Choosing and placing valves carefully is important for fire sprinkler systems to meet code requirements. The Inspector’s Test Valves and Test and Drain Valves are frequently confused. This is because they perform similar functions but have distinct characteristics and applications. Understanding the differences between these valves is crucial to ensure their proper usage.
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Among the requirements needed to keep commercial fire sprinklers working and code compliant are the routine inspections, which can seem complex. Most of the Inspection, Testing and Maintenance (ITM) of sprinkler systems require a qualified life safety professional, but some of the work can be done by in-house facility personnel.
NFPA 25, the Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems is the primary standard for most facilities and this standard assign specific responsibilities to the property owner or their designated representative. The property owner is ultimately responsible for the integrity of the fire sprinkler system even if ITM is being provided by an outside contractor.
4.1.1 Responsibility for Inspection, Testing, Maintenance, and Impairment. – The property owner or designated representative shall be responsible for properly maintaining a water-based fire protection system.
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Pressure relief valves protect fire sprinkler system components by relieving excess system pressure from supply surges or temperature changes. Since the 2010 edition, NFPA 13: “Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems” has required pressure relief valves to be installed on all wet pipe fire sprinkler systems. But picking the correct relief valve for a specific system does need a little preplanning. Knowing the desired static pressure of the system and reviewing the UL and FM Standards regarding the required operational characteristic of relief valves used on sprinkler systems for guidance, one can deduce the best rating for a relief valve on any system.
Continue reading The Risks of Adjustable Pressure Relief Valves →
In freezing weather, dry and pre-action fire sprinkler systems have a major Achilles heel if improperly maintained—the auxiliary drains. Auxiliary drains, also referred to as low point drains or drum drips, are required on dry or pre-action fire sprinkler systems to collect condensation that forms in the pipes.
When improperly maintained, low point drains break and can cause major facility flooding. The cost to repair and reset the fire sprinkler system itself is negligible compared to the cost of water damage mitigation, potentially lost inventory, tenant interruption, increased liability, and increased insurance premiums.
Luckily, understanding attentive maintenance and other available solutions can help facilities prevent flooding caused by frozen low point drains.
Continue reading Prepare your Low Point Drain for Winter →
Fire sprinkler system freeze prevention is vital for facility managers as temperatures drop. Compromised life safety, facility damage, and more plague facilities with poor maintenance plans.
Proper auxiliary drain maintenance is key to preventing freezing on dry sprinkler systems. Facilities can save thousands each winter with these key steps:
So how do you maintain auxiliary drains, and what are they? Let’s dive in.
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How can you prevent corrosion and freezing in fire sprinkler systems? That has long been a question central to code requirements and new product development.
Recent innovations have presented a few possible answers to that question. Air vents, self-draining auxiliary drains in heated cabinets, and flood elimination devices, can protect fire sprinkler systems against the common pitfalls of corrosion and freezing.
Continue reading New Trends in Corrosion and Freeze Protection for Resilient Fire Sprinkler Systems →
In freezing weather, dry and pre-action fire sprinkler systems have a major Achilles heel if improperly maintained—the auxiliary drains. Auxiliary drains, also referred to as low-point drains or drum drips, are required on dry or pre-action fire sprinkler systems to collect condensation that forms in the pipes.
When improperly maintained, auxiliary drains break and can cause major facility flooding. The cost to repair and reset the fire sprinkler system itself is negligible compared to the cost of water damage mitigation, potential lost inventory, tenant interruption, increased liability, and increased insurance premiums.
Luckily, understanding attentive maintenance and other available solutions can help facilities prevent flooding caused by frozen auxiliary drains.
Continue reading Sprinkler Systems and Freezing Weather →
This Special Edition of TechNotes is an annual reissue of the relevant information to winterizing dry pipe sprinkler systems. It was originally written by Mark Hopkins, P.E., Vice President of Engineering for the NFSA and updated by Kevin Hall, P.E., Manager of Engineering Research for the NFSA.
Continue reading Maintenance Considerations for Dry Sprinkler Systems →
The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) created a program that donates free NFPA 13D sprinkler display kits to fire departments across the country. The kits are used to educate the public on residential fire sprinklers. This article, originally published in Fire Sprinkler Contractor Magazine, covers AGF’s involvement in the program. AGF streamlined the program’s instructions and has donated dozens of risers for the displays.
Continue reading Sprinkler Advocacy and Education →
No one knows for sure how our world will change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there will be changes. In the short term, as the United States starts to re-open facilities, we need to prepare for additional building entry procedures and ITM post-COVID-19.
Security will likely include temperature taking and health screening questions. Service, maintenance, and inspection personnel need to be provided with masks, gloves, and other PPE. Disinfectant wipes will need to be added to toolboxes so for use on the fire control panel.
Gone are the days when a crew can easily access a building and have free roam of the stairwells to access sprinkler system valves. Bottom line, property owners and occupants will want to limit the number of outsiders entering their buildings, limit the areas of the building they access, and limit the amount of time they will be on site.
The fire protection industry can’t let interruptions to inspection, testing, and maintenance undermine long-term fire sprinkler system integrity. That will mean using products that ease the time service contractors need to be on-site and the areas they need to access. Although developed to solve other system-related issues, AGF Manufacturing has products to address concerns of a post-COVID-19 environment.
Continue reading Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance in a Post COVID-19 World →
