 The Challenge
Brian Barcic, founder of Wellington Management, owns several small to medium sized
apartment buildings throughout Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. For
years Brian has turned to Nick Markowitz, sole proprietor of Markowitz Electric
Protection, in order to make sure his tenants are safely protected. “Nick has been in the
security integration business for over twenty-five years—we choose him to install fire
protection technology in all of our buildings,” said Barcic. Markowitz is also a member
of the Emsworth, Pennsylvania Volunteer Fire Department and a Private Industry Fire
Investigator.
When Markowitz received the assignment to install a new fire alarm system at
Wellington Square Apartments in Emsworth, a small town outside of Pittsburgh, he knew
that one particular conventional system would be perfect for the job. Built in 1923, this
three-story 12-unit apartment building was once the grand dame of buildings in the city,
with its two curving back stairwells that served as the principle entryways and exits for
tenants. Now, 80+ years later, it is still a clean and attractive building, but its features and
amenities are limited by a tight budget.
Markowitz knew that anything more than a conventional fire alarm control panel would
be overkill for a building of this size.
“I had to make sure that the Wellington Square building adhered to all the latest fire
codes of Pennsylvania,” Markowitz relates. “Plus the building needed a system that
would limit false alarms and simplify maintenance. I also had to account for the fact that
the building manager could not spend an exorbitant amount of money.”
The Solution
Markowitz immediately recognized that the cost-effective and feature-rich MS-4 control
panel from Fire-Lite Alarms, a leading manufacturer of quality life safety systems and
part of Honeywell’s Fire Group, would be a perfect fit for this job, providing advanced
technology and safety enhancing alert features that weren’t offered by most other
conventional systems. The Fire-Lite MS-4 is a 4-Zone conventional control panel that
could protect two basement areas as well as two stairwell areas. Markowitz installed the
panel in the building’s basement utility area.
“The MS-4 is ideal for the small commercial market,” Markowitz relayed. “You could
use it in a 4-story building as well, depending on how you lay out your zone protection,
which can vary widely according to a building’s design layout and occupancy structure.”
One of the Fire-Lite MS-4 features that Markowitz liked the most in terms of this
particular job was the System Sensor i3 series photoelectric smoke detectors maintenance
alert that was built into the control panel. System Sensor, part of Honeywell’s Fire
Group, is one of the largest manufacturers of fire detection and notification products in
the world.
He explained, “The System Sensor i3 feature was very helpful because my client was
able to save money as he didn’t have to purchase extra maintenance alert adapters, or
modules, for the panel. This feature also addresses the false alarm issue, as it
automatically lets installers know when the smoke detectors need to be cleaned out,
which is a common problem in a building that features old plaster and often has kids and
tenants running up and down the carpeted stairwells. Plus false alarms frequently occur in
buildings like this due to tenants cooking, leaving doors open and letting smoke enter the
common areas.”
The maintenance alert signal is indicated via an LED located both at the System Sensor
module and at the Fire-Lite control panel. The system’s detector sensor reader is a wireless device that displays the sensitivity status in terms of percent per foot
obscuration.
In addition to the System Sensor i3 compatibility and alert features, this panel provides
an array of advanced features which include drift compensation, freeze warning, “selective silence” for manual shut-off of the system horns, and automatic
synchronization of audio/visual devices.
“The alert devices in a building have to be synchronized if you have more than one
device visible in any one area,” Markowitz said. “This rule was set in place by the
American Disabilities act, as the synchronization of these devices helps to prevent
epileptic attacks.”
Markowitz installed eight strobe light/horn combo units from System Sensor in the
building, all controlled by the MS-4. The strobes automatically activate to warn tenants
of a problem in the building.
“The MS-4 had everything I was looking for in a small local panel, and it certainly fit the
bill for this 12-unit apartment building application,” Markowitz concludes. “I will
definitely be using it again for small installs.”
When he was installing the MS-4 panel, Markowitz also used Fire-Lite’s Lite-Calcs
software program to determine the voltage drop calculations for the control panel. “It’s a
great alternative to manually calculating the voltage drops along a NAC,” said
Markowitz.
Lite-Calcs represents a marked improvement over calculations developed with the more
traditional spreadsheet approach. Unique features include faster interface with drag-ndrop
and group-add functions, mutually exclusive power source metering, and
professional output reports. Also included is an extensive list of compatible Notification Appliances, eliminating the need to manually enter the current for all appliances. “It also
makes it easy to print out reports for fire marshals,” said Markowitz.
Results
It has been a year since the Fire-Lite MS-4 was installed and the system is exceeding fire
protection codes. Since the installation, there have been very few false alarms, all of
which have been quickly and easily attended to thanks to Fire-Lite’s advanced
technology. The installation has also granted the building’s owner peace of mind. “I want
my tenants to feel safe—knowing that Fire-Lite’s products are installed in my buildings
helps me to sleep better at night,” said Barcic.
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