We at the National Cultural History have an aversion to water in storerooms. In fact it was only after two floods in our old main museum building caused by faulty fire fighting systems that we got funding for the new building I mentioned in my last post. We originally specified to the architects that they should install a `dry pipe' water fire fighting system in the new building (water sprinkler system, but the pipes in the building have no water unless there is an alarm, at which time they are filled) The fire inspectors originally agreed to this system, but after the Johnie Walker warehouse in Scotland, which had a system of this type, burned down they insisted that the system no longer be `dry', but that the pipes should be filled with water, but agreed that these should not be under pressure. They also implied that with this type of system one could expect at least 25% more fire damage in the event of fire. We wanted to avoid a Halon system (expense and environmental objections) so we chose the dry system. Does anybody have information on the accepted norms, experience with these `dry' pipe systems or data on them being less efficient? I look forward to your replies, Thanx. [log in to unmask] ---- Digitec Online, Johannesburg, South Africa. | City with a | Telnet Africa's most popular BBS on 196.11.62.106 | Heart of Gold |