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  • 1.  Researching best practices for sprinkler systems for museums

    Posted 01-04-2019 12:42 PM
    Dear all,

    Would you or someone on your staff be able to answer some questions that the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has regarding museum sprinkler systems?  We are analyzing various system designs and would like to get a benchmark of what other museums are using. Our questions are as follows:

    • what type of sprinkler system do you currently have in place?
    • how long have you used this system?
    • have there been any significant changes since then?
    • is this sprinkler system the original installation when the building opened?
    • if changes were made later to the original system, can you share this information - and why?

    Thank you in advance for your help on this!

    Best,
    Kim


    ------------------------------
    Kimberley Bush Tomio
    Director of Museum Services
    Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Researching best practices for sprinkler systems for museums

    Posted 01-07-2019 06:58 AM
    Dear Kim - Ours is a wet system (highly recommended by the industry and insurance) which was updated when we built our Atrium addition in 2012... the codes changed (from 2" pipes to 2.5").  Because we have an historic cast collection, it was a painful process, but we really had no choice, especially having a parent institution that's an educational inst.

    Amazingly, we have had a couple of pinhole leaks and cracked pipes, which we never had with the older, 2" pipes!

    Vivian F. Zoë, Director
    Slater Memorial Museum
    108 Crescent Street, Norwich CT 06360
    860-425-5560 vox
    860-885-0379 fax

    "Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work," Chuck Close, 2003


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    ------Original Message------

    Dear all,

    Would you or someone on your staff be able to answer some questions that the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco has regarding museum sprinkler systems?  We are analyzing various system designs and would like to get a benchmark of what other museums are using. Our questions are as follows:

    • what type of sprinkler system do you currently have in place?
    • how long have you used this system?
    • have there been any significant changes since then?
    • is this sprinkler system the original installation when the building opened?
    • if changes were made later to the original system, can you share this information - and why?

    Thank you in advance for your help on this!

    Best,
    Kim


    ------------------------------
    Kimberley Bush Tomio
    Director of Museum Services
    Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------


  • 3.  RE: Researching best practices for sprinkler systems for museums

    Posted 01-07-2019 12:43 PM
    Vivian, thank you so much for this helpful information and your experience with going to a larger pipe dimension!

    Kim Bush Tomio
    Asian Art Museum of SF

    ------------------------------
    Kimberley Bush Tomio
    Director of Museum Services
    Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Researching best practices for sprinkler systems for museums

    Posted 01-07-2019 10:52 AM
    Dear Kimberly,​
    At the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation we have wet pipe fire suppression in our museums and collections building. We have had them in place since about 2006. The only significant change is that we have discontinued use of an anti-microbial system we put in one application to combat what we were told was particularly challenging water. These wet-pipe systems replaced original dry-pipe pre-action systems that failed (pin holes and potential blockage of delivery due to microbial induced corrosion). Unfortunately this is a problem with pipes that cannot be kept dry and also have air in them - you get nasty corrosion. When systems were replaced we were very careful to use high-quality iron pipe. We also made sure we could spot leaks easily by painting pipe in areas without ceilings - this is very challenging to do after the fact. Routine maintenance and inspection of these systems is absolutely essential. Please familiarize yourself (and your code compliance folks) with NFPA 909, which addresses fire suppression in museums. NFPA 914 covers historic structures.
    Best,

    ------------------------------
    Patricia
    Silence
    Director of Conservation Operations
    Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
    Williamsburg, VA
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Researching best practices for sprinkler systems for museums

    Posted 01-07-2019 12:35 PM
    Patricia,

    This information is extremely helpful.  Thank you so much!

    Kim Bush Tomio
    Asian Art Museum of SF

    ------------------------------
    Kimberley Bush Tomio
    Director of Museum Services
    Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
    San Francisco CA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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