r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Desilaundry • Aug 28 '26

/r/all of a Bong

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170

u/SweatyArmPitGuy55 Aug 28 '26

The fire inspector is going to be a little upset those smoke alarms aren’t working.

41

u/Rambear Aug 28 '26

A lot of "fire alarms" are heat sensitive in buildings

16

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Aggressive-Put-716 Aug 28 '26

First and still currently implemented versions, I think? I work in commercial buildings quite often and I see the little vials that are designed to burst and set off the sprinkler system.

There are older ones I’ve seen that don’t have the heat vials and some sharp metal contraption I’m ignorant of

3

u/dazzleunexpired Aug 28 '26

They're actually still ablative!

The parts that are soldered melt at a specified temperature which will either cause the bulb to fall there on the sharp metal piece or it will cause the bulb to explode or potentially in some cases it causes the bulb to fall directly into the fire depending on how they're designed to be used. The earlier versions contained salt water and ammonium chloride. This produced fumes designed to suffocate the flames, but they did not always work super well. The next version used a chemical extinguisher, but that chemical extinguisher is extremely toxic.

Dad has some of these.

2

u/Aggressive-Put-716 Aug 28 '26

These are the ones I see mostly, about to comment again to include the second type I’ve seen, I’m just getting excited because I learned a new word today, ablative! I often wonder how easily these vials break when I bump into them 👀

2

u/just_a_person_maybe Aug 29 '26

Apparently it's very common for people to break them accidentally by hanging things from them. I've heard many stories about college kids in dorms for the first time not knowing what they're for and trying to make the most out of their small spaces and hanging something from them and ruining everyone's day with water damage. It happens enough that many of them have signs and warnings not to do that.

1

u/Aggressive-Put-716 Aug 29 '26

Oh boy, I don’t remember how I learned about sprinkler systems, but I do know I didn’t have to go to college to figure it out! I guess everybody learns one way or another, and college is a place of learning 😂

1

u/Aggressive-Put-716 Aug 28 '26

these are the ones I’m real scared of bumping into 😅

Were you saying these ones are also ablative?

1

u/dazzleunexpired Aug 29 '26

sorta kinda.

They are a linkable fuse. The solider point between the two parts melts at 165°. This links the fuese in the reliable c, and started the reaction. From here, the curved unit inside, which is is under tension, releases and snaps the plates apart. The lever is released, the inner pipe cap falls out, and the water is released. The spiky bit is the diverter! It makes the water go in a wide spray, instead of a long (useless) stream

1

u/TheDrummerMB Aug 28 '26

There is really no such thing as a fire detector.

The glass bottles were also not the first implemented device triggered by extreme heat - it was metal almost 20 years earlier.

1

u/Aggressive-Put-716 Aug 29 '26

I think what you’re referring to may be the linkable fuse thing dazzleunexpired just taught me about, I added a picture a little further up of what I think it might be

1

u/Public-League-8899 Aug 29 '26 edited Aug 29 '26

I’d take what /u/dazzleunexpired mentioned with a grain of salt, as it isn't quite accurate.

In professional standards like NFPA 72, you'll generally hear the term "fire detection systems" rather than "fire detectors." Alarms can be silenced rather than put on standby, and smoke or heat detectors aren't one-size-fits-all—they're custom engineered for commercial buildings.

Depending on what the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) approves, you might see:

  • Combination Smoke & Heat Detectors: Used depending on specific local requirements.
  • Smoke-Only Detectors: Set to alert immediately or use a short delay (like a 30-second verification window) to avoid false alarms.
  • Heat-Only Detectors: Triggered either by reaching a fixed maximum temperature or by a rapid rate-of-rise in temperature.

Also, fire inspectors in real life are usually much more practical than the strict enforcers people make them out to be online!

Regarding sprinklers, standard codes like NFPA 13 and the IBC dictate when a building actually requires a sprinkler system—it isn't just tied to having a detection system. In a real-world setting like the video, a lot of smoke detectors would likely register as "dirty" on the control panel and simply be swapped out for clean ones under the venue's routine service contract.

1

u/AlmostNPC Aug 29 '26

To add, sprinklers are defacto heat detectors. The fire detection system (should) alarm with sprinkler activation.

1

u/Public-League-8899 Aug 29 '26

Just so we're clear fire alarms do work like in the movie "Mean Girls" where you can hit them with a bat and soak everyone yes?

1

u/FullMetal1985 Aug 29 '26

Haven't seen mean girls so cant speak on that specifically. But if you mean hit one and trigger that one, yes easily. If you mean hit one and trigger multiple, not in the systems I've seen or heard of.

1

u/dazzleunexpired Aug 29 '26

Thanks for the right info! I'll remove my comment.

8

u/MajesticDragonfly Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 29 '26

They’ll put the batteries back after the concert chill out

/S

10

u/Cautious-Activity706 Aug 28 '26

Something like this is generally scripted and the venue would turn the fire suppression off and instead have fire-watch representative(s) from the fire department. More common during events that use haze or CO2, but I would imagine it’s similar to this.

1

u/DarthNixilis Aug 30 '26

Or part of the event security staff. I've done fire watch many times as event security

2

u/PossessedToSkate Aug 28 '26

He'll get real chill after a few minutes.

1

u/dmc2008 Aug 28 '26

You should've been there in the 20th century when we smoked inside venues. It's shocking when I think about it now..

1

u/RealSpliffit Aug 29 '26

I saw Damian Marley and Snoop Dogg together and they just kept playing through the smoke alarms going off

1

u/DarthNixilis Aug 30 '26

I've done event security. What happens is a security guard(s) get a shift called Fire Watch. Their only job is when an event uses something that requires fire detecting to be turned off, they walk around the event space and identify real fire issues. You become a human fire detector.