Eurofyre was recently involved with the supply of wireless sounders for a listed building, currently serving as an apartment building, in the South West of England to help an existing fire detection system meet the required regulations.
Landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) have a legal obligation to minimise the risk of fire as identified by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). This includes ensuring that fire extinguishers are available and that suitable fire detection is in place.
After a routine visit from a building surveyor, it was reported that the listed property did not have sufficient sounders to meet the legal requirements. Therefore, it was imperative that additional sounders were added to meet the standards required by an HMO and keep the occupants of the building safe from fire.
The additional sounders were required across multiple floors which could potentially cause major upheaval leaving the installer with a number of challenges to overcome.
The Challenges
When upgrading the fire alarm system, there were a number of considerations that needed to be made:
- Time
The existing fire alarm needed to be updated quickly and with little disruption to the operation of the building. - Listed Building
As the building is listed, changes to the structure were not permitted. Therefore installing new cabling would be difficult. - Aesthetics
The aesthetics of the property were to be maintained. Therefore, unsightly cabling or conduit was not an acceptable solution.
Installing new cabling would have been time-consuming, damaging to the property and would not provide a cost-effective solution.
Hybrid Fire Detection
The solution was to use Wi-Fyre, a hybrid fire detection solution that allows hardwired and wireless devices to work together as part of a complete fire detection system. Wi-Fyre can be installed into almost any existing fire alarm system, meaning that additional devices can be installed anywhere in the property, without the need for costly and time-consuming cable installation.
How Wi-Fyre Works
At the heart of the Wi-Fyre hybrid fire detection solution, is the Wi-Fyre Transponder. Wi-Fyre transponders are installed into the wiring of a new or existing hardwired fire detection system via a compatible interface module, and can each communicate with up to thirty wireless field devices such as manual call points, detectors, sounders and input/output modules.
Wi-Fyre has six user-selectable modes of operation for increased compatibility with existing systems:
- Conventional
- ProFyre 2-Wire addressable
- ProFyre addressable
- Addressable (collective)
- Reflective
- Standalone
A Wi-Fyre survey must be conducted using the Wi-Fyre Survey Head to ensure that the signal between the field devices and transponder is strong enough for the system to operate efficiently.
The Solution
Eurofyre Provided four Wi-Fyre Transponders that were installed on each floor and wired into the existing conventional fire alarm panel. Fifteen wireless sounders were then installed in each room and connected to the nearest transponder.
For more information about Wi-Fyre, please feel free to give us a call on +44 (0)1329 835024 or email [email protected] where we would be happy to answer any questions.
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