I walked into the fire pump room, in the basement of a 14 story high-rise apartment building. I was with the property manager, a potential new client. They were shopping around for a new fire protection contractor.
Before we even opened the door, I knew things weren't good. There was a small stream of water coming from under the door to the pump room. "Is that normal?", I asked.
"Yeah. The pump leaks a lot. It's okay."
When we passed through the door, I saw a fire pump that was only 7 years old, that looked like it hadn't been maintained in 25 years. Does that even make sense?
There was water pouring out of the pump packing and the pump sleeve. The packing glands were cranked in WAY too tight and completely out of alignment, and water was still pouring right through. The stuffing box drains were clogged, so the water was overflowing, and dripping down the side of the pump casing, causing a slimy, rusty trail to show the exact route of the water.
The entire pipe network in the fire pump room was completely wrong:
-Valves were in the wrong spot.
-Pump sensing lines were not installed in the correct part of the system.
-The test header assembly was in the wrong spot.
-The pressure relief valve was in the wrong spot.
-The pump controller was not where it should be.
-The diesel engine batteries were between the pump and the far, inside wall...making it nearly impossible to service and replace them.
-The pipe that attached directly to the suction side of the pump was arranged wrong.
-The oil filter hadn't been changed in 6 years.
And that was just at my first glance. All I could say was "Wow. You have some serious issues here."
After explaining some of the things that I saw, the potential client was very happy that I had pointed these things out to him. He told me that he thought there were some things wrong, but his previous contractors (plural) never told him any of this. They would come in once a year, and do their test & inspection, and he would see them the next year. No questions asked.
I explained to him the importance of maintaining his fire pump. A diesel fire pump is required to be run once every week, for 30 minutes. The pump at this location only had 2.6 hours on the hour-meter. Just over 2 1/2 hours in over seven years. And that includes the original commissioning/startup. That was probably 2/3 of the registered hours. Do the math: this pump should have, at minimum, 182 hours, just with a weekly pump run. "Wow. You have some serious issues here."
I told him the truth. Just by looking at the condition of the pump, we would have to pull it all apart to see what was going on inside of the pump. And experience tells me that we are going to have to replace some of the parts inside of the pump. Plus we will have a qualified diesel mechanic perform the proper maintenance on the Diesel engine; and a qualified fire pump control technician overhaul the fire pump controller (which also was never maintained, cleaned, or serviced).
The total bill would be anywhere from $5,000 to upwards of $25,000, depending on what we find.
We didn't get the job. I was told that we were trying to rip them off.
In reality, we were just being honest. Maintaining a diesel fire pump isn't cheap. When you wait, and let things get out of hand, it's down right expensive. If this potential client hadn't waited until it was too late, then these costs could have been spread out over the years. If it is properly maintained from day one, then some of the issues could be avoided completely.
I wouldn't want to be an apartment dweller, thinking that I am protected by a fire sprinkler system, not knowing that the systems main piece of equipment might not work.
Pay me now or pay me later. But paying later might come in the form of settling lawsuits.
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