Earlier in 2008, Steve Kowkabany decided to retrofit his house in Neptune Beach, FL with residential fire sprinklers. Steve works as a fire protection engineer and is a strong believer in the benefits of fire sprinklers. Recently, Steve got married and he and his wife are planning to have kids. He considers his new family a significant motivator to have the protection of fire sprinklers in his home.

Steve’s home is a single story detached family home built in 1974 by Wade Brown Construction. The 1504 sq. ft. home is serviced by the City of Jacksonville Fire Department and was built when most home builders were not offering the option to install residential fire sprinklers. Since the home is single story and with Steve’s fire protection engineering expertise, he was able to complete the full fire sprinkler retrofit, performed by Evans Fire Protection, for only $2500.

One of the greatest benefits of having fire sprinklers in Steve’s home is that it saves him over $300 a year on his homeowner’s insurance premium. He receives a 20% discount, bringing his annual premium from $1542 to a discounted premium of $1226. Steve comments, “I can now verify that homeowners’ insurance policies do offer large discounts on your rates for sprinkler protection. I had a system installed about 6 weeks ago and after sending in the certificate of completion, recently got back a refund check for the current policy term and a letter stating that the rate would be permanently reduced 20% for adding sprinklers.”

Steve has not had any problems with his fire sprinkler system to date so there has been no maintenance cost. He does not expect maintenance to be a significant expense since residential fire sprinkler systems require very little maintenance.

Steve also decided to take an entertaining and truly unique approach in the design of his residential fire sprinkler system. A fire sprinkler system has an inspector’s test valve where the valve can be opened causing water to flow through the system. This simulates a fire sprinkler being activated to test that water is being adequately supplied to the system. Steve had the piping for the inspector’s test extended to the side of his home right next to the family garden. This allowed him to have some fun and get an added bonus from his residential fire sprinkler system. Steve explains, “my wife really digs the 6′ long orange Blazemaster inspector’s test connection that I had added onto the brick back wall of the house that allows me to test the system, demonstrate the operation of a sidewall head in the backyard, and water the garden all at the same time.”

Thanks to Steve’s action to install residential fire sprinklers in his home, his family and future occupants of the home will have the peace of mind that comes from living with constant fire protection 24/7…and, let’s not forget the added bonus of a very well watered garden.

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