Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems
- Estero Fire Rescue
- Jul 12, 2025
- 5 min read
How Home Sprinklers Work
The system consists of a series of piping connected to the water source and supplying the sprinkler heads throughout the home. Each residential sprinkler head is equipped with a heat sensor set to break at a prescribed temperature (usually 135 – 145 degrees Fahrenheit).
When heat from a fire causes the sensor to reach this temperature, the sensor breaks away. The sensor holds back a plug in the sprinkler head, which is forced out by the water pressure after the sensor breaks away.
Only the sprinkler in the immediate area of the fire activates. In the past 100 years of fire sprinkler history, over 95 % of all fires in sprinklered properties are controlled by one or two sprinklers.
Despite “site gags” on TV sit-coms, smoke does not trigger sprinkler operation. The rest of the sprinklers in a house will not activate unless there is also a fire in that location.
Fire hoses, on average, use more than 15 times the water that sprinklers do to contain a fire. According to the Scottsdale, Arizona Report, a 10-year study of fire sprinkler effectiveness, a fire sprinkler uses on average, 209 gallons of water to control a fire. Firefighters, on average, use 3,290 gallons. Reduced water damage is a major source of savings for homeowners.
The odds of accidental activation are 1 in 16 million. Sprinkler mishaps are generally less likely and less severe than accidents involving home plumbing systems.
Modern fire sprinklers provide unobtrusive protection. Unlike old style commercial fire sprinklers, residential sprinklers are small, and can be recessed into ceilings and walls. Some models are completely concealed by cover plates that can be matched to room paint colors.
Home Sprinkler System Benefits
Home fire sprinklers save lives and protect property…the lives and property you value most. It is clear that home fire sprinklers are a smart choice. That’s why they are growing in popularity across the country.
This automatic fire protection system works best in combination with properly installed and maintained smoke alarms. Sprinklers and smoke alarms together cut your risk of dying in a home fire by 82% relative to not having either. That’s a savings of thousands of lives a year.
The most convenient and least costly time to install home fire sprinklers is during new home construction. The expense is often only one to one and one half percent of the total building cost…. About what you’d pay for an upgrade in carpeting or tile. Sprinklers can also be retrofitted into existing homes quite easily.
You can make choices to invest in attractive furnishings, security systems and other features for your home. A home fire sprinkler system is also an investment: in the safety of your family and most cherished belongings.
Proven Effective
In Scottsdale, Arizona, a sprinkler ordinance was implemented January 1, 1986. Ten years after the ordinance was passed, the Fire Department developed a report, proving that residential sprinklers help save lives.
During the 10-year study, there were 598 home fires, 44 in sprinklered homes.
There were no deaths in homes with sprinklers.
10 people died in homes without sprinklers.
Less Fire Damage
Home fire sprinklers can contain, and may even extinguish a fire, in less time than it would take the fire department to arrive on the scene.
According to a Scottsdale AZ Report, there was less damage in the homes with sprinklers:
Average fire loss per sprinklered incident: $1,945
Average fire loss per unsprinklered incident: $17,067
Less Water, Less Damage
Fire hoses, on average, use 15 times more than water than sprinklers do to contain a fire. According to the Scottsdale, Arizona Report, a 10-year study of fire sprinkler effectiveness, a fire sprinkler uses on average, 209 gallons of water to control a fire. Firefighters, on average, use 3,290 gallons. Reduced water damage is a major source of savings for homeowners.
Unobtrusive
Unlike old style commercial fire sprinklers, residential sprinklers are small, and can be recessed into ceilings and walls. Some models are completely concealed by cover plates that can be matched to room paint colors.
Virtually Foolproof
The odds of accidental activation are 1 in 16 million. Sprinkler mishaps are generally less likely and less severe than accidents involving home plumbing systems.
More Information
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Home Sprinkler System Myths and Facts
All sprinkler heads in the building go off at the same time causing water to flow where there is no fire.
Only one or two sprinkler heads closest to the fire will activate. In the majority of fires, only one sprinkler head will put out the fire.
Water flowing from an activated sprinkler system will cause more damage than the fire.
A residential sprinkler system can extinguish a fire in the “room of fire origin” with less than 300 gallons of water, compared to the 3000+ gallons of water from fire department hoses (on average) to fight the same fire, when uncontained.
Smoke alarms set fire sprinklers off.
Sprinkler heads are individually heat activated, usually at 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Smoke alarms do not cause fire sprinklers to flow water.
Smoke alarms are all that is needed to save people from a building that is on fire.
Smoke alarms provide early warning for building occupants but do not ensure a safe exit from the building. Buildings equipped with both smoke alarms and fire sprinklers have a survival rate of over 90%.
“Smoke alarms will put the fire out!”
This is a dangerous and misleading statement that is many times made on the basis that smoke alarms will awaken the people in the home and they will then get the fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Citizens should only use fire extinguishers to fight small incipient fires. The number one priority when you hear a smoke alarm or a fire alarm is to get al members of the family out of the building. Do not fight the fire!
Fire sprinkler systems are not reliable.
Laboratory testing and a 50 year installation/activation history clearly shows that fire sprinkler systems exceed a 95% “fail-safe” status.
Fire sprinkler systems are expensive.
In residential construction, the cost of installing a fire sprinkler (NFPA 13D) system for an average 2000 sq.ft. home is less than ½ the price of a package of chewing gum per day over the term of the mortgage.
