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FAQ’s
Fire sprinklers are designed to activate in the presence of a significant heat source only. Unlike smoke alarms, fire sprinklers do not react to smoke, nor do they react to vapour, steam, dust or burnt toast.
Contrary to widespread belief, this is not the case and only sprinkler heads in the immediate vicinity of a fire will operate leaving the rest of the property dry and secure.
Fire sprinklers are essentially temperature-controlled valves that open to release water. When heat from a fire reaches the nearest sprinkler head, solder in the decorative cover plate melts away revealing the sprinkler deflector. As the temperature surrounding the sprinkler head continues to rise, the fusible link breaks giving way to a flow of water via a network of piping behind the head.
A typical sprinkler head discharges close to fifty-two litres of water per minute as opposed to a firefighter’s hose that can discharge more than 600 litres of water per minute.
Sprinklers are not expensive; normally costing around 1-2% of the cost of construction of a new building. The use of sprinklers will usually allow design freedoms as well, which can reduce construction costs and improve usability of the building.
Modern Sprinkler systems look neat and unobtrusive. Common installation consists of concealed sprinklers recessed in ceilings or walls, covered by a decorative cover plate that is often undetectable.
Sprinkler systems continue to prove their reliability repeatedly, with a 99% success rate worldwide. Systems installed over one hundred years ago are still fully operational today.
Following the great success with the Callow Mount project in Sheffield, we continue to demonstrate how cost-effective and practical to retrofit sprinklers in all types of properties with next to no disruption ever since.
Unlike many other fire protection systems that rely on electronics that may need updating or replacing, sprinkler systems need only very basic maintenance. A single visit a year is all that is recommended to ensure the sprinkler system stands the test of time.
