I am renovating my reloading area which is shared with a laundry area. I am planning to remove a huge tank water heater and replace with tankless which will give me a ton more space since the tank is in a closet.

With the plumbing work, why not install a sprinkler system? Yes, I know I should pay someone to do it (who knows what he/he is doing) but I think I could tackle the project myself.

Looking at various head options... interesting ratings by temp:
http://www.supplyhouse.com/Sprinkler-Heads-18040000

I guess the 155deg heads should be ok. That should be way before the 1" wood cabinets start to heat/burn, right?

If anyone has done this, please post tips. If there are concerns, post those too.

Accidents involving components and reloading stuff and fire is so rare, far more likely the fire starts in another part of house and destroys everything else.  Not sure water lines would survive to feed this sprinkler head.

Tell the wife you will put one in the reloading room and above the gun safe

I agree with Danger6 on this. If you don't have a system in the rest of your house why bother putting one in the reloading room ? It's just something else you need to keep up the maint. on and something else to go wrong with.

I just keep a medium sized extinguisher near-by.

Do you have any experience with sprinkler systems?? Would you go with a "wet" system or a "dry" system?
Have you ever been in a small room or enclosure when a sprinkler goes off? Do you know the heads are somewhat fragile and MIGHT go off for no apparent reason? It doesn't always take heat to activate the water system,a slight bump of the head might do it............

Ask your insurance agent how much your premium will change. My guess it will go up.

Thanks for all the replies. I am not inclined to put sprinklers in the rest of the house for reasons mentioned above but I feel that putting them in that room cant really hurt much. If there was an incident where they went off, the water would likely run out the door towards garage which won't harm much.

If the lines to the sprinkler failed, then yeah.. it wouldnt help. But if line held up, then it might prevent a pretty bad incident as I also store ammo and supplies (solvents, etc) in there.

I am more worried about talking to my insurance company about reloading than talking about installing a sprinkler.

I will definitely need these to be protected from harm. They are not expensive and running a line is easy enough.

No, I have not installed them before but I have enough plumbing experience to be dangerous..

I do sprinkler work and alarm systems. If you dont know what you are doing dont do this. Being a plumber isnt a qualifier.

Appreciate the advice. If you have specifics about what can go wrong, that would be helpful.

I say with a little bit of research, and caution, I bet You could do it.

What can it hurt?

Just buy the best "head" you can, and install it properly where it wont get in the way, I wouldn't hesitate one bit.

I have given this some thought over the years on how to DIY a small sprinkler set up to pour water over the safes to help keep them cool.

I have NOT talked to any of the following:
Plumber
General contractor
Code enforcement
Insurance underwriter.

So take this as opinion only...

I would put my "stuff" in the basement, hopefully in a corner or section of the house that doesn't have three stories of wood above it.

I would put a T in past the meter to leave the original water line in tact.

I would run / bury a 1" line from my new T to the foundation wall closest to the room

Cut hole in foundation wall to pass water line though and install a shutoff valve.

If planning went well to this point, all the main supply line is underground and would have little impact by a house fire.

Then I would plump up a sprinkler head over any cabinet that would need cooling.  This could get tricky since most sprinkler  heads need to 18 inches over the tallest point to gain the most effectiveness.

Test it and then hope I would never need it.

If I get a ton of free time, this is my plan A to research and price out.

An insurance company may give you a break on your rates if you were to have a system installed throughout the house. My department was trying to get an ordinance to require new constructed homes in areas that didn't have readily available water supply for firefighting purposes.built with home sprinkler systems. The insurance companies were in favor of it, but the local home builders associations lobbied the city council and got it shot down.

All you can do is ask and see what they say.

You would be better off with a deluge system.  A couple of open heads and a valve outside of the fire space. Plumb it with BlazeMaster CPVC.

What if the fire was in the room across the hall, and its put out...?

The reloading room may be fine, but with a sprinkler system, its wasted either way.

Spend the money on a "Flammables storage locker"

Maybe 2 layers of 5/8 drywall, in the room, and 2 more on the other side of the walls.

Stagger all seams.

While it seems logical that any system is better than none, it's often illegal to install one without permits so it could get you in trouble.  Check with your local building/permit department first.  Doing anything that doesn't meet code and isn't permitted could void your insurance coverage if there's ever an issue.

In addition to the above . . . the reloading-related "fires" I've seen photos of on the web seem to occur on the ceiling above the powder measure on progressive presses. A primer goes off, fires what remains in the primer tube, hot metal pierces and ignites the powder measure . . . whoosh, scorched ceiling.

Is there recommended PMCS or other steps that I can perform in order to hopefully avoid primer tube detonations on my Dillon 550?

PMCS?  Wow, flash backs!  

The only things I know, clean out the tube periodically with a dry patch as there could be dust accumulate over time.  Replace the plastic ends (called flexible oriface) so the thing keeps functioning properly, the less you have to mess with it, the less chance of a mishap.  Otherwise they are pretty inherently safe.

Yep, keep 'em clean.  Swabbing with alcohol works pretty well to capture any primer dust and move it out.  I use a quarter of a .224 cleaning patch soaked in 91% isopropyl alcohol and shove it through the tube with a 1/8" wooden dowel.  About three passes and there isn't anything left in the tube.  Alcohol air dries in no time, too.

OP, I'd actually go with a standard dry powder or CO2 fire extinguisher instead of a sprinkler system.  Barring lightning directly striking a bottle of powder (which would be pretty rare INSIDE your house), any fire event involving your materials would almost certainly occur while you're using them.  (That's one reason I have only ONE bottle of powder on the bench at any time, and only open it when I need to.). Since you'd be there, a handy fire extinguisher would be quicker and much more focused than any automated fire suppression system.

Oh come on.  Foam is where it's at now days.

Except when you have to clean it up...  Foam is a royal pain to clean up, and it gets in more places than dry powder ever could.

I push foam any chance I get.  It's terrible and wonderful all at the same time.

HMMMMMM........goes off to Amazon to order BIG fire extinguisher for reloading area.

I already have 2 extinguishers in room and do recommend everyone do that.

I am only concerned about what might happen when I am not there.

I would have a hard time doing it as I have seen a lot of damage caused by sprinklers vs property saved. I think they make a lot of sense in high occupancy buildings and in some industrial settings.

No question they can help but by the time they pop you are in deep trouble already.


If the sprinkler is in the other room across the hall it might not pop the sprinkler. Other than some specialty systems you need direct heat right on it for it to pop.

PVC sprinkler pipes sounds like a bad idea to me.  I've never seen sprinkler using anything but metal pipes.  Are you for real or kidding?

First issue - a CO2 extinguisher in an enclosed space (basement) also sounds like a bad idea.  It may put out the fire but it may also put YOU out.  What will you breathe?


Another issue - Work-related training said fire extinguishers should be used to make a path for you to escape the area rather than to put out a blaze.  .


Sprinklers avoid both issues, above.

If you plan to install a residential sprinkler system you should check with your town's zoning office, fire department and water company.. There are requirements for the system to be certified. There is annual testing that must be performed.

If you just "rig something up" you very well could be creating a major issue with your insurance company etc. especially in the event of a fire. If you go to sell your house the issue will haunt you if it is not permitted, etc.

As others have said you are best served by a fire extinguisher, flammable storage cabinet for chemicals and NFPA recommended storage crates for powder.

Gun powder creates it own oxygen when burning so it will be near impossible to extinguish. This is why it is important not to keep too much of it in one place and keep it away from heat, sparks and open flames. Also do not store gun powder in a cabinet that will contain pressure or you will have created a bomb.

There are limits for how much powder can be stored in a residence. I keep the bulk of my powder in a detached garage. I would rather lose my garage than my house. My winter project is to build a few wooden crates to hold powder.

Think its real. Google Blazemaster CPVC.

Good tips. If my reloading area were in a basement, I wouldnt hesitate to put in sprinkler. Since basements only exist on TV in Central TX (ground is thin layer of clay over mostly solid limestone), I am stuck on ground floor.

My reloading area is adjacent to garage. Its a laundry/storage room. I am inclined to test slope of floor tonight to see where the water would flow. Likely out toward garage which would not be a huge loss.

The debate in my head is:

Worry about sprinkler going off by accident causing damage vs worry about poor fireman walking into a dangerous room.

Not worried about permit issues, etc.. I can remove it as easy as I installed if I sell. If house burns down, I doubt insurance company is going to focus on the water damage if house is burned up.. If only water damage, I can deal with that. My floors are tile in most of house. Walls are easily repaired...

...

It would be a pretty unique situation to have those items out firefighters in special danger. Majority of times the room would already be involved by the time they arrived.

It's pretty much a non issue in my opinion unless you have something weird like a gun safe full of primers that could turn in to a bomb.

I see what you're getting at with the "clear an escape path" point, but a home reloading fire is going to be much more like a stove fire than an industrial fire, especially if you're careful with how much powder you have open and on the bench.

After a bit of research, I've found that Hodgdon recommends water for extinguishing smokeless powder.  Keep in mind that much of the MSDS fire fighting advice is in the context of a large volume of powder, so things like applying the fire fighting media "from behind a berm" etc. would not be applicable in the context of a SMALL amount of powder.  

As I noted earlier, I only ever have ONE canister open at a time, and it is on the bench, NOT anywhere near the rest of the powder I own.  Anyway, a pressurized water extinguisher would be the most appropriate type for a fire on a loading bench.

My CO2 suggestion was just plain BAD - smokeless powder has its own oxidizer, so CO2 wouldn't be helpful at all.  Sand and baking soda are also useless in this sort of fire.  And ABC Dry Powder extinguishers aren't a good choice either, because of the potential for the two chemicals in the powder to react with the oxidizer content of the powder.

Finally, smokeless powder containers are designed to prevent explosions by failing - either simply "popping" in the case of the old cardboard cylinder containers and metal tins (those tins' lids ain't at all secure!), or by melting in the case of modern plastic canisters.  Modern canisters will also "absorb" a good deal of the energy released when powder ignites, and keep the fire from spreading as quickly as it might.  

So if you have enough powder on hand that this is a real concern, you should have it stored in an appropriate magazine similar to that called for in the National Fire Code, as cited by SAAMI.  Dryflash3 has built magazines for his powder and primers that meet or exceed these specs, and it didn't look particularly difficult, either.

Spray paint cans are far more dangerous.

The propellant in some is flammable, the solvent is flammable (except latex spray), the paint itself is often flammable until cured.

They make a nice bang when they go off.

a dry, or deluge system would be nice but its more parts to buy that aren't cheap.

OP, just do some research on it. it would basically be a separate 1 inch line to your room.
use some low temp heads, usually red, that have a half inch orifice,
it would be nice if you could increase the water pressure somehow.

the heads are color coded for temperature. I think they run about $20 each.

I brought some sprinkler heads home and connected them to the garden hose.
I wanted to show the kids how they work.
I then used a propane torch to pop them.

they thought it was great fun.....all dry then POP! and they were soaked.


if you are capable you could buy a fire panel (I've seen them go new for $400)
wire up some smoke detectors through out the house, use a flow switch in the sprinkler line
then run the flow switch to the fire panel. now the water is monitored.

now hire a monitoring company to monitor your FACP , now you have a full blown system.
annual testing would be a 10 minute thing. a few smokes and a flow switch.

see how complicated it just got....
but it WOULD be nice to have, a home fire system. if you are into all that don't let anyone discourage you.