How long a telephone line has to be out before a trouble or an alarm sounds:

Hi Ken, 

Here’s the code reference; 

NFPA-72 - 26.6.3.2.1.4  Transmission Channels – DACTS –

  (3) “The failure of either channel shall send a trouble signal on the other channel within 4 minutes.”

 (8) “Failure of telephone lines (numbers) or cellular service shall be annunciated locally.”

 John Drucker

Fire Protection Subcode Official

New Jersey

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comment on Liability on take over fire alarm systems with code violations

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Hello Ken,

    Thank you again for your most excellent forum.

    Regarding the item 5/21/2013 about "Liability on take over fire alarm systems with code violations," a similar situation arises when a system is known or believed to be inoperative or the phone lines have been disrupted. Some owners procrastinate or ignore the problem; or don't adequately expedite the reinstallation of disrupted POTS lines, but - get this - will faithfully continue to pay the monitoring bill long-term on a dead system (as if that affords them some sort of insurance).

    After a reasonable number of unsuccessful attempts to get an authorization to do repairs, I send a letter that says in essence, "We cannot carry indefinitely in our books a system that is known to be nonexistent or inoperative," with a cutoff date.  A copy will go to the AHJ if this doesn't provoke a timely reaction. On the specified date I set the system to an inactive status at the Central Station and we stop charging for monitoring service. (I know, "Ouch!") We still send the next invoice when it would have gone out, especially if there's an open balance to show at the bottom, but the new invoice amount is zero and we add the remark, "service ends/ended (date)(reason.)"

    Sometimes when we acquire a system that "works" but is not code compliant, my techs will be reluctant to write a certification. Unless the deficiency is egregious, I tell them to do the testing, fill out the form, and if it is, they can say the system is fully operational, but be sure to list all known deficiencies in the "Comments" section. That way, everybody is on notice of exactly what is needed to achieve code compliance. If the owner decides to ignore it and the AHJ doesn't pursue the recommended upgrades, at least you have done your duty. (If it's that bad, send a copy of the report directly to the AHJ, in addition to leaving a copy at the panel, so the owner can't hide it.  Tell the owner point blank before you start that pass or fail, you have to send a copy to the AHJ or risk losing your certification credentials, which cost you thousands to get and maintain.) 

    No one is happy when there's a [bona fide] loss. In the event of a loss, you may still have to defend yourself even if you ultimately have no liability. Your reputation may suffer if you're associated with an otherwise avoidable loss. Where the account is valuable enough and the exposure is high enough, you may make a business decision to do some repairs for free, at cost, on time payments or at the risk of not getting paid. Keep in mind that an inoperative fire system opens the door to arson.  Know your clients.  Walk away from the weasels.

    One last comment:  Disconnected and misbehaving POTS lines are a good sales opportunity for alternate signal transport services.

Lou Arellano