The Siren Board

A nearby fire department to me is currently having a dilemma with their 3T22A and the subsequent electricity costs. This has led me to wonder: what would be some possible solutions to lower the energy costs of operating a siren/what are some more energy efficient siren models?

I mean exactly how often are they running this thing? By their nature sirens shouldn’t be racking up the electric bill due to infrequent use.

....Doesn't this dept. have more serious issues to ponder?
The sirens purpose is to warn of dangerous, perhaps life saving incidents, we here all know that.....so is this dept. now weighing the cost of a human life or lives over the minimal cost to operate a siren....even if it is a 3 ph.
I see you are from Pennsylvania, so the chances of the siren warning of tornados is probably quite rare, now if they use it for fire calls that's something else all together.
Even if the siren is tested once a week, the electric usage cost would be negligible compared to other items found in a fire dept. such as a coffee maker, stove, clothes dryer, etc. etc. which see much more frequent daily use.

uncommonsense wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 06, 2021 2:36 pm

I mean exactly how often are they running this thing? By their nature sirens shouldn’t be racking up the electric bill due to infrequent use.

It's a fire siren, so it's used pretty frequently, probably once every day or two if I had a guess.

Unit of Civil Defense wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 06, 2021 4:16 pm

....Doesn't this dept. have more serious issues to ponder?
The sirens purpose is to warn of dangerous, perhaps life saving incidents, we here all know that.....so is this dept. now weighing the cost of a human life or lives over the minimal cost to operate a siren....even if it is a 3 ph.
I see you are from Pennsylvania, so the chances of the siren warning of tornados is probably quite rare, now if they use it for fire calls that's something else all together.
Even if the siren is tested once a week, the electric usage cost would be negligible compared to other items found in a fire dept. such as a coffee maker, stove, clothes dryer, etc. etc. which see much more frequent daily use.

It's tested monthly when it's on. Keep in mind that it's a volunteer fire company which often do not have very much money to work with. I personally don't think it should be a worry for them but I also don't know their financial situation.

So based on your last post are you just assuming they have a problem or have you actually spoken to someone? If they can’t afford to run a siren for 3 minutes once every other day they’ve got bigger problems than the fact their siren uses a fair amount of power to run. And they certainly couldn’t afford to do anything about it. I defer to Unit of Civil Defense’s response.

Just did the math, and their siren should only cost ~$20 a year to run, and that's assuming it runs twice every day of the year, for 1 minute each cycle. Either something is wrong with their siren, or something is wrong with their power company.

Keep in mind some electrical utilitys charge customers with 3 phase service (X) amount of money on top of electrical consumption in their billing.

uncommonsense wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 12:56 am

So based on your last post are you just assuming they have a problem or have you actually spoken to someone? If they can’t afford to run a siren for 3 minutes once every other day they’ve got bigger problems than the fact their siren uses a fair amount of power to run. And they certainly couldn’t afford to do anything about it. I defer to Unit of Civil Defense’s response.

It's been said by whoever is in charge of their Facebook page that it's shut off due to high electric costs. That's not really "talking to somebody" but it's from the fire company.

...I'm thankful that I don't depend on this dept. for fire protection.......
The thought of using a siren to notify the volunteers of a call ...I'm guessing they are also medical first responders...is rather antiquated. Even an old plectron system would be a step up. What if the volunteer lives , lets say, 3 or 4 miles away from the siren in a well insulated home....I can guarantee they are not going to hear it inside if the house is closed up....worse yet, if they do hear the siren, driving past the address of the call while in route to the station such as in a medical emergency....it has happened in the past.
Does this dept. receive any budget money from the county for operating purposes? Even if they are assessed a fee for 3 ph. , the cost would be nominal. Synther stated that it would cost aprox. $20.00 annually to operate the siren which is pretty much what I come up with also.....add another $5.00 to $7.00 annually for a 3 ph. fee, if there is one. and your still under $30.00 annually to operate the siren.
I would not believe ANYTHING that has been posted to farce book, I don't care who posted it.