Just asking to see if anyone did Fire Alaram work also. Most E/C's in my area do both.

One of the large EC's I've worked for in the area did a fire alarm job as a sub to another EC. This is somewhat unusual and the reason given for this is that the job specifications called for electricians (wiremen) to do the FA work.

Most of the time, at least around here, the EC has responsibility for the fire alarm, but will sub out the work to a FA specialist contractor who also just happens to work cheaper.

Radar

Any EC in this area that does FA work will at most only pull the wiring and install the panel and devices. Turn on, testing and certification must be done by an alarm contractor that holds a state security/FA license. Their insurance requirements are different and more expensive than an EC also.

-Hal

Here in Maryland it is common practice for the Electricians to install the fire alarm , panel,wiring,devices etc. The company you purchase the system from will turn on the system , program it and certify it.

Here where I am in MA it is the same as luckyshadow describes.

We are looking into becoming a 'certified' testing company as well.

We do both here in NYC. I work for an EC that gets FA jobs as well as regular electrical work. Currently, I'm working with 4 other people at a state psychiatric clinic doing FA work. Circuits, devices, panels, testing, etc.

I used to do fire alarm work (installs, verification, etc) until I found out my liability insurance didn't cover it. In order to do FA work, I need to have a separate policy.....the premiums for that alone are $2000/year. Not worth it for the amount of FA work I would be doing. Now I just pass off FA work to an alarm company.

Not if I can help it. I hate them...

I fix and test a wide variety of fire alarms. I just hate dealing with the air over water or deluge testing. I have seen and fixed too many mistakes made by employees of the fire alarm mfg. or their authorized installers. We have the device programmer for one mfg's devices. To pay the big bucks to go to the 2 schools and get the system software to program the system, while accepting the related liabilities, just isn't worth it. I would be thrilled to, just once, see a set of accurate as-builts. I have not been to an acceptance test where I haven't found errors. My biggest warning to people who will maintain addressable systems is to not let your initiating devices get wet. You'll pick up hundreds of troubles in the blink of an eye. This is usually followed by employees vandalizing the FACP because they hit the Ack button once instead of the 300 times they needed to to stop the piezo. Then they break the lock and start yanking ribbon or power cables. I've got one place where they tore the piezo off of the ckt board.
Joe

[This message has been edited by JoeTestingEngr (edited 01-18-2006).]