I would NEVER live in a high rise building with no sprinkler system

[Quixote1818]

That's like asking to be burnt to a crisp.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. Even with a sprinkler system

there's concern over water pressure, without which a sprinkler system is rendered useless.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. The Feed Tank Is Typically On The Roof

So, gravity is what feed the system. They would need booster pumps to get the water up there to keep the tank full, but the first deluge would just be feeding the system by gravity.

On Edit: Maybe that's why they grandfathered some of these buildings, because the roof may not have been designed to have a 20,000 gallon water tank sitting on it. The expense might be greater to redesign and reconstruct the roof than to run pipes and sprinkler heads. So, they allowed the grandfathering as the redesign could be argued as impractical.

Also, i'm with the OP. I wouldn't live in a high rise without a sprinkler system. Especially at those prices.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Would you live in a low-rise building without sprinklers? In NYC...

all highrises must be fire-resistive, which means that any fires would be contained in an area for several hours and you would have time to escape if someone downstairs had a fire.

A much more dangerous place to have a fire is your unsprinklered house.

[Wwcd]

3. Nope, never. Especially with a million + dollar price tag.

Yikes