi Melamed-Book, Ph.D
> Bio-Imaging Unit
> The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science
> Edmaond Safra Campus (G Ram)
> The Hebrew University
> Jerusalem 91904, Israel
> phone: 972-2-6585453
> Fax:972-2-6586448
>
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