TECHNICAL QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Technical questions & answers Not a day goes past without the BAFSA Technical team, Joe McCafferty and Ian Gough, responding to questions regarding sprinklers and water mist applications, standards and design. We could fill a whole magazine with them but instead publish some of the more interesting and obscure ones. We are third party accredited residential sprinkler installers. We are hoping to start to install commercial jobs to BS EN 12845. I have past commercial design experience and I have done approved training for installation, design and FHC using FHC software for residential systems. I’m wondering what qualifications I need in order to start designing/installing projects? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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To design/install/maintain commercial sprinkler systems (BS EN 12845, LPC Rules etc.) you and your installation/maintenance staff need to be competent in each process. Training for the various design disciplines is critical and designers can sit Designer competence examinations. For installation/ maintenance the company should become accredited by organisations like FIRAS or LPCB which have commercial sprinkler system accreditation schemes. If you go to their websites or call them, you should be able to find all you need to get started. Note: this is not an ‘overnight’ process and you must be prepared for many hours of data/document preparation and have suitable sites for the auditors to visit and make their assessments of your competency. Do sprinkler heads installed to BS9251 have to have third party approval? Are there any sprinkler heads approved by LPCB or others that comply with the requirements of BS 9251.
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BS 9251 Clause 5.9.1 does state that sprinkler heads should conform to BS EN 1225914, but gives a bit of leeway i.e., or ‘another residential head standard’, if the approval standard is acceptable to the AHJ! You can check on sites like Redbook Live (and/or other approval sites) for a list of sprinkler heads that have third party approval to BS EN 12259-14 Is there any special requirement for the lettering that identifies where a Dry Riser is installed and can the lettering be recessed in a stone facade. answer
BS 9990 Clause 8.1 gives details of identification lettering for Dry Risers and there is no mention of recessing the lettering. The lettering should be clear and visible to the FRS in a prominent location and of the dimensions stated in BS 9990.
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