Project Brief

I.S. 73, the Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School in Maspeth, Queens, serves about 1,500 students in a 133,000 square foot building made up of the original 1927 school, later additions and a three-story mini building. An earlier SCA fire alarm upgrade had installed a new Siemens control panel and devices, but the contractors went bankrupt before the work was finished. The new system was never commissioned or approved by the FDNY, the original ACME system stayed in service, and the smoke purge system serving the mini building was never connected to the new panel.

As prime consultant, KeRi tested both systems and documented the unfinished work: a panel showing alarm, supervisory and trouble signals, drained batteries, missing communicator lines and printer, unprogrammed tamper, flow and heat detector modules, no elevator recall or fan shutdown, missing pull station glass rods, and carbon monoxide detectors past their replacement date. In the mini building, the smoke purge panel no longer worked as designed and most of its roughly 44 combination fire smoke dampers were stuck open with failed actuators.

When the first bid stalled because key components of the installed Siemens system had been discontinued and its program could not be located, KeRi reworked the design. The final documents provide a complete new fire alarm system with all new devices and FDNY approval, removal of the ACME system, and a new fused disconnect, fuse cut-out panel and UPS in a dedicated two-hour rated room with its own exhaust fan and split air conditioning unit. A new smoke purge panel and new fire smoke dampers are integrated with the fire alarm system and interlocked with the existing air handling units, and the public address and clock systems are repaired, replacing defective speakers, clocks, microphone outlets and local sound systems. KeRi is providing construction administration during installation.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

Fire alarm, smoke purge and low-voltage systems:

• New fire alarm system with all new devices, carried through FDNY approval
• Removal of the original ACME fire alarm system
• New fire alarm power and UPS in a two-hour rated room with exhaust and split AC
• New smoke purge panel and fire smoke dampers for the mini building
• Smoke purge interlocked with the existing air handling units
• Public address and clock system deficiencies corrected

The Challenge

A partly installed fire alarm system had been abandoned when its contractors went bankrupt, leaving an aging system in service, a smoke purge system with failed dampers, and parts for the new panel that were no longer made.

Our Solution

KeRi tested and documented every deficiency, then redesigned the project around a complete new fire alarm system, a new smoke purge panel and dampers tied into it, and repairs to the public address and clock systems.