Telepathic Sprinklers: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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When someone needs to create chaos in a building or just get everyone to leave, they trip the sprinkler system. Just apply a lighter flame, or perhaps a bullet, to one fire sprinkler, and ''all'' of the sprinklers on that
The only problem with this is that sprinklers do not work that way. Practically all sprinkler systems are of the "wet pipe" type, where the pipe to all of the sprinklers is full of water under pressure, and the only thing stopping it coming out is a heat-sensitive valve in the sprinkler head. Heat it up enough, and the valve
But only from that ''single'' sprinkler head. There's no communication ''between'' the sprinklers. One of them going off will not trip any of the others. You might have thought that maybe it was some sort of water-pressure shock system, but no; ordinary fire sprinklers are entirely independent. And smoke detectors and fire alarm pull stations are almost never set to trip sprinkler systems. Sprinklers will set off the alarm, but not vice versa.
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There are "deluge" systems, in which the sprinklers have no valves of their own and a "deluge valve" lets water into the pipes that serve them all. These are used only for places that contain major fire risks, not regular warehouses or factories.
This trope is so prevalent in the media that [[Reality Is Unrealistic|people now expect sprinklers to go off all at once]]. Businesses are reluctant to install sprinkler systems because they think even the smallest fire will cause enormous water damage. This trope may also have been responsible for a lot of real-life criminals drenching
Also, while sprinklers in media spray little bits of clear water, a real sprinkler system - which typically sits for years without use and which is designed to put out or stop the spread of fires as fast as possible - dumps between twenty and one hundred gallons (80-400 liters) of filthy, stagnant water per sprinkler per minute. Not exactly the best way to spend your day. Compare that to a simple shower, which puts out about one-and-a-half to two gallons (six to eight liters) per minute.
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== Literature ==
* Averted in the ''[[Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Small Favor''. Harry sets off most, if not all, of the sprinklers in a building by [[A Wizard Did It|sending the heat from a fire spell to each individual sprinkler.]] And it's mentioned that the stagnant water stinks.
* Happens when a character in Joan Hess's ''A Conventional Corpse'' sets off the fire alarm at a college, and the sprinkler system goes off on every single floor of the building. Particularly conspicuous, as colleges would be the last place to ''want''
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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