Fire sprinklers to be replaced in voluntary recall program
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Mainland sprinkler company yesterday announced a voluntary replacement recall of a fire sprinkler that safety officials said may corrode and fail to activate.
According to a local fire official, the sprinkler may have been installed in Honolulu buildings.
The Central Sprinkler Co., an affiliate of Tyco Fire Products LP, of Lansdale, Pa., will provide free parts and labor to replace 35 million Central fire sprinklers that come with O-ring seals, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The voluntary replacement program also includes a limited number of O-ring models sold by Gem Sprinkler Co. and Star Sprinkler Inc., totaling about 167,000 sprinkler heads, the commission said.
Central initiated the recall because it discovered that the sprinkler heads can corrode or that minerals, salts and other contaminants in water can affect the rubber
O-ring seals, the commission said. Those factors could cause the sprinkler heads not to activate in a fire, the commission said.
It's unknown how many of these sprinklers are used in Honolulu, but fire officials have notified the Waikiki and Downtown security associations and the city's facilities maintenance section about the recall, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo.
"We don't want to panic anyone," Soo said. "We just want people to be safe and that's why we notified everyone."
Central manufactured 33 million "wet" sprinklers with O-rings from 1989 until 2000, and 2 million "dry" sprinklers with O-rings from the mid-1970s to June 2001, that are covered in the program. The program also covers 167,000 sprinklers with O-rings manufactured by Gem Sprinkler Co. and Star Sprinkler Inc. from 1995 to 2001.
For more information call Ken Giles, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, (301) 504-0580, Ext. 1184; call the Central Sprinkler Co. media hot line, (866) 836-3929; or visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web page.
