Yes. A combination of rust, thread cutting oil, and water that has been in the pipes often since the system was filled. It smells, it will stain anything it touches, and it’s a smell that’s difficult to remove.
Not true everywhere. Many buildings, especially industrial, require a flush of the fire suppression system annually or biannually to test that everything is still functional.
This happens with fire sprinklers a lot, one sprinkler goes off, and triggers the rest of the floor, or sometimes even building.
That’s not how it works. Each sprinkler has it’s own trigger mechanism, the glass bulb, and cannot trigger another sprinkler.
There are systems where this happens, but the sprinkler heads look very different, and you won’t find them in an office building.
Theoretically the water hammer effect might be able to break that glass, but I think it’s unlikely.
I don’t think water hammer would apply because there’s no abrupt cutoff or change in direction of the flow.
This guy sprinkles
Also I’ve heard that the water that first comes out of those sprinklers is RANK from having sat in the pipes for years
It definitely is.
It has a particular smell that doesn’t come out of fabric easily, either.
Isn’t the water in sprinkler systems a stagnant mess too?
Yes. A combination of rust, thread cutting oil, and water that has been in the pipes often since the system was filled. It smells, it will stain anything it touches, and it’s a smell that’s difficult to remove.
Removed by mod
Not true everywhere. Many buildings, especially industrial, require a flush of the fire suppression system annually or biannually to test that everything is still functional.
That’s to test the incoming main, the actual grid on the floor doesn’t get flushed. There’s a lot of dead end pipes that can’t be flushed.
Dry pipe systems are a thing. But not very common from my limited understanding.