What Components Complete a Fire Alarm System?

 

A commercial fire alarm system is an essential part of total life safety for commercial and industrial properties.  Commercial building fire alarm systems can be quite complex such as high-rise buildings with multiple levels or sprawling campuses with many buildings and facilities that must be connected for mass notification. Commercial fire alarm system providers must keep up with the latest advancements in life safety technology and ensure that all fire alarm system components are working together.

The Five Basic Parts of a Fire Alarm System

Commercial and industrial fire alarm and life safety systems consist of five basic parts that make up a complete fire alarm system and include the following:

 

1. Fire alarm control panel
2. Initiating devices
3. Notification devices
4. Primary power supply
5. Backup power supply

 Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP

The fire alarm control panel is the brains of the whole operation, the system hub that monitors system integrity, inputs, outputs and relays all information. When an initiating device is triggered, it sends a signal to the fire alarm control panel, which then triggers the notification devices or the alarm. Conventional fire alarm control panels might contain standard branch circuit wiring with replaceable circuit cards, with one for each designated zone. More advanced systems might contain digital circuits to transmit data to all devices that can be programmed for zones. All FACPs will display the status of your system with troubleshooting codes that may allow you to make manual adjustments like disabling an alarm or resetting the system after an issue. Always check with your fire alarm system provider with any questions on status alerts.

Initiating Devices

Initiating devices activate the system in an emergency situation and can be either manual or automatic.

Manual - a manual pull station is an example of a manual initiating device that requires someone to actually pull the lever, push a button or break glass to manually initiate the alarm.

Automatic - automatic initiation devices include detection devices for smoke, gas, flame, and heat. Initiation devices can be either addressable or not addressable, with addressable devices signaling the exact location of the emergency. There are different types of smoke detectors like air aspirating detectors or beam detectors which is different technology to detect smoke but send a signal to the control panel to signal an alarm just the same.

Your fire alarm system provider can help you determine which type of initiation devices are best for your building and exactly where they should be located for maximum safety and code compliance.

Notification Devices

Notification devices notify all occupants of a building when a fire or emergency situation exists. They include strobe lights, horns, sirens, bells, or combination strobe and horns. They may also include audible notification such as specific instructions on how to safely evacuate a building. Mass notification systems can be programmed to deliver different messages for different events or custom audible alerts.

Primary Power Supply

The primary power supply for fire alarm system is typically either on a 120- or 240- Volt AC power source supplied by your power company.

Backup Power Supply

A backup power supply is an important part of fire alarm systems as your fire and life safety system must still operate in the event of a power outage.  Your backup power supply is powered by 6- or 12- Volt batteries to keep your system operational if a power failure occurs.

These are the five most basic parts of a commercial fire alarm system.  High-Rise Security Systems is a leading fire and life safety system provider in the Chicago, IL area offering comprehensive commercial fire alarm system services. We help contractors and building owners to determine the best type of commercial fire alarm system for your property and business activities.

HRSS offers complete system design and CAD drawings for proper placement of all initiating and notification devices. We provide UL listed equipment, fire alarm system maintenance, testing, inspection, and monitoring 24/7/365.  Contact us to learn more about commercial fire alarm system solutions and ensuring that all of your basic system components are working together for maximum safety.

This article was originally published at: https://hrsschicago.com/fire-detection-system-design/what-components-complete-a-fire-alarm-system/

 

 

Fire-Lite’s Wireless Fire Detection System

Installing fire alarm equipment and wiring in new building installations or retrofits can be costly and complex.  Building aesthetics, hazardous materials and construction all pose a challenge to fire alarm system and electrical wiring installers.  Applications where a wireless fire detection system would be ideal are locations with concrete walls, buried wires, parking garages, warehouses, historical buildings and any place where aesthetics matters.

The SWIFT wireless fire detection system by Fire-Lite, solves these problems with wireless technology incorporated into commercial fire alarm systems.  Fire-Lite’s SWIFT wireless fire alarm system stands for Smart Wireless Integrated Fire Technology and detects fires with the same reliability as wired systems with added flexibility for installation without accommodating for wires.  The SWIFT wireless system supports many devices such as fixed heat, rate-of-rise heat, photoelectric and photo/thermal detectors, AV bases, pull stations, relay, sync and monitor modules. 

Flexibility with Fire-Lite’s SWIFT Wireless Fire Detection System

SWIFT provides the option to install fire alarm systems without wiring which is beneficial in many structures as well as the flexibility to have both wireless and wired devices on the same fire alarm control panel.  SWIFT differs from other wireless systems as it is based on a true mesh network which delivers multiple communication paths with each device. This provides added reliability and survivability within the overall system design. 

SWIFT wireless detection systems are designed to work with Fire-Lite’s Endurance series of fire alarm control panels and can also work with MS series of fire alarm control panels although may require a separate annunciator for proper functionality. 

High Rise Security Systems if familiar with the Fire-Lite by Honeywell fire alarm system and components, including the SWIFT wireless fire detection system.  We offer expert fire alarm system design, UL listed equipment, maintenance, service and exceptional customer support.  Contact us today to learn more about the right fire alarm system for your property and the benefits of Fire-Lite’s wireless fire alarm system.  

Fire Protection: How One University Did It

Designing a fire alarm system for colleges and sprawling university campuses poses many challenges consisting of protecting multiple buildings with effective detection and notification systems, covering new construction and renovations maintaining testing and inspections to ensure good working order.  In addition to all safety considerations, budgeting for fire and life safety systems with all stakeholders on board is another challenge facing safety and electrical technicians. 

Here’s how one university, the University of North Georgia, rehauled their fire alarm system throughout the entire campus, incorporated additional properties when expanding, eliminated false alarms and got all stakeholders on board.  

The Challenge of College Campus Fire Alarm Systems

The challenge facing most college campuses when designing fire alarm systems is providing a single fire alarm solution throughout multiple buildings, one that is simple to use, monitor and maintain. College campuses include dorm rooms, academic buildings, student centers, dining halls and recreational areas.  Educating administrative personnel and all stakeholders of the value an integrated fire and life safety system provides is important. 

When the University of North Georgia decided to provide one fire alarm solution, they experienced all of these challenges in addition to the disarray of the current system. Different systems were installed in different buildings, inspections, maintenance and testing had not been performed, and false alarms were a regular nuisance averaging 2 to 3 per week.

In addition to this challenge, the campus merged with Gainesville State College to create the University of North Georgia and another layer of complexity in providing fire alarm monitoring and protection. The University of Georgia faced monitoring approximately 5,000 points on their original campus and over 10,000 points after a merger in 2013. 

College Campus Fire Alarm Solution

Once the decision had been made to improve the fire and life safety systems, Fire-Lite by Honeywell was chosen as the optimum system to meet all safety and budgeted goals. A combination of fire alarm control panels, detectors, evacuation equipment and all other required equipment consisted of the following:

●       (35) 9200UDLS, 9600UD and 9050UD Fire-Lite fire alarm control panels on the main campus

●       (73) FCPS248 and FCPS246 fire alarm power supplies

●       (15) ACC-25/50 and ECC-50/100 voice evacuation panels

●       (575) H355 heat detectors

●       (90) H355 heat detectors with B501 intelligent sounder bases

●       (437) BG-12LX manual pull stations

●       (1,466) SD355 smoke detectors

●       (1082) SD355 smoke detectors with B501 intelligent sounder bases

All equipment had to be installed for functionality with the historic beauty of the buildings taken into consideration during installation.  This integrated fire alarm solution has significantly improved the emergency response time of the University and has all but eliminated false alarms.  In fact, after a major lightning strike hit a dorm damaging a fire alarm control panel and peripheral devices, the University’s electronic systems technician was able to install a new panel and upload everything to begin troubleshooting within an hour.

To learn more about designing fire alarm and life safety systems for college campuses, contact your fire and safety system specialist.

High Rise Security Systems is a leading fire and life safety system specialist protecting commercial properties, colleges and campuses in and around Chicago. We provide fire alarm system design, UL listed equipment, testing, maintenance, inspections and monitoring 24/7/365. Contact us to learn more about integrated and addressable fire alarm systems and learn which system meets your goals for campus safety.