Statistics reveal, reports Guy Watson of Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Co., that when properly installed and maintained, automatic fire sprinkler systems are a highly reliable and effective way of controlling and limiting the spread of fire in a building, and providing essential life safety, property and business protection functions.
Maintaining sprinkler system reliability The most recently published studies have reported that where sprinklers could have been expected to have operated, the reliability was found to be greater than 99% (Melin 2018, Parsons 2018.) This high level of reliability is a product of several factors, including: 1. Use of system components that are Listed / Approved to a recognised standard by a 3rd party certification body (e.g., UL199 for sprinklers) 2. System components installed in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions 3. System designed and installed in accordance with a recognised standard Sprinkler systems are not ‘out of the box’ solutions, i.e., they are not bought as a complete article in the same way that a car is manufactured for a customer. End-users rely on the expertise of a suitably competent installation company to follow a generic sprinkler standard (e.g., EN12845 or NFPA13) and to satisfy a performance specification that is agreed by the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). Understandably, AHJs who approve and verify design concepts invest a considerable amount of time and energy ensuring that the above three factors are rigorously complied with during a new installation project.
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