Lonna,
I would be very careful with a dry-pipe system. When I was at a major museum and we had installed one in a newly built collections/conservation center, the pipes had a nasty habit of dripping rusty oil from the collars where different pipes were joined. this was a continual problem and was first noticed when some of these naty drippings appeared in textiles storage. I understand that they had to replace the entire system this year only 7 years after it was originally installed.
I have also observed the same phemonenon in archival collections in a different institution, etc.
Cheers!
Dave
David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, CA USA
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