Fire Sprinkler-Related Science Fair Projects?

10/24/2019

My daughter is in fifth grade this year and will be picking out a science fair project.

She really wants to choose a topic relating to fire sprinklers. Obviously, I'm doing everything I can to support this.

I'm wondering if anyone out there might actually know of sprinkler-specific science fair projects that have been done in the past? Or maybe some ideas? Thanks!

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12 Comments

Bob Kleinheinz

10/24/2019 10:22:36 am

I am not sure where you live but check with your local Fire Department Fire Prevention Bureau and see if they have a local fire sprinkler trailer. I bring mine to our local high school every year for demos and they love it.

Rob Rubel

10/24/2019 10:26:47 am

Thanks for the tip! We are in Shreveport, LA. I'm almost certain no one local has a sprinkler trailer but that would be a great thing to be able to bring when she does her presentation for the project.

Kellery Ward

10/24/2019 10:39:07 am

You might want to contact suppliers. I know some of them have the trailers with valve set-ups, as well as set-up for sprinkler discharge.

Kelly

10/24/2019 10:29:26 am

She could test out different additives to the water to use as anti-freeze and see which ones are best at preventing freezing and not making fires worse. Then you don't need to get a ton of new sprinklers with elements intact and activate them each time, just set up one and change the water supply! Might need to set up some kind of plunger to get pressure though, assuming you don't have access to a water tower or bladder tank.

Dan Wilder

10/24/2019 10:48:09 am

My daughter did a project with fire sprinklers where we tested the effectiveness of different types of sprinklers (we performed 3 tests on 4 different sprinkler types - Residential, Comm SR, Comm QR, Comm EC QR) and built a small mini room with a soffit (think burn trailer setup - 4x4x8 - 3 sides of a full sheet of wood) and a single sprinkler in the middle top. Fed that from a garden hose (house pressure is 65-70 PSI so making a single sprinkler work at 7 PSI was no issue and we did multiple 5 Gal bucket fill test times to verify availble GPM). Used the base of a fire pit and a chicken wire "tube" with slots to place vertical 1'x2'x1/8" wood slates (cheapest sheet of wood we could find) in a 3x3 pattern along with a specific amount of crumpled newspaper to start everything on fire (repeatable tests). We recorded current weather, time to activation, what was left of the wood slots after 2 minutes of sprinkler activation.

Completely non-traditional and I made sure include the explanation on the results board with the intent of sprinkler protection in general, but the science and methodology of the experiment was the important factor. It won them 1st place in the Electrical & Mechanical division at the City level and honorable mention at the state level (an FPE was at both as a judge and the team did great in their responses to questions asked).

I got to shop talk with my daughter, build AND burn some stuff, and had fun doing it.

Robert Rubel

10/24/2019 10:55:18 am

Wow! That sounds like a great project! Thanks for the info. I wonder if the applicable content of a project of this magnitude would be too much for her since she's only in 5th grade but if anyone can dumb it down enough it's me. Can I contact you later on to get more info?

Shannon

10/24/2019 11:39:53 am

You could do a one-off of this project and just test the flowrates. Similar to a bucket test some AHJs require. Hook the heads up to a hose with a shut-off, flow the heads for equal amounts of time, weight the buckets and record the volume of water?

Or if the math involved in that is too advanced for a 10 year old, you could test different sprinkler bulbs at different temperatures?

So happy she's interested in the field!

Dan Wilder

10/25/2019 10:59:46 am

daniel(d o t)wilder(a t)wsfp(d o t)us - make the appropriate changes!

The project involved about an hour of build time, a couple 2x4's, a box of wood screws, a 3'x3' section of HD chicken wire (or square pattern), 5 sheets of 4x8 hardboard (1/8" thick-3 for the sides, 4x4 for the top, 1x4 for the front "soffit", the remaining were cut into 2'x1' pieces), the base of a BBQ pit to hold the fire, a Sunday newspaper, some sprinklers, CPVC + fittings.

I had her team write up a letter explaining the material need and for a school project and the manager gave us a discount on the materials as well. We just grabbed the not so pretty stuff, curved 2x4's, broken box of screws...

They spent more time recording all the info than the actual testing. Some pictures of the build process and the testing (safety glasses during both, fire extinguisher in the area... in a small album) Did it over 2 weekends. It's more about the test data, procedures, repeat-ability, hypothesis & conclusion than anything else. I have a picture of one of the tests but the rest is gone I think.

James Phifer

10/24/2019 10:52:06 am

I would have her test different pipe types to determine the best pipe to use to prevent the spread of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC).
galvanized pipe versus black steel versus CPVC.

Anon.

10/24/2019 07:49:06 pm

Great answers! I'm going to try to think of some. As I recall, they very much judge on the scientific methodology and process. The reason why the gee-whiz of the ubiquitous "working volcano" doesn't pass muster. So some of the answers provided above are great.

Robert Rubel

10/25/2019 07:04:13 am

That's correct. Her project does have to follow the scientific method. I think right now the challenge is finding something that will check all those boxes. Some of the suggestions above definitely offer viable options so I am really glad I submitted the question.

Robin Collier link

10/24/2019 07:49:29 pm

https://youtu.be/2dGSHuEhnMw

We side a side by side burn — check out the video

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Fire Sprinkler-Related Science Fair Projects?

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