[PADG:1756] Re: water deflectors for stacks

["Walter Cybulski" <CYBULSKW@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Ethel:
 
My note probably sounded redundant but I was not here to catch the start of 
this thread.  With all due respect to NARA, I still recommend a 
consultation with a fire safety expert and local fire safety personnel.  
Have the NARA findings been incorporated into NFPA standards?
 
- Walter Cybulski>>> hellman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 07/15/02 
08:28AM >>>Re permanent water deflectors for stacks: 
    I, too, was always under the impression that water 
deflectors would makesprinkler systems less effective, until last spring's 
NARA preservationconference. Research NARA has done indicates that 
deflectors result in asheet of water falling down the front of the range, 
providing a protectivecurtain for the materials on the shelves (boxes of 
archival materials intheir test case).     If one were 
going to go with permanent deflectors, though, plastic seemsproblematic. In 
the case of a fire, melted plastic would be much worse 
thanwater!Ethel 
Hellman============================================Ethel E. 
HellmanCollections Conservator for Widener LibraryWidener Library - Room 
D-25Harvard UniversityCambridge, MA  
02138hellman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: 617/495-3494fax: 
617/495-0403