Sprinklers Simplified

A down-to-earth explanation on how Automatic Fire Sprinkler Systems function, where they are used and the various types of systems in use

Sprinklers Simplified HB 1472000 ISBN 0 7337 3037 X First published 2000

Author Barry M Lee, OAM, Dip Mech. E, Fl Fire E (Lond), MRSH Fellow Society of Fire Protection Engineers, USA Technical Consultant (formerly Technical Director) Tyco International Pty Limited. Past President, Australian industrial Research Group, Fire Protection Industry Association, Fire Protection Association and Institution of Fire Engineers (NSW Branch). Member Australian Committee, Det Norske Veritas and independent member DNVQA Quality Committee. Member Australian Technical Committee, Lloyds Register of Shipping. Deputy Chairman, Industry Liaison Committee, Fire Code Reform. Currently chairman, Fire Protection Standards Co-ordinating Group and Technical Committees on Automatic Sprinklers and Fire Service Pumps. Member of Standards Australia Council, International Standards Policy Board, Building Standards Policy Board and Technical Committees on Fire Safety, Fire Hydrants and Gaseous Fire Extinguishing Systems. Represents Australia on ISO Technical Committee 21 and chairs ISO/TC 21/SC 8, Gaseous Fire Extinguishing Systems.

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Co-author Mr David Michel, GI Fire E; AAII; MAIRM David Michel is Projects Manager at Standards Australia and Secretary to Technical Committee FP/4, Automatic Fire Sprinkler Systems, and manages the suite of sprinkler standards.

Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge Tyco International for much of the source material included in this handbook together with the photographs used. Kind assistance from Mr Bob Allsopp is acknowledged for proof-reading the manuscript and to Mr Eoin Shearer and FPA Australia who kindly endorsed the publication. FPA Australia PO BOX 1049 Box Hill Vic 3128 www.fpaa.com.au

Cover Cover illustration shows a variety of sprinklers in 100 years of sprinkler technology.

Copyright Standards Australia All rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written permission of the publisher. Published by Standards Australia International Ltd, PO Box 1055, Strathfield, NSW 2135 www.standards.com.au

Contents
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
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History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 The underlying principles of AS 2118 . . . . . . . . . .7 The anatomy of a sprinkler system . . . . . . . . . . .17 Sprinklers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Australian Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 A very remarkable record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Facts and fallacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Cost benefits of sprinkler protection . . . . . . . . . .61 Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Bibliography Index

Copyright

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An early sprinkler A woodcut representing the Sensitive-Automatic Fire Extinguisher fitted up close to the ceiling boards of a factory.

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Foreword
Sprinkler systems have become by far the most widely used and most reliable automatic means of fire protection. Sprinkler systems automatically detect a fire, transmit an alarm as a result of water flow and control or extinguish the fire. They are located in places where people cannot always be present and operate only as needed in the immediate vicinity of the fire. They have important life safety connotations, and can prevent fires from reaching destructive proportions which may mean the difference between a minor interruption and a prolonged or permanent shutdown. Automatic fire sprinklers provide a significant level of protection for the occupants of a building together with protection to the environment by minimising the effects that a major structural fire could have. Sprinklers also safeguard against loss of plant, machinery, equipment and building contents generally as well as protecting a business by providing against loss of continuity of business operations. Sprinklers also conserve water during fire-fighting operations. The purpose of this Handbook is to provide a simplified digest for busy people who have neither the time nor the inclination for detailed study of AS 2118, Automatic fire sprinkler systems, and the companion AS 4118, Fire sprinkler system Components,but who nevertheless wish to understand the leading particulars. Accordingly it provides a brief historical outline, a review of the underlying principles, an introduction to automatic sprinkler system components and abstracts of AS 2118 and AS 4118. Notes are included on maintenance, cost benefits and common misconceptions.

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How a sprinkler system works

A typical sprinkler system consists essentially of a piping network, connected to a permanent water supply via control valves incorporating local and fire brigade alarms and feeding automatic sprinklers spaced regularly throughout the protected premises. Convected heat from a fire causes operation of one or more thermally sensitive sprinklers, thereby permitting water to be discharged directly over the fire-affected area.

Copyright

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Chapter 1

History

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The story of the development of the automatic sprinkler system for fire protection began in England in 1806 when John Carey patented an apparatus for extinguishment of fires in gentlemens apartments and warehouses. This comprised a system of rose-sprinklers fitted to piping supplied by an elevated water tank, the water being kept from the piping, except at the time of fire, by weighted valves kept closed by combustible cords. It was reportedly of limited practical value. Shortly thereafter, in 1809, Sir William Congreve, a general of ordnance concerned with the protection of British arsenal buildings (also an hydraulics engineer and a member of parliament) patented a similar system with combustible cords leading to valves located in a place of outside security with arrangements for a further supply of water by water mains or by hose connection to fire engines. Later, in 1812, Congreve gave up the notion of burning cords and proposed the use of a cement fusible at 43 C. In this patent, he described the functions of an automatic sprinkler system thus:

... An apparatus for extinguishing fires which shall be called into action by the fire itself at its first breaking out and which shall be brought to bear upon the precise part where the flames exist.
One chronicler, C.J.H. Woodbury of the Boston Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, pointed out some eighty years later (1892) that this description comprised all that could be said under the state of the art as it exists today. A century later, it is still accurate! The next improvement occurred in 1864. Major A. Stewart Harrison of the First London Engineer Volunteers invented a sprinkler head (again rose pattern) containing numerous externally countersunk perforations with a rubber piston valve and rod assembly held in place by fusible solder in compression (the solder, incidentally, deriving from work by Sir Isaac Newton in 1699). Harrisons work included sprinkler spacing tables, check valves in supply pipes and alarm bells activated by water flow in the system all features considered essential in current practice. Why it did not succeed commercially is not clear.

Copyright

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HB 147-2000, Sprinklers simplified

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