Fire sprinklers system is a network of piping installed in a ceiling and walls, connected to distributed sprinkler heads.
The pipes are connected to a regular source of water that maintains a pressure in the system Therefore, sprinklers spray when a fire is detected.
The system is designed to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading. Furthermore, it helps reduce life losses and property damage. Because it triggers before the fire fighters get dispatched.
Fire sprinklers types
There are four types of fire sprinkler system:
- Wet pipe
It is the most common system. because the pipe are filled with water all the time, they cannot be installed in an area where the pipes are exposed to freezing like garages.
- Dry pipe
Dry pipes are installed in freezing areas. The pipes contain pressured air. The compressed air is supplied by an electric air compressor. The pressure must be equal to the pressure of the city water. When a fire is detected, a sprinkler head will trigger to let out the air. As a result the city water will flow.
- Deluge
They are installed in hazard installation. Fore example power generating stations. The deluge system is like the wet system except that sprinkler heads are open. So, they don’t trigger individually. The water is this case is held by electric solenoid.
- Pre action system
This system is installed in a water sensitive environments. For example, computer rooms. These areas need systems to operate only in real fire situation.
Not only the sprinklers cause water to discharge in fire case, but also, they are linked to a fire alarm system which sends alarms or supervisory signals. Thus, many monitoring devices are a must on a system.
Fire Sprinklers monitoring
The sprinklers system must have switches to monitor disfunction situation. In addition, te switches send alarms if a any sprinkler triggers if there is a fire.
The switches activate relays which are related to the fire alarm panel.
- Water flow monitoring:
It is a switch that detects the water flow in the sprinklers. It sends an alarm when a continuous flow occurs from an activated sprinkler head or from a leak in the system.
- Valve monitoring:
One of the major causes of sprinklers system failure happens when a valve is left closed. That’s cuts off the sprinklers water source then it makes the systems inoperable. Consequently, a valve supervisory switch is required to send signals if a valve is closed.
- Pressure monitoring:
Every sprinkler system must have certain pressure of the water in the pipes in order to function properly. Pressure switches monitor the stats of the system condition. It supervises the low or the high pressure and notify the keyholder if the pressure goes high or low by sending alarms.
Low- and high-pressure supervision are required for dry system. The pipes contain air at the same pressure as the city water. If a sprinkler triggers the air goes off through it and the water flows. As a matter of fact, he purposes of a low-pressure supervision is to prevent accidental tripping of the system due to compressor failure. On the other hand, high pressure increases the time it takes to bleed the pressure to allow the pipe valve to trip. That’s why we supervise it.
Fire sprinkler myths
- The fire sprinklers are heat sensitive. So, they only trigger one temperature risesFire sprinkler heads trigger individually. Only the head near the fire source triggers and it is usually sufficient to stop the fire.
- Sprinklers don’t damage buildings. Because it triggers before the fire fighters arrive, it saves lives and prevent the fire from spreading. Furthers, it doesn’t spray as much water as the fire fighters.
- Water in sprinklers is not as clean as we see in movies. Because it is in the pipes for a long time.
