Had an interesting incident of water damage of artwork from a broken sprinkler. The glass-bulb sprinkler was installed within inches of a steel roof truss in a warehouse. An previous earthquake shook the building and there was evidence of the sprinkler coming in contact with the truss. Sprinkler failed years later. Impact of glass bulb sprinklers can cause damage to the glass bulb surface, but also to the frame that supports the glass bulb. misalignment can produce stress on the bulb that it was not designed for.

The frame was bent in my case, but was not readily apparent from visual inspections from below. Interestingly, the sprinkler piping was painted after it was installed and provided the evidence of movement. The earthquake displace the sprinkler system a couple of inches with the evidence being the exposed black pipe under the hangers that were masked during the painting.You could see it 30 feet above from the floor.

Douglas J. Carpenter, MScFPE, CFEI, PE, FSFPE
Vice President & Principal Engineer
Combustion Science & Engineering, Inc.
8940 Old Annapolis Road, Suite L
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 884-3266
(410) 884-3267 (fax)
www.csefire.com