The Value of a T-Bar Hanger

I have to tell you, in my previous life I worked as a handyman and often had to work with drop ceilings. Though drop ceilings are a great product and allow for accessibility to above locations, there are times when you end up fighting with tiles and devices installed to the ceiling. This results in bent T-bars, broken tiles, or uneven surfaces.

Today I am a fire equipment supplier and my concerns involve smoke detectors, strobes, and speakers that are often installed to the lay in the ceiling.

When researching code, I do not find specific references, methods or required products for a contractor to chose when installing devices to lay in a ceiling system. However, there are some obvious considerations when installing a device to a ceiling tile.

1. The code does tell us that all electrical connections shall be completed in an approved electrical enclosure. Therefore, an electrical box will be needed.
2. Weight. If you are a halfway decent contractor, you are not going to simply hang your device from the ceiling tile without proper support. Though I say it, I have seen many fire alarm installations where contractors have simply toggle bolted a detector to a ceiling with open fire alarm cable on the back side, installed strobes with an electrical box and simply laid it on the back of the ceiling tile and got away with it.
   1. 1. Initially, this may look fine looking from the floor up. However, over time these devices begin to sag, and the installation looks uneven or as if the device looks ready to fall from the ceiling.

   

   1. This will probably not be the case when installing life safety speakers to the ceiling grid. Life safety speakers can vary in weight between 1.5 to 2.75 lbs depending on the brand, features, size and whether they are plastic or metallic. This general measurement does not include the weight of the electrical boxes, wire, greenfield or other materials used to bring the circuitry to the tile location. These materials can add another 2 to 4+ pounds of the weight to the needed life safety speaker. Hanging a speaker from the ceiling tile is simply not going to work.
   2. Because we are the “professional” concerned with our workmanship, it is decided to provide a T-Bar Hanger to properly support the speaker to the ceiling tile location.

   

3. Installing T-Bar supports takes money and finesse. The cost of a T-Bar and Electrical box is about $18 plus the labor to set up. Further is the need to cut the ceiling tile around the electrical box opening without breaking the fragile tile. Set the tile, then set the T-bar support, or set the T-bar and set the tile, it depends on who gets there first.

Speaker for Drop Ceiling Installation

Today I was introduced to a new concept Speaker which takes into consideration the hard labor it takes to properly install a life safety speaker to a drop ceiling. My friend, Bob Sather from Quam, has shown us a 2’ x 2’ speaker grill that encompasses the entire 2′ x 2′ ceiling grid support, eliminating the need of T-Bar support or cutting ceiling tiles. The Quam UL22 speaker utilizes an 8” loud speaker behind an attractive perforated white grill like an air return grill. Additionally, the speakers come standard with a 4-watt option setting to provide up to 87 decibels at 10 feet.

The speaker comes with the option to add any vendors strobe to meet fire alarm ADA applications, strobe signal coverages or Mass Notification needs.

This is a viable speaker option when the intent is to meet intelligible audio requirements and the space has acoustical drop ceilings.

Contact HRSS to learn more about proper installation of fire alarm system devices to ceiling tiles or for more information on the Quam UL22 Speaker.