Fire alarm system design procedure ?

Question

what is the steps for designing a fire alarm system
i need a related links

Answer 1

I agree with BK.

It will be hard to give you related links without knowing where you are located. If you are in the United States, the design will be based on several sources. First will be the building and fire code for your area. Most likely, this will be the state building code. I am in Ohio. In Ohio, this would be the 2006 Ohio Building Code, which is based on the International Code Council's Building Code. This code, like many others, including the older BOCA code, will refer you to NFPA 72, the national fire alarm code. If you are interested in obtaining NFPA 72, it can be ordered from NFPA, see link below. The ADAAG (American's with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidlines) will also play a significant role.

Designs are based first on the occupancy type and number of occupants. For example, and E occupancy (Educational) will have different requirements than that of say an I2 (Hospital) occupancy. So first, you have to identify your occupancy type. Most likely it is an A type (Assembly), B (Business), E (Educational), I (Institutional), M (Mercantile), or R (Residential). To each occupancy type, there are also subcatagories. I1 is different from I2, for example.

Once the occupancy is established, then you sometimes need to consider additional factors, such as occupant load, and the size of the structure. Sometimes a fire alarm is not required, unless the building's size merit's it. If the building is tall enough, the alarm system may have to be equipped with addtional features, such as voice evac. and paging capabilities. Area rescue phones are often a requirement in high rises.

Also, the devices required may vary from occupancy to occupancy. M occupancy (Mercantile, like a Home Depot), may only need sprinkler monitoring equipement, a few fire detectors, and horn/strobes, pull stations may not be required when the building is fully sprinkled. While an E occupancy (Educational, like a High School), may need pull stations at every exit, unless a meriad of other conditions are met.

The systems visual alarms must be a certain brillance for thier use. A corroridor strobe light, for example, will not be as bright as say, a strobe in a gymnasium. The strobes will most likely have to be syncronized to prevent the chance of inducing an epileptic seizure in a small percentage of the population.

So, you see, fire alarm design is not simply broken down to just a step by step procedure, there are a variety of other factors to consider as well, such as system type, (Zoned Conventional or Addressable), system capabilities, and system features. All can vary based on occupancy, occupany load, system type, jurisdictional opinions, local codes, insurance requirements, etc., etc.

Personally, I have been doing this for over 15 years, and I still don't have it all figured out! I take each application on a case by case basis, explore what the code says, what the customer wants, what the customer's insurance company has to say, and I still have to submit for approval from the local building and fire departments and honor thier requuirements.

Sorry, if that hasn't helped much. If you have a specific application you'd like to bounce off of me. Feel free to contact me direct.

Answer 2

First check your state, county and/or city codes. Some spell it right out for you.