History Main / TelepathicSprinklers

* In the movie ''{{Constantine}}'', the title character does this, after having his assistant bless the water. Enter pissed-off smoking demon hordes.

* ''{{House}}'':

* Averted and subverted in ''[[TheSims The Sims 2]]'' (and probably the other two, but I can't speak for those). Averted in that chances are, you're only going to have one sprinkler in the house to begin with, in the kitchen, where there's more danger of fire. Subverted in that if you do have more than one (Likely by the fireplace or the grill if it's covered), only the one in a position to put out the fire goes off. And really annoying in the college expansion when that asshole cow decides to be funny and set it off.

* In {{Hackers}} the entire sprinkler system is computer controlled and can be set to 'test' at a certain time.

The only problem with this is -- get this -- sprinklers do not work that way. Practically all sprinkler systems are of the "wet pipe" type, where the pipe to all of the sprinklers is full of water under pressure, and the only thing stopping it coming out is a heat-sensitive valve in the sprinkler head. Heat it up enough, and the valve pops -- out comes the water.

Telepathic Sprinklers are an example of DidNotDoTheResearch and RealityIsUnrealistic.

* In ''{{Aliens}}'', Ripley holds a lighter to a sprinkler in the med-lab to attract the attention of the Marines in the control room, and sure enough, it pops ''all'' the sprinklers in the med-lab. Of course, the marines are alerted by all the fire alarms going off at the same time, which implies that the fire suppression system isn't completely dumb, but it's an otherwise completely straight example.

* In one Halloween episode of {{Roseanne}}, she sets off the sprinklers at the lodge with a lighter as her big Halloween prank. She stands on a chair with an umbrella as the rest of the party goers are soaked.

* Done in ''TheMatrix'', shortly after the famous lobby scene. Neo's elevator firebomb somehow manages to set off every sprinkler in the building, drenching agent Smith (several stories above the blast) at a dramatically opportune moment. Somehow the dinky sprinklers in the room also manage to fill the place up with what looks like about a foot of standing water, just to make the upcoming helicopter/machine gun scene look that much more badass.

** Amber "Cutthroat Bitch" Volakis attempts this by blowing smoke from a cigarette on a sprinkler, in an attempt to drench Dr. Cuddy with the intention of getting her thong (don't ask). It doesn't work. So she uses the lighter directly, and sure enough the sprinklers in the entire sector go off.

* In ''NoMoreHeroes'' a mook holds a torch up to a sprinkler, causing all the sprinklers in the hallway to go off. Travis's [[strike:beam katana]] lightsaber isn't waterproof, so in results in a comedic electrocution, and a short detour to turn off the sprinklers.

** Crane once set off a sprinkler to interrupt a romantic moment between two people. Justified, since he was in the same room, behind a screen. Watching him emerge, soaking wet, a triumphant smile on his face? One of the funniest moments in the show.

* In ''BruceAlmighty,'' Bruce uses the power of {{God}} to stop a party by activating the house's sprinkler system. Justified in that the sprinklers are being set off by willful divine intervention, not a fire.

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* In ''NoMoreHeroes'' a mook holds a torch up to a sprinkler, causing all the sprinklers in the hallway to go off. Travis's [[strike:beam katana]] lightsaber isn't waterproof, so in results in a comedic electrocution, and a short detour to turn off the sprinklers.
* The 'massive flood of sprinklers' variant is subverted in ''GrimFandango'', when the protagonist tries to flood a vault this way to escape. It just results in a puddle [[spoiler: and a subtle, but very useful, clue.]]
* The player has to make use of this in ''[[SpaceQuest Space Quest 2]]'', [[spoiler: with the classic 'wastebasket full of paper' method.]]
* Averted and subverted in ''[[TheSims The Sims 2]]'' (and probably the other two, but I can't speak for those). Averted in that chances are, you're only going to have one sprinkler in the house to begin with, in the kitchen, where there's more danger of fire. Subverted in that if you do have more than one (Likely by the fireplace or the grill if it's covered), only the one in a position to put out the fire goes off. And really annoying in the college expansion when that asshole cow decides to be funny and set it off.

* ''{{House}}''

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* ''TheLastDaysOfFoxhound''

[[AC:Literature]]
* Averted in the ''DresdenFiles'' novel ''Small Favor''. Harry sets off most, if not all, of the sprinklers in a building by [[AWizardDidIt sending the heat from a fire spell to each individual sprinkler.]] And it's mentioned that the stagnant water stinks.
* Happens when a character in Joan Hess's ''A Conventional Corpse'' sets off the fire alarm at a college, and the sprinkler system goes off on every single floor of the building. Particularly conspicuous, as colleges would be the last place to ''want'' TelepathicSprinklers even if they did exist, due to student-prank false alarms.'

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* There was a music video, can't remember the song, where a bunch of partiers tripped the nightclub's sprinklers. Almost an aversion, since multiple people are tripping multiple sprinklers, but they were having ''way'' too much fun dancing under water that should be highly pressurized, filthy, and probably ice-cold.

[[caption-width-right:200:[[[[InstantAIJustAddWater Instant Flood: Just Add Fire!]]]]

* In ''{{Casino Royale}} (2006)'', Bond is chasing a bomber through Miami International Airport when the bomber changes into a TSA uniform and turns a "sprinkler activation" key on an alarm panel, drenching the terminal.

* Happens when a character in Joan Hess's ''A Conventional Corpse'' sets off the fire alarm at a college, and the sprinkler system goes off on every single floor of the building. Particularly conspicuous, as colleges would be the last place to ''want'' TelepathicSprinklers even if they did exist, due to student-prank false alarms.

When someone needs to create chaos in a building or just get everyone to leave, they trip the sprinkler system. Just apply a lighter flame, or perhaps a bullet, to one fire sprinkler, and ''all'' of the sprinklers on that floor - or even in the entire building - will suddenly kick off. Everyone gets drenched, and there's a mass exodus from the building.

The only problem with this is - get this - sprinklers do not work that way. Practically all sprinkler systems are of the "wet pipe" type, where the pipe to all of the sprinklers is full of water under pressure, and the only thing stopping it coming out is a heat-sensitive valve in the sprinkler head. Heat it up enough, and the valve pops -- out comes the water.

Also, while sprinklers in media spray little bits of clear water, a real sprinkler system - which typically sits for years without use and which is designed to put out or stop the spread of fires as fast as possible - dumps between twenty and one hundred gallons (80-400 liters) of filthy, stagnant water per sprinkler per minute. Not exactly the best way to spend your day. Compare that to a simple shower, which puts out about one-and-a-half to two gallons (6 to 8 liters) per minute.

** May be justified in this case. As mentioned above, fire-linked sprinklers are used in areas with substantial fire hazard, which a medical facility might qualify as, considering all the oxygen bottles & such contained there.
** Not to mention that the facility, itself, is a modular-looking extraterrestrial outpost. Its component modules may well have been designed to be just as useful on planets where the atmosphere is lethal, where fires ''have'' to be extinguished quickly before they can deplete limited supplies of oxygen.
** The novelization makes it clear that this is so-LV426 ( aka "Acheron" aka "Hadley's Hope") had a hostile atmosphere. The colony and its fusion reactor were there to terraform the planet, including adjusting the atmosphere on a planetary scale. This is why her earlier visit (in Alien) had to be done in spacesuits. By the time of her return, this was well along enough for unprotected humans to survive outside for limited amounts of time, but of course the colony itself would be built to hostile-environment specs.

** Everything in the Matrix counts as AWizardDidIt

* In ''TheIncredibles'', Bob gets a message that self-destructs, causing a small fire for a brief second that sets off all the sprinklers in the house, getting groans from the rest of his family. Cut to them drying books and furniture to avoid permanent water damage. Them having fire sprinklers in a residential house seems odd in and of itself, especially since they had no clue at that time that [[spoiler:their baby had fire powers.]]
** It's possible that they know a fire-based hero or villain, but this is just guessing.
** Also possible that, since it's heavily implied the house is provided by the government, it and every other house provided by the super protection program is equipped to deal with unlikely occurrences such as, say, [[spoiler:a baby suddenly bursting into flame (Jackjack). It's not exactly low profile if the house goes up like a match because a kid went up like a match.]]
* In ''MeetTheRobinsons'', Lewis' invention at the science fair, after being tampered with, sets off a chain of events that makes... a scale representation of Vesuvius explode, setting off all the sprinklers in the gym. (Side note: WHY is there a mini volcano at a science fair sponsored by an inventing company? WHY?)
* In the movie ''Constantine'', the title character does this, after having his assistant bless the water. Enter pissed-off smoking demon hordes.

** Note that he ''activates the fire alarm'' and doesn't trip a sprinkler. The absence of any emergency services afterwards is more troubling.
*** Not at all. A lot of fire alarms DON'T call the fire department. Especially in old high schools. You have to do that once you run screaming from the building.

* In ''{{Hackers}}'', Dade Murphy ([=AKA=] Crash Override, [=AKA=] Zero Cool) hacks into the school's fire suppression system and schedules a sprinkler system test for a specific time the next morning. Naturally, all sprinklers go off, causing most students to laugh and run. Why this would even be an option is unclear, as considerable damage would be done to all the classrooms.
** Well, many fire-systems were becoming computerized at the time, and in some systems, especially with places with large amounts of flammable material, specifically designed sprinkler heads could be activated on a zone-wide or system wide basis using "bump pumps" which over-pressurize the system causing the heads to activate.
*** There's also applications in areas with explosive materials where all the sprinklers in a particular area will activate in the presence of heat or a drop of pressure indicating that one head opened to make ensure wide area suppression before the fire gets hot enough in adjoining areas.

* The player has to make use of this in ''SpaceQuest 2'', [[spoiler: with the classic 'wastebasket full of paper' method.]]
* Averted and subverted in ''The Sims 2'' (and probably the other two, but I can't speak for those). Averted in that chances are, you're only going to have one sprinkler in the house to begin with, in the kitchen, where there's more danger of fire. Subverted in that if you do have more than one (Likely by the fireplace or the grill if it's covered), only the one in a position to put out the fire goes off. And really annoying in the college expansion when that asshole cow decides to be funny and set it off.

* In an episode of ''{{House}}'' Amber "Cutthroat Bitch" Volakis attempts this by blowing smoke from a cigarette on a sprinkler, in an attempt to drench Dr. Cuddy with the intention of getting her thong (don't ask). It doesn't work. So she uses the lighter directly, and sure enough the sprinklers in the entire sector go off.
** And again, in episode 6.12 (''Moving the Chains''), when the mystery prankster sets off a fire alarm in House and Wilson's apartment, causing every sprinkler in the place to let loose. Apparently the show's production staff only research the medial stuff.
*** That implies they research the medical stuff. [[http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html It seems that is not exactly the case]].

* {{Frasier}} Crane once set off a sprinkler to interrupt a romantic moment between two people. Justified, since he was in the same room, behind a screen. Watching him emerge, soaking wet, a triumphant smile on his face? One of the funniest moments in the show.

* In TheLastDaysOfFoxhound, Decoy Octopus blows cigarette smoke at the hospital room sprinklers and sets all of them off, much to the chagrin of the injured Mantis and Ocelot.

-->'''Liquid Snake''': Oh great. that's just what i need.
* In an early arc of ElGoonishShive, Tedd and Elliot attempt to invoke this to stop the Goo Monster. It doesn't even work ''at all'', because the school skimped on the sprinkler systems in order to buy more murals.

* Averted in the DresdenFiles novel ''Small Favor''. Harry sets off most, if not all, of the sprinklers in a building by [[AWizardDidIt sending the heat from a fire spell to each individual sprinkler.]] And it's mentioned that the stagnant water stinks.

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* In ''NoMoreHeroes'' a mook holds a torch up to a sprinkler, causing all the sprinklers in the hallway to go off. Travis's beam katana isn't waterproof, so in results in a comedic electrocution, and a short detour to turn off the sprinklers.

* In an early arc of ElGoonishShive, Tedd and Elliot attempt to invoke this to stop the Goo Monster. It doesn't even work like it should, because the school skimped on the sprinkler systems in order to buy more murals.