Information
In order to guide and advise you on fire safety related issues, we offer you a range of great material for you enjoy and read
News
March 2010
Our Castleoak Marlow project has reached completion 4 weeks ahead of schedule!
Thank you to our installation team who helped to make this project such a huge success
Sept 2009
Springhead Sprinklers achieves NHBC Safemark certification
December 09
Our new website launched, we hope you enjoy visiting out site and learning much more about us
July 09
Our Castleoak project begins
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Safe as houses?
- 57,000 house fires occured in 2005
- 376 deaths as a result
- 11,600 injuries related to those fires
- 77% of fire fatalities occured in domestic and residential properties
*based on figures for 2005
Whilst you might THINK your home is safe, it's worth noting that nobody is immune to the effects of fire...
The harsh reality is that virtually all fires start small but they all grow very rapidly.
If a fire can be detected soon enough it will take surprisingly little water to control it, but if it is
allowed to grow unhindered it will render a room unsurvivable within 2 minutes.
Smoke alarms give good warning of fires but are only effective if they can be heared. What happens if you are deaf,
or bedridden, or - simply not there? A recent report shows that over 95% of children will actually sleep through a smoke alarm.
So what can we do to improve the situation?...
We cannot rely entirely on the fire brigade, when response times can be hindered by traffic or other incidents.
What we can do is to turn from passive fire protection to active fire protection with residential sprinkler systems
How sprinklers work
Sprinklers are not complex devices; they are simple because they need to be long lasting, fail safe, and most importantly reliable.
Normally, without sprinklers the first you know about a fire is when a smoke alarm goes off, or someone spots the fire; the Fire Brigade are called,
usually responding within 15 minutes. Allowing two more minutes for the Fire Brigade to set up their equipment, a fire can have almost
20 minutes without serious response.
With a residential sprinkler system, if any of the sprinkler heads detect a fire, it immediately starts to spray water on the fire and an alarm
is sounded to warn occupants to escape. Residential sprinkler systems can extinguish a fire completely, but should this not happen, they will control
the fire, slow its growth and reduce toxic fumes. By the time the Fire Brigade arrive, much less damage will occured, and their task will be significantly easier. More importantly, the occupants will have had time to escape.
A residential sprinkler system is designed to use just enough water to control the fire. Typically a residential sprinkler head discharges 49 litres of water a minute compared to a fireman's hose at 1,000+ litres a minute. This in itself minimises water damage and can turn a potential disaster into just an inconvenience.
To see an animated illustration of a sprinkler in operation click here.
Frequently asked questions
Invariably, people want to know if some of the myths about sprinklers are true.
We've compiled a list frequently asked questions to help put your mind at ease...
How do sprinklers operate? Fire sprinklers are individually heat-activated and connected to a network of water pipes. When the heat
from a fire raises the sprinkler to its operating temperature (usually about 170 deg. F), only that sprinkler
activates delivering water directly to the source of the heat. You can read more about how sprinklers work in the BAFSA guide.
Why are sprinklers so effective? All fires start small. If detected and tackled early enough a fire can be controlled with very little water.
Fire sprinklers operate automatically, even if you are not home, releasing water directly over the source of the fire
and sounding an alarm.
How reliable are sprinklers? Records show that sprinklers control 99.7% of all fires where they are fitted.
Do sprinklers go off accidentally? Records in service show that sprinklers are very dependable. The chance of an accidental discharge is 16,000,000:1 -
less than your chance of winning the Lottery!
What about water damage? Typically a sprinkler discharges 49 litres per minute. A firemen's hose on the other hand discharges 1000 litres a minute.
In general a sprinkler system will use between 1/100th and 1/1000th of the water used by the Fire Brigade.
Copyright 2010, Springhead Sprinklers Limited.
