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1. An OS&Y Gate Valve For Fire Sprinkler system
An OS&Y gate valve is the type of valve required by code for NYC
water main service lines that provide fire protection. When installing a
new water main for fire protection it is vitally important to use
the correct main control valve inside the building. Even on a water
main repair of an existing line for fire protection the main control valve
should be checked that it is code compliant. But it goes much farther
than that, in that an OS&Y gate valve provides unique protection that
a typical gate valve or ball type valve cannot provide.
What is an OS&Y gate valve?
Technically OS&Y stands for ‘Outside Screw and Yoke’. That means
that when the handle is turned it directly raises and lowers the gate of
the valve by interacting directly with the stem of the valve. The handle
and the stem are both threaded so they interact together. The stem of
the valve itself raises and lowers visibly outside the body of the valve,
while the handle remains in a fixed position. As the stem rises the
gate inside the body of the valve rises in unison letting water flow
through the body of the valve.

2. Why is an OS&Y gate valve so important?
Because a fire sprinkler main is dedicated for fire protection and not
for any domestic use, you cannot test in the usual fashion if the water
is on or not. In other words flushing a toilet or turning on a sink will not
let you know if the fire sprinkler system is active. One quick look at an
OS&Y gate valve with the stem raised out of the body of the valve and
you will know that the water is on. On a typical gate type valve a
visual inspection cannot determine whether the valve is open or
closed.
The NYC plumbing code and OS&Y gate valves
 All main control valves for fire protection must be
‘Outer Stem & Yoke’ type valves.
 All valves must be UL Listed (UL stands for Underwriter
Laboratories, which is a global independent science company).
 Must be locked in the open position to ensure fire protection is
active.
 Must be the same size as the water service line. The valve size
cannot be either larger or smaller than the service line size.

3. If an OS&Y gate valve leaks or the handle will not move
On every OS&Y gate valve there is a packing nut, or packing screws.
The purpose of these is to hold the packing material of the valve
tightly in place so there are no leaks. Sometimes the packing nuts can
be too tight or too loose.
If the valve handle on an OS&Y gate valve will not move, the packing
may be too tight. Do not use brute force to make the handle move.
Simply loosen the packing nut or packing screws a couple of turns.
The handle should then move freely. Afterwards remember to tighten
pack the packing.
Frequently if a leak appears on an OS&Y gate valve it is because the
packing is too loose. Simply tightening the packing nuts of screws will
stop the leak. This can be easily accomplished using any common
wrench, and does not require a skilled plumber.
How does a fire sprinkler head operate?
Each closed-head sprinkler is held closed by either a heat-sensitive
glass bulb or a two-part metal link held together with fusible alloy such
as Wood’s metaland other alloys with similar compositions. The glass
bulb or link applies pressure to a pip cap which acts as a plug which
prevents water from flowing until the ambient temperature around the
sprinkler reaches the design activation temperature of the individual
sprinkler. Because each sprinkler activates independently when the
predetermined heat level is reached, the number of sprinklers that
operate is limited to only those near the fire, thereby maximizing the
available water pressure over the point of fire origin.
The bulb breaks as a result of the thermal expansion of the liquid
inside the bulb. The time it takes before a bulb breaks is dependent
on the temperature. Below the design temperature, it does not break,
and above the design temperature, it takes less time for higher
temperatures. The response time is expressed as a response time
index (RTI), which typically has values between 35 and 250, where a
low value indicates a fast response. Under standard testing
procedures (135 °C air at a velocity of 2.5 m/s), a 68 °C sprinkler bulb
will break within 7 to 33 seconds, depending on the RTI. The RTI can
also be specified in imperial units, where 1 ft is equivalent to 0.55. The

4. sensitivity of a sprinkler can be negatively affected if the thermal
element has been painted.
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