Fire Alarm Inspections in Salt Lake City and Utah need to be done by a certified tech that has passed the test through the Utah State Fire Marshals Office. I wrote up some notes today from an inspection I did and my Office Manager read through the notes and she said that it was very clear to her. I felt good about that because many times people complain that I write too much and put industry words in that only Fire Alarm industry people can understand.
First I start off by doing a visual inspection of the system, the panel, batteries, devices and appliances (Horn/strobes that flash and sound). I notify the people on site that there will be a test, I notify the dispatch center so they don't send Fire Trucks and then we begin the test. There is an electronic switch inside the sprinkler pipes that tells you when water is going through the pipes and they call this a flow switch and we set those off to make sure they work. These set the main alarms off and the noisemakers. The strobes are for those that are hard of hearing and the horns are for those that may be visually impaired. Then we test all the smoke detectors and at this time it is also a good time to clean them out. When the smoke detector by the elevator is activated with smoke it recalls the elevator so it will not function. If the fire is on the second floor the elevator will go to the first floor and shut off, if the fire is on the first floor the elevator may go to the second floor and shut off. Fire Alarms can also be wired and programed so dampers or metal vents open or close to let air in or out. They can also shut off the air handlers so more air would not be brought in. There are also switches on the sprinkler pipes in case someone shuts the water off and if the water is off and there is a fire the system will not work. This is called a tamper switch and most of the time these just send a trouble not an alarm so all the noise makers don't activate but it does send a signal to the central station who can then notify the owner or the Fire Department depending on the situation. For the most part the alarm system is meant to get people out of the building to safety although now fire alarm systems can be programmed to do much more. We test the batteries to make sure they are still good, we test the panel to make sure the charging circuit is still charging the batteries and we check the wires and modules to make sure all is functioning well. We can then call dispatch and verify that all the signals were sent. Sometimes the panel will send signals over the Internet and other times over radio, phone or even high supervision cellular service which poles every 5 minutes. Analog phone lines or the lines that are on copper wire are becoming a thing of the past and changing to internet and other items. A pull box, manual pull station or otherwise known as a Pull Station also is part of a fire alarm system. Voice evac can be another part where speakers give you specific messages to leave the building or other instructions such as to stay put or take a certain route.
The wiring on a fire alarm system is very important and a certain type of wire needs to be used for many of the systems to work the right way. Plenum wire when burning puts off less toxic fumes and that is FPLP wire there are also different sizes of wire and depending on the job you may need to use thicker wire so there will not be so much of a voltage line drop. FPL wire is fire alarm wire and FPLR is riser wire which means it will hold it's own weight in an elevator shaft or other shaft meaning the outside of the wire is stronger than normal. The wire can be ran out and back in a circle and this is known as class A and many people like this best because if the wire is cut in the middle all the devices will still work even with the cut in the wire. If you run the wire out and just stop then when the wire is cut all the devices after the cut will not function and this is class B. It is a bit more complicated than this but that is the simple explanation. If you have questions on a Fire Alarm inspection in Salt Lake city Utah please give me a call or email me. These systems are known as life safety systems. Smoke detectors will activate much sooner than heat detectors. By the time the ceiling reaches 165 degrees when some heat detectors or sprinkler heads activate the smokes have already gone off and notified the dispatch who immediately calls the fire department.
Older and also newer less expensive systems tend to be zoned systems and many of the newer or larger systems are addressable systems where the panel tells you exactly what has gone into alarm instead of just telling you what floor the alarm was on like a zoned system in some cases.
Fire Alarm System Inspections in Salt Lake City. Fire Alarms in Utah. I welcome suggestions, corrections or other input about Fire Alarm Inspections. I understand there is much more to it than what I have outlined but this may give you a good overview of a fire alarm system even though I have not included all the devices an appliances that can be part of a system. The green tag for a sprinkler inspection is different than the fire alarm green tag even though they do include some of the same procedures in them
Call Larry Love at 801 428 1384 or 801 898 6003 to schedule your Fire Alarm Inspection www.PeakAlarm.com
