Fire automatic signaling: design standards, maintenance, inspection, repair, operation

Fire automatic alarm system is designed to ensure the location of the fire in the shortest time and promptly notify that a fire hazard situation has occurred. Not only the use of a variety of warning devices and fire detection sensors, but also the mounting of automatic fire alarms, is becoming an actual trend in the ways to combat fires.

Types of fire alarms

In terms of their parameters, there are several types of fire detectors:

• Light.
• Combined.
• Ionized.
• Smoke.
• Thermal.
• Manual.

In addition, they are divided according to the type of action:

• Threshold - such sensors are advisable to use only in small buildings with a small number of rooms.
• Address - these detectors accurately indicate the place of occurrence of a fire hazard situation due to the analysis of the situation.
• Address-analogue - such systems are classified as "intelligent", because they are able not only to independently assess the threat, but also, if necessary, reprogram the threshold of sensitivity at the detectors, and also transmit the signal about the fire, without stopping the work of the fire Signaling.

The newest automatic fire alarm system is a set of sensors designed to determine the level of smoke, a sharp temperature jump in the building, and the infrared signal is able to find a source of open fire. Also, the complex includes lines or devices for data transmission, notification and the center of the entire system - a specialized computer, which is designed to make decisions about the commissioning of devices located inside and outside the building. When the complex includes automatic fire extinguishing systems, the electronics decides on the expediency of using them.

It becomes clear that automatic fire alarm system has the ability to significantly improve the security of the building, and its installation is able to solve the task of timely detecting and eliminating the source of ignition.

Maintenance of APS systems

Maintenance of automatic fire alarm is carried out by special companies that mount it at the enterprise. In this service comes as a primitive cleaning of the system from dust, which has the property of being stuffed into sensors, and more complex procedures. TO is designed to ensure the uninterrupted operation of each detector separately and the entire system as a whole.

Conditionally, all maintenance activities can be divided into several categories:

• Specialists, who installed fire alarms, should be trained for persons responsible for fire safety and, by agreement, personnel. Such training will help to properly operate APS and will not put it out of operation because of someone's negligence.
• All faults and inaccuracies in work should be rectified in a timely manner, current, emergency and preventive repairs should be carried out. These works can take place both on the basis of the contract for warranty maintenance by the company that installed the system, and in its absence, by third-party organizations.
• Planned maintenance must be carried out.

Please note that all these works can be performed only by organizations that have a license from the Ministry for Emergency Situations to conduct such actions.

All institutions in which there is a mass gathering of people are required to conclude such a contract.

The order of maintenance

All automatic security and fire alarms must be checked in a timely manner, and the service is carried out within strictly defined terms in the contract, which can not be less frequent than those established by law.

When carrying out maintenance work, it is necessary to check:

• The strength of the fastenings and the overall external state of the system;
• Sensitivity of the sensors and guarantee of their operation, as well as ensuring the uninterrupted reception of the signal on the central panel;
• Serviceability of insulation and the general state of flexible connections.

This service should be carried out in order to:

• To ensure further uninterrupted functioning of the APS system;
• Check the overall technical condition;
• In a timely manner, identify any problems in the system;
• Eliminate adverse effects of exposure to harmful factors.

Depending on the reason for the maintenance, it can be regular and extraordinary.

An extraordinary check of automatic fire alarm is carried out:

• After false positives;
• When the system fails on the occurrence of conditions for triggering;
• After the restoration work that was carried out in the APS system;
• On the application of the enterprise manager, on which this automatic fire alarm system is installed.

Prevention of fire alarms

The necessary preventive works are also tried in the course of maintenance.

When the system is prevented, the APS purifies the external elements and surfaces of all devices from contamination, lubricates if necessary, strengthens connections, replaces parts of the system that have expired.

Carrying out of works on APS troubleshooting

In cases when any malfunctions are revealed during the preventive maintenance, maintenance or inspection, it is necessary to perform an immediate repair of the automatic fire alarm or replace the failed part. If the defect is detected by the owners of the APS, they must promptly notify the company involved in servicing this system as soon as possible. The elimination of any malfunctions by its own forces is unacceptable.

Execution of maintenance work

All activities that are mandatory for performance during maintenance are prescribed in the regulations, in the preparation of which it is necessary to take into account the work recommended by the APS manufacturers, as well as the requirements that are contained in the acts of the fire inspection.

On the basis of the internal order, the person responsible for meeting the deadlines for the maintenance and preventive works, as well as for maintaining the maintenance logs, should be appointed. All actions performed during the testing of the APS operability, as well as the work on troubleshooting are subject to mandatory registration in special journals, which, upon the first request of fire inspectors, must be presented to them for inspection.

Responsibility for violation of the deadlines for the maintenance of automatic fire alarms

THAT must necessarily be carried out on the warning systems of people in cases of need for evacuation.

If problems in the notification lead to human casualties or to significant damage and it turns out that maintenance was not performed in time or not done at all, then this would be sufficient grounds for initiating a criminal case against the head of the enterprise. These requirements relate only to fire systems - the maintenance of all other warning systems is determined by the manager, and those of security alarms are determined by the norms of private security.

Design standards for automatic fire alarm systems

From the correct design of the APS system depends both the financial costs of its installation, and the efficiency of its operation.

The project is compiled for each object individually and is based on the requirements of the standards PB, PUE and GOST, therefore it takes quite a long time and is carried out in several stages.

First, the object is studied: its area, layout, design features, etc., then the amount of necessary work and the required equipment are determined. Before the drafting, areas of increased danger for ignition are marked, in order to give them increased attention.

Only after this start directly to the design and preparation of documentation, which will later be needed to confirm that all fire regulations have been met at the site.

Rights for the drafting of the APS system are available only to companies that have a special permit for the development of project documentation and are part of the Self-Regulating Organization.

All design standards are regulated by the current legislation, and the project itself is a diagram of the whole system of detection, notification and automatic fire extinguishing.

APS system operation requirements

Mandatoryly appointed responsible for maintenance, as well as for conducting regular inspections of visible parts of the APS system.

In addition, the operation of an automatic fire alarm system includes compliance with certain requirements:

• It is forbidden to whiten or paint over any part of the system;
• At the beginning of repair work in the building to notify the fire department about this;
• It is prohibited to block fire detectors and passes to the central apparatus;
• Daily check the included alarm status, and in the absence of the switch "day-night", then at the end of the working day;
• In cases where the alarm is activated, the panel must monitor the arming of the object by telephone.