Designing

The design of any fire-protection system is an exact science that considers a building’s use, occupancy, footprint, and even its other installed systems.

Fire-protection systems are complicated and sophisticated, and are different for just about every building. Every well-designed system, whether it is being designed for a new building or being installed as part of a renovation or retrofit, must be developed with specific objectives in mind.

Planning for fire protection involves an integrated approach in which system designers need to analyze building components as a total package. In most cases, the analysis needs to go beyond basic code compliance and the owner’s minimum legal responsibilities for providing protection.

One needs to look beyond a systems standpoint and examine, as a whole, how all the components will work together. The design process should be a holistic one for both new construction and retrofits. Building ownership and management, architects, engineers, contractors, and consultants all need to be involved in the planning and design process, and fully understand the issues and concerns of all other parties.

Under the rather broad heading of fire protection systems, we have the main components of alerting, suppression and containment systems.

The primary components of fire designing are:

 Fire alarm systems

 Fire detection and notification systems

 Suppression agents and systems

 Water distribution systems

 Automatic sprinkler systems

 Standpipe and hose systems

 Portable fire extinguishers.

Fire protection systems are meant to provide a reasonable degree of protection for life and property from fire. These include manual and automatic systems which uses water, foam or inert gases as the extinguishing medium.

In the design process, these typical fire-protection system goals are on the table for consideration:

• Saving lives.
• Saving property.
• Preserving business continuity.

It all depends on how a building is used and occupied. A warehouse or storage facility, for example, will have different fire-protection requirements than a multi-tenant office building.

While no standard fire-protection design blueprint exists for any two buildings, the systems found in any building typically include these basic components:

• Detection.
• Alarms and notification.
• Suppression.

All components of modern fire-protection systems need to work together to effectively detect, contain, control, and/or extinguish a fire in its early stages – and to survive during the fire.

To achieve the most beneficial symbiosis between these components, it’s best to involve an experienced system designer, such as a fire-protection engineer, in the early stages of the planning and design process. At ELIXIR ENGINEERING – you can count on VACCIFIRE to complete all your designing needs. Call us Contact us Come to us.