Residential Fire Sprinklers .com

Protecting Your Home & Family

In August 2007, Eric and Lil Jungels lost everything they owned when their Rush City, MN home was destroyed in a fire (view Home Fire Loss Case Study). They chose to rebuild on the same site with the same 4,200 square foot single level floor plan with a full finished basement. However, this time they decided on two significant changes. This time, they had the house built with wood frame construction (the prior home was a modular build) and they had residential fire sprinklers installed.

Fire sprinkler system riser for the Jungels’ home

Fire sprinkler head in the Jungels’ home

The Jungels live in a rural area, several miles from the nearest town. They are protected by Rush City Fire Department, and fire sprinklers are not required by code. The house was built by Mell Construction and the fire sprinklers were installed as the house was being built. Action Automatic Fire Protection installed the system for a cost of about $3,600. With their previous total loss from a house fire, Eric and Lil desired the fire sprinklers to give them added protection and peace of mind.

Sidewall fire sprinkler in the Jungels’ home

Concealed fire sprinkler inside the Jungels’ home

Their home is insured by State Farm Insurance, who applied a discount to their policy after the fire sprinklers were installed. The original annual policy premium was $780, but with the discount Eric and Lil pay only $702 a year, saving a full 10%. Maintaining their system is very easy and inexpensive—Eric estimates that they will spend less than an hour a year taking care of it. While the insurance premium discount is a nice perk, the savings means little in comparison with the comfort that comes from knowing that their possessions are protected. Though Eric and Lil have lived in a home with fire sprinklers before, it was while living in a house that did not have sprinklers that fire struck. They experienced firsthand the heartbreak of losing all their precious family possessions. Now, with their home fully protected with residential fire sprinklers, they do not have to fear such a loss again.

View the details and photos of the Jungels’ house fire.

Location:	Rush City, MN
Home Type:	Single Family Modular
Yr Built:	2006
Sq. Ft.:	4200
Date of Fire:	August 27, 2007
Damage:	Total Loss $407,000

Last year, on August 27, 2007, the Jungels family had their lives change forever. Around 10:30 am, Eric and Lil Jungels’ 14-year-old son was filling the lawn mower with gasoline in the garage and accidentally dripped gas on a frayed electrical cord. A large rug quickly ignited, and the fire rapidly spread through the house. Fortunately, both the Jungels’ young teenage children in the home were able to escape, as well as their three dogs. However, the fire destroyed the house and the Jungels lost everything they owned.

Ironically, Eric and Lil both work in the fire sprinkler industry helping others protect their buildings from fire. As parents of five children they enjoyed the constant protection of a residential fire sprinkler system in their first home together. But, when it came time to move into their next home, the fire protection they had grown accustomed to was no longer there…and unfortunately, in hindsight, this was the home that needed it the most.

The Jungels live in a rural area, about seven miles from the nearest town. Once they lost electricity due to the fire, they also lost any access to water on site from their well. With the high winds that day, the Rush City, MN Fire Department and three additional supporting fire departments could not save the house.

The Jungels’ house was a one story Rambler style modular home with a full finished basement. It was built in 2006 by Friendship Homes of Minnesota and had a finished square footage of 4,200 sq. ft. At the time of the fire, the home had working smoke detectors but no residential fire sprinklers or centrally monitored fire alarm system. The home was also lacking an automatic closing door and fireproof sheetrock between the attached garage and the home, allowing the flames to quickly spread from the garage to the interior of the home.

With the total loss of their home, the property damage was estimated at $249,270. The loss of their personal property came to $157,730. Fortunately, homeowner’s insurance covered the losses as expected, but that could never restore to the Jungels the many irreplaceable possessions that were destroyed. Eric reported that they lost family and vacation photo albums, five children’s memory boxes, Lions’ awards, class rings and family jewelry, several painstakingly gathered collections (katanas/knives/swords, beer steins, coins, and zebras), handmade arts, crafts, quilts and special Christmas items that had been gathered over the years. No amount of money could restore these unique and memory filled possessions.

The disruption of the Jungels’ lives continued after the fire. For four months they were displaced from their home. They rebuilt their home on the same site—this time making sure that residential fire sprinklers were installed. Eric is clear about how the fire changed his view of home fire safety. It opened his eyes to the potential areas fires can start. A few important construction differences, such as fireproof sheetrock between the house and garage and an automatic closing garage service door, can significantly slow a fire. He shares, “Fire can destroy everything you have worked your life to build and develop, in as little as three hours.” Fortunately, with a new home protected by fire sprinklers, they can rebuild their lives in confidence that their new memories and valuables will be protected.

View the details and photos of the Jungels’ new residential fire sprinkler system.

Have you experienced a fire in your home? If yes, we would like to know about it and feature you and your experience in a case study. Download the “Home Fire Loss Questionnaire”, answer the questions and return the completed questionnaire as indicated. We will use the information provided to publish a case study sharing your story so that other individuals and families can become more aware of home fire safety and take appropriate precautions.

Earlier in 2008, Steve Kowkabany decided to retrofit his house in Neptune Beach, FL with residential fire sprinklers. Steve works as a fire protection engineer and is a strong believer in the benefits of fire sprinklers. Recently, Steve got married and he and his wife are planning to have kids. He considers his new family a significant motivator to have the protection of fire sprinklers in his home.

Steve’s home is a single story detached family home built in 1974 by Wade Brown Construction. The 1504 sq. ft. home is serviced by the City of Jacksonville Fire Department and was built when most home builders were not offering the option to install residential fire sprinklers. Since the home is single story and with Steve’s fire protection engineering expertise, he was able to complete the full fire sprinkler retrofit, performed by Evans Fire Protection, for only $2500.

One of the greatest benefits of having fire sprinklers in Steve’s home is that it saves him over $300 a year on his homeowner’s insurance premium. He receives a 20% discount, bringing his annual premium from $1542 to a discounted premium of $1226. Steve comments, “I can now verify that homeowners’ insurance policies do offer large discounts on your rates for sprinkler protection. I had a system installed about 6 weeks ago and after sending in the certificate of completion, recently got back a refund check for the current policy term and a letter stating that the rate would be permanently reduced 20% for adding sprinklers.”

Steve has not had any problems with his fire sprinkler system to date so there has been no maintenance cost. He does not expect maintenance to be a significant expense since residential fire sprinkler systems require very little maintenance.

Steve also decided to take an entertaining and truly unique approach in the design of his residential fire sprinkler system. A fire sprinkler system has an inspector’s test valve where the valve can be opened causing water to flow through the system. This simulates a fire sprinkler being activated to test that water is being adequately supplied to the system. Steve had the piping for the inspector’s test extended to the side of his home right next to the family garden. This allowed him to have some fun and get an added bonus from his residential fire sprinkler system. Steve explains, “my wife really digs the 6′ long orange Blazemaster inspector’s test connection that I had added onto the brick back wall of the house that allows me to test the system, demonstrate the operation of a sidewall head in the backyard, and water the garden all at the same time.”

Thanks to Steve’s action to install residential fire sprinklers in his home, his family and future occupants of the home will have the peace of mind that comes from living with constant fire protection 24/7…and, let’s not forget the added bonus of a very well watered garden.

For more case study examples see the Case Studies Category

Location:	Gilbert, AZ
Home Type:	Single Family
Yr Built:	2007
Sq. Ft.:	2694
Yr Sprinklers Installed:	2007
Sprinkler Cost:	$4000*

In 2007, Travis Mack decided to have his new Gilbert, Arizona, home built with residential fire sprinklers. Travis reasons, “I work in the fire sprinkler industry and feel that it is appropriate that I practice what I preach. I also work from home and want the protection for my business as well as the piece of mind it provides for me in knowing that my family would be safe in the event of a fire. We have a young child and pets that I want protected in times of fire should it ever happen.”

The house is a 2694 square foot, one story single family dwelling. Although Travis intended the house to be built with sprinklers from the beginning, the builder would not allow the sprinkler installation to take place during the home’s construction. Travis notes, “I live in a single story home with a large attic, so I knew that it could be retrofitted relatively easy. However, if this was a 2 story, I would have taken this fight to the local building official to let me have fire sprinklers if needed.” Travis chose to retrofit the home with a fire sprinkler system immediately after taking possession of the home from the builder.

As a professional fire sprinkler system designer, Travis designed the system himself. One of his business clients, Wicked Fire Protection of Flagstaff, AZ, agreed to perform the installation at cost. *This resulted in the entire home fire sprinkler retrofit only costing $4000 or $1.48 a sq. ft.

The home insurer is Ameriprise, and at this time, Travis does not receive a discount for having fire sprinklers. He indicates, “We have not had any monetary benefits as far as insurance premium reduction because we are max’d out already. We have deductions for a new home, smoke detectors, central alarm and a few others. The fire sprinkler discount will kick in at year 5. The benefit is that we will be able to keep our current “lower” premium for years to come because as current deductions phase out, the fire sprinkler deduction will cover those.”

Maintenance has not been an issue for Travis. The system is only about 6 months old. He has not had any problems, and currently, he is estimating that maintaining the system will cost less than $100 per year.

Travis feels that his residential fire sprinklers provide peace of mind that nothing else could give. In his words, “I have a greater piece of mind knowing that my home is safe when we are around or away. Our fire sprinkler system is tied to a central monitoring station so that even if a fire occurs and we are not home, the local fire department will respond and deal with the issue. Also, having small children at home, it is always nice to know that should a fire occur, we will be able to get out of the house safely.”

For more case study examples see the Case Studies Category

Is your home protected by a residential fire sprinkler system? If yes, we would like to know about it and feature you and your home in a case study. Download the “Installing Residential Fire Sprinklers Questionnaire”, answer the questions and return the completed questionnaire as indicated. We will use the information provided to publish a case study sharing your experience with residential fire sprinklers.