Fire sprinklers have been around for a long time. They were patented in 1874 to replace fire bells and hand-held hose as the way to fight fires. Before that, people used water buckets, which were hard to use efficiently and often led to more damage. Because of innovation and modern technology, fire sprinklers are found in most buildings you go to. They are the most efficient way to fight fires besides your local fire department.
Fire sprinklers are designed to turn on automatically when a fire has been detected by an automatic fire detection system (commonly, smoke detectors) and sprinkle water dime-sized drops onto the flames; cool the air around the fire; and limit further damage. They’re used in factories, warehouses, and commercial buildings all over the world, but are they right for your business?
Commercial Business Fire Sprinklers
Fire sprinklers are a fire safety device that is required in all commercial buildings in the United States. They play an important role in fire prevention, suppression, and detection. In fact, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), sprinkler systems reduce the risk of death by 84 percent and property damage by 72 percent. This process can help save lives and reduce property damage by ensuring that fires do not spread quickly throughout your building before they can be controlled by emergency responders.
The emergency responders are alerted by the automatic alarms you probably have in your building. If you don’t have any fire alarms, you or your employees, who may have seen flames before they spread too far into other areas, have to call 911 or the fire department. As soon as flames or smoke are detected, you should contact your fire department. The flames could pose danger to others inside or outside of your property, so you want to contact emergency responders as soon as possible!
What Fire Sprinklers Do
Fire sprinklers are installed in ceilings, walls and floors, as well as on roofs and in ductwork. They are connected to a valve that opens when a temperature sensor detects the heat of a fire. When the valve opens, water flows through pipes in the ceiling or wall until it reaches the sprinkler head—a device that looks like a showerhead with a covering over it. The covering is called a hood because it protects people from accidentally coming into contact with the hot water inside the sprinkler head when it is operating correctly.
The water flowing through each sprinkler head makes sure that its heat sensor stays cool enough to detect when there is any kind of danger from heat sources like fires or electrical malfunctions within its range of coverage. Each individual sprinkler head has its own method for opening its valve so that only one will activate at once. This prevents them from all turning on at once and flooding entire rooms before firefighters can.
How Fire Sprinklers Help
Sprinklers are designed to detect the presence of heat, flames and smoke in the event of a fire. If any of these three conditions is detected within its designated zone, sprinklers will activate immediately by releasing what is usually less than 1 ½ gallons per sprinkler per minute. This is called the “activation” of the fire sprinklers. The amount of water dispensed from the sprinklers could differ based on the size of the affected area and the severity of the fire. Your local fire department inspects every commercial building to make sure it is up to code during the construction phase. The building must have enough sprinklers and alarms to cover the square footage effectively.
Once activated, sprinklers continue to release water until the fire is extinguished or they are physically broken by firefighters. The act of releasing water is known as the “discharge” phase. The amount of time between activation and discharge varies based on the type of sprinkler used.
Fire sprinklers are an excellent way to provide protection against fire in large buildings. They detect when a fire has started and then spray a high-pressure stream of water that can douse the flames almost immediately. They have helped save countless lives and prevent enormous amounts of property damage all across the country. If you have questions about your sprinkler system, contact your local fire department or give our team at All American Water Restoration a call!