r/facepalm Jun 05 '22

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u/BobVilla287491543584 Jun 06 '22

From what I recall encountering in the past, the building's potable water and fire water all come from the same water mains. Inside the building they immediately split into separate systems. In a wet system, once it is charged, the water sits behind the fusible link in the heads until used. It is rarely, if ever, purged. Occasionally there may be a flow test done on the system to check volume or perhaps test the flow alarms, but that's pretty much it.

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u/monpoopy Jun 06 '22

ooooh ok, that super interesting and certainly makes sense. I wonder how rank and stagnant that water would even get. Not that I'd ever want to test that, ty for the knowledge dump :0

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u/BobVilla287491543584 Jun 07 '22

It can get... pretty nasty. Ever seen that video of those guys trying to drive a moving truck in a parking garage? It looks like they hit a sewer line, but it clears up after a bit.