There are many facets to effective fire protection, but sprinkler systems are arguably the most important. They can detect smoke and heat and will put water on the fire all by themselves—doing so reduces damage and buys time for people to get out of the building. It pays well to know the types of sprinklers out there for any architect, engineer, or owner of any structure who is concerned about fire safety. Determining what type of system to use also depends on the intended use of the building as well as the danger possibilities and environment of the structure itself. Of the several systems, a dry sprinkler system does the work in some unusual places and even this is unusual since the primary purpose of the facp fire alarm panel is to keep track of all the fire systems.
Wet pipe systems are the most common type of sprinkler system. The sprinklers are filled with water at all times via the pressurized piping system. Once the heat-sensitive component of a sprinkler head is activated by a fire, water flows out and extinguishes the fire. With these attributes, such wet pipe systems are devoid of moving parts, do not have waves for convergence, and most of all have the least investment considerations. But, it is said that the limitation of this sprinkler system is that it is also only applicable to places where the temperature does not drop below 0°C since the water in the pipes can turn into ice and cause panic as water gel.
On the contrary, a dry sprinkler system is adapted in places where freezing might be a problem such as unheated warehouses, unheated parking garages, loading bays or even some cold storage. In the dry sprinkler system, however, the mode of gas operated is either the air or nitrogen under a positive or negative pressure which fills the pipe work and not water. The panic that comes from deployment of gas under pressure bestowing presentation of a measure extinguishing devices simultaneously with the higher ceiling systems in the building structure follows through – A dry pipe valve is placed in a heated area. No water can be admitted, the pipes remain effectively sealed off from the fire water supply, bridging valves are closed. There is also a certain time lag before water can reach the nozzle in the piping system since it has to wait until all the air has been purged out, such is not the case with a wet pipe circuit.
Alternative components of the fire suppression system are pre-action sprinklers. They further raise the mechanism of a typical water based alarm system by providing a containment in the event of water damage risk such as water damage inside server facilities, museums or library storage areas. Pre-action systems possess both wet and dry systems. Wet systems have water in the pipes ready to flow but restrained by a valve which opens after two conditions are met, firstly a fire outbreak or like (e.g. smoke or heat) detection from an external fire alarm system and secondly an operation of the sprinkler head. Therefore, such systems can be an effective tool in decreasing the chances of unintentional discharge.
Another kind of specialized sprinkler system is the deluge systems which are used in environments that pose highest hazard level as fire can quickly spread there, for example inside chemical plants and aircraft hangars. All the sprinklers in a deluge system are opened because these sprinklers do not have a fusible link. In such cases, the pipes are empty while a deluge valve, controlled by a separate fire system, is responsible for supplying water. When the fire system is activated, the valve opens and water is thrown from all sprinklers at the same time, delivering a large amount of water over the entire area to be protected.
Building fire protection systems are generally centered around the Fire Alarm Control Panel (facp). The facp fire alarm is fed with signals from the detectors, temperature alarm devices, manual fire alarms and sprinkler systems and fire barriers. It manages communications effectively and in the event of a fire, does what is expected to be done including operations internal to the building and fire fighters response. I.e. regarding the systems of sprinklers, it checks that valves, water, and pressure are in order readiness and usability of the system. Whereas in case of pre-action systems or deluge systems, the most obvious application of the facp fire alarm activation will be in controlling water ingress into the sprinkler network via activation of the valves.
All in all, every fire protection engineer should choose a proper type of a sprinkler system according to the needs as it is one of the most important decisions to make. There exist some dry sprinklers systems in some specific conditions. With dry and pre-action sprinklers and deluge sprinkler systems, there is a particular application in mind. The facp fire alarm acts as a central network around which control and monitoring of fire protection system installations is effectively managed irrespective of the type of fire protection system employed. Knowledge of the elementary articles of different types of sprinklers is important in erecting a safe and sustainable building.
