Fire Alarm Systems
Fire Alarm - Radio/Wireless or Wired ?
This is the dilemma or question faced when considering what type of fire alarms are most suited to your needs.
As you can imagine there has always been a demand for fire alarms that required no wires (wireless fire alarms), cables or surface containment, such as: listed or historic buildings, buildings with quality decoration, buildings without cavities or false ceilings, buildings with asbestos, or large sites where it is not cost effective to dig up roads to install the required cabling or a situation whereby a fire alarm has to be installed very quickly.
Wireless fire alarms starting to really come in the market in the early 80's, but soon gained a reputation for being unreliable. However, like most things wireless, the advance in technology has seen today's wireless systems as reliable as their wired counter parts. However, this can only be said if the wireless fire alarm system is designed and installed by a BAFE specialist company that has the experience in installing such systems.
Fire Systems Ltd, designers and engineers have embraced and harnessed this technology to create a new generation of wireless fire alarm systems that are much more sophisticated in terms of performance, fault monitoring and reliability. These new systems are fully compliant to all the required fire and European standards of the BS5939 and EN54, and are fully monitored as per the requirements.
In the last few years Fire Systems Ltd, has installed over 100 wireless fire alarm systems, from power generating stations, listed buildings, churches, building sites, commercial premises, art studios, tunnels, etc. Installing this many systems within this short time period, could only have been possible because of the quality of the equipment we use and our designers and installers understand wireless technology. It is important not to always consider a cheaper quote when considering a wireless fire alarm, as the system will have a service life of between 10 to 15 years. A cheap system will not last, and you will end up having to invest again, costing you more money in the long run.
Given the choice and the benefits of both wired and wireless fire alarms, Fire Systems Ltd, believe that wireless is the future and the way forward for both installation and fire alarm servicing.
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Fire Alarm design – which design category, is right for my property? When deciding on a new fire alarm system or upgrading an existing system, an important aspect that will be considered is how many smoke detectors, manual call points and sounders do I need in my building? |
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When considering investing in a fire alarm, a wireless system must be considered due to the obvious benefits. 1. A wireless fire alarm can be installed in a fraction of the time it would take to install a wired system. 2. If you value the decoration of the premises and do not wish to see wires and cables on display, a wireless fire alarm is an obvious choice. 3. Installing a wired system takes a lot longer disrupting your business while the installation is taking place. 4. If a fire alarm is required on a large commercial site, running cables between buildings is not always practical. Using wireless takes away this problem. |
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Wired fire alarm systems have basically remained the same for the last 20 years, and fall into two categories Addressable or Conventional. In today's market a conventional fire alarm is used on small premises, and an addressable is mostly used on medium to large commercial premises. A wired fire alarm is suitable for premises that have a false ceilings, or cavities to hide the cables. However, wired fire alarms are losing market share to wireless fire alarm systems. |
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Today's fire alarms can incorporate different type of smoke detection. For fire alarms that require a higher smoke sensitivity than what can be achieved by your standard point detector, an air sampling system should be considered. Early warning are designed to save critical time in an event of a fire emergency. Aspirating smoke alarm detection systems can detect smoke at much lower densities than ordinary smoke detectors. They draw air into the sensing chamber rather than sitting passively in the air stream. The built in intelligence and the ability to "learn" its environment means that while an aspirating system can detect smoke at much lower densities it is not prone to false alarms. |
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The single most important factor in surviving a fire incident is a timely and orderly evacuation. The single most important factor in that evacuation is early notification of the existence of fire. The most effective way of receiving early notification is in the form of a fire detection and fire alarm system. |
