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Fire Safety for Facilities Management Personnel – Fire Detection & Fire Alarms – Part 207

June 26, 2023 10:47 am

Lawrence Webster Forrest (LWF) is a specialist fire engineering and fire risk management consultancy whose aim is to give information on best practice in fire safety for facilities management personnel through this blog series. In part 206, LWF talked about the interface of the fire alarm system with other systems and laid out the various parts of the BS 7273 guidance. In part 207, we look at the areas covered by the BS 7273 codes of practice in more detail.

BS 7273-1 is the code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures – Electrical actuation of gaseous total flooding extinguishing systems.

The code of practice deals with the interface with a total flooding gaseous fire extinguishing system. Such systems are designed to discharge into an enclosure or room and achieve a pre-determined gas concentration within a set time from discharge. The gas agent involved will suppress or extinguish a fire in that area.

When seeking reference for a total flooding gaseous fire extinguishing system design, it will be necessary to refer to BS 5839-1 for the extinguishing system and BS 7273-1 for the interface between the two systems.

BS 7273-2 is the code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures – Mechanical actuation of gaseous total flooding and local application extinguishing systems. It looks to address the interface with a mechanically operated local application or total flooding gaseous extinguishing system. This type of system is not commonly seen.

BS 7273-3 is the code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures – Electrical actuation of pre-action water-mist and sprinkler systems. It covers the interface with a pre-action sprinkler system. Pre-action systems require a fire detection and release system. When activated, the valve opens which allows water to flow into the system pipe and an alarm is sounded. When the heat source activates a sprinkler, water flows through only the open sprinklers. This allows selective protection to only the area where the fire has been detected, as opposed to a deluge sprinkler system where all valves open.

In part 208 of this series, LWF will continue to look at the parts of BS 7273, from part 4 which deals with the interface between a fire alarm system and door release units. In the meantime, if you have any queries about your own facilities or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

 

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 35 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

 

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.

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