Forced to Wait - Why?

It has been nearly 100 days since we formally alerted UL to a huge problem of non-compliance on April 30, 2019. UL has had over 5 months to test and understand if the panels comply with the NFPA and UL standards. This is the single largest financial risk facing the industry affecting 10s of millions of panels installed over the past 20 years. How long must we wait for real answers and not canned statements from the PR department? How long will the manufacturers allow UL to hold the industry hostage? How long will TMA, ESA, SIA and the other associations allow UL to hold the industry hostage on something that takes only a few minutes to test?

The issue itself is very simple – a short on the data bus immediately shuts down the system. UL’s 985 Fifth Edition from May 26, 2000 clearly states in section 1.4 that common wiring/circuitry must (shall means it is mandatory) not interfere with the supervision of the fire alarm system or prevent intended alarm signal transmission. Here is the full paragraph of UL’s own 985 standard:

• 1.4 These requirements also apply to the use of combination systems, such as a combination fire-burglar alarm system control unit, which uses circuit wiring common to both systems. When common wiring is used for combination systems, it shall be connected in such a manner that internal fault conditions (shorts, opens, grounds) in the nonfire alarm (burglary) system circuit wiring, or faults between the fire and nonfire alarm system circuits, will not interfere with the supervision of the fire alarm system or prevent intended alarm signal transmission.

This is a very simple test to conduct, how much more so for UL? Any dealer can test this in a few minutes and experience the obvious results, non-compliance. Here is a short video of Jeffrey Zwirn conducting the test on a Honeywell/Resideo panel:

Video Demonstration of UL 985 Test

FINALLY THE ANSWER: It is difficult to understand how it could take UL 100 days (and counting) to figure this out. What could be happening? I came across the answer in a UL sponsored video (see link below) with UL engineers explaining fire safety to a celebrity newscaster. Perhaps this is same team of engineers investigating the most important issue facing the alarm industry in decades, something with enormous impact on the future. Is this why we are all still waiting? You decide.

VIDEO LINK: UL Fire Engineers with Celebrity

CONCLUSION: It seems like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker still have not gotten things together on their investigation.