[labnetwork] Comments inspired by LNF at Michigan sprinkler system nightmare presentation

[Danny Pestal]

All, it was good seeing everyone in Philly at yet another successful UGIM.
A UGIM that was so successful there just wasn't enough time for everyone's
comments and questions during the presentations (a good problem to have in
my opinion.) So I'm bringing my comments to our other meeting spot:
Labnetwork.

In regards to Dennis' harrowing tale of destruction by fire sprinkler, I
wanted to bring up two related things that we've done here at the Berkeley
NanoLab:

1)  https://quickstoptool.com/  - We have placed one of these fire
sprinkler plug tools on each floor in the rear chase and have trained out
engineers on how to use it. Having experienced (some might say caused) a
sprinkler to discharge, I know first hand the kind of damage it can do. One
of the many things that keeps me up at night is the thought of a staff
accidentally knocking a bulb out of a sprinkler head with a ladder, and us
having no way to stop the water because all the valves on the sprinkler
risers are locked open. This tool allows you to quickly stop a sprinkler
once it has been accidentally started. You're going to get very wet in the
process, but it could save the lab from a lot of damage.

2) Our furnace pre-clean sinks (piranha, HCl, HF) are protected by
sprinklers. We had begun to see some etching of the bulbs in the sprinklers
and so took the sprinkler heads in these sinks and dipped them in a wax.
We've seen no etching since this treatment. There are specially coated
sprinkler heads designed to deal with this issue, but for our combination
of pressure/temperature we were unable to find them and so came up with
this simple and effective solution. If you haven't thought about the
sprinklers in the sinks where you're using HF, I suggest you do.

Thanks for your time,
Danny Pestal

Equipment & Facilities Manager
Marvell NanoLab
University of California, Berkeley
510-809-8600
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