If you wake up in the middle of the night to a cold blast of water from your hotel room’s fire sprinkler system, you might be a little bit annoyed at first. However, that cold blast of water is a sure sign that the fire protection services in place are operating correctly, which is something to be grateful for.
Approximately 44% of suppression system failures are due to a lack of maintenance on the system. To prevent fire protection system failure, here are a few maintenance tips to keep in mind when checking up on your fire sprinkler system.
Visual Communication
There should be signs on or near all sprinkler equipment in your facility. If you place bright, big signs around the equipment, it can inform workers of what to do and what not to do when inspecting or cleaning the areas around each sprinkler.
Lock All Control Valves
The best way to ensure valve security is to lock all sprinkler control valves in the open position, or by electronically supervising the valves through the fire alarm system that you have in place. Although anti-tamper software will alert you to any unauthorized action, it won’t stop the valves from being tampered with. As with any matter of security, it’s important to be vigilant.
Know the Standard
Fire sprinkler systems have been around since the National Fire Protection Agency was launched more than 100 years ago. Since then, regulations and codes have been written to ensure that each and every one of them performs to a certain standard. No matter what type of business you own, ensure that you know this standard are prepared to call your local fire protection service if you feel that standard can’t be met by your existing system.
Document Everything
One of the most important aspects of fire sprinkler system maintenance is keeping track of it. As soon as an inspection or repair occurs, write down what happened and the date that it occurred. Good record-keeping will allow you to more easily schedule maintenance visits in the future, comply with regulations, deal with insurance companies, and better maintain your system.
Fire protection services do many things, but it’s on you to be informed and create an informed team who knows how to tell when something’s up with the fire sprinkler system.
