A wet system consists of a wet installation control valve arrangement feeding a sprinkler system which is charged with water supplied either from the water mains or from a water storage tank.  It is found in buildings which are heated and cover multiple industry sectors.

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards including LPC (including BS12845), NFPA & FM Global & BS9251

A dry system comprises of a dry installation control valve arrangement feeding a sprinkler system which is charged with compressed air all year round. Dry systems are used where heating cannot be guaranteed such as external canopies and covers multiple industry sectors.

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards including LPC including BS12845, NFPA & FM Global

An alternate system comprises of both a wet and dry valve feeding a sprinkler system which is charged with water in the summer months and air in the winter months. These are commonly found in areas of high risk where a wet system is usually required but due to the lack of heating is not suitable all year round. These cover multiple industry sectors

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards including LPC including BS12845, NFPA & FM Global

A deluge system comprises of a deluge installation control valve arrangement feeding a pipework network consisting of open sprinkler heads to a given area. Upon detection (pneumatic or electrical) the deluge valve opens and allows complete discharge through the open heads. These systems are commonly found in high hazard special risk areas where a rapid-fire growth is expected. They can also be used to protect localised machinery via the use of an open medium/high velocity sprayers.

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards including LPC including BS12845, NFPA & FM Global

A pre-action system works very much in the same way as a deluge system whereby an electrical signal (through automatic detection system) opens the pre-action valve and fills the pipework ready for the sprinkler heads to operate as is expected for that of a wet system. There can be various ‘interlocks’ depending on the risk and installation. Pre-action systems are used to protect areas where a wet system is unwanted such as cold stores due to high fire load in warehouse storage or an area where discharge would create significant damage such as data centres

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards including LPC including BS12845, NFPA & FM Global

Dry Risers comprise of vertical mains, which are fitted into staircase enclosures or other suitable positions with inlets fitted at ground level to enable the Fire Brigade to connect into the water supply.

A Wet Riser is a pipe kept permanently charged with water available either direct from a storage tank, via a booster Pump, or fed directly from the town’s main water supply.

Dry Riser and Wet Riser Mains are intended for use by the Fire Brigade to provide a readily available means of delivering considerable quantities of water to extinguish or to prevent fire spread.

Richmond Fire can carry out testing and maintenance of both Dry and Wet Risers to recognised British Standard BS 9990.

In certain circumstances it is necessary to include a fire fighting foam enhancement to the water-based sprinkler system to cope with particular fire risks. There are different types of fire-fighting foam with most common being aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) which is applied in various percentages to supplement the sprinkler system. Foam enhanced system are more commonly found in heavy industry /petrochemical sectors where risk of flammable liquid fires is high and in warehouse storage where supplication is required to protect against a fire involving plastic tote boxes.

In addition to the more common AFFF application a high expansion foam solution is available for protection of aircraft hangers

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards

Fire pumps are an integral part of a sprinkler system and are often chosen as the preferred water supply option due to their scope and reliability. They are installed alongside a water storage tank or as a booster pump in a town’s main arrangement and are designed to deliver a known, consistent flow and pressure to suit any fire protection design.

Due to their reliability and effectiveness fire pumps can and are installed in all industry sectors, especially in high hazard applications where a dependable supply is a must in controlling a potentially rapid growing fire risk.

A number of fire pump options are available to the system designer including horizontal split case, vertical split case, vertical inline, vertical turbine, and end suction.

It is essential that when installed they are regularly maintained/tested on a bi-annual basis to ensure that when called upon in the event of a fire they operate as designed.

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards.

Fire hydrants are a means of effectively distributing water around a location with a number of connections made available for delivery of fire water where needed by the fire service. They consist of a dedicated water supply (sometimes even from a sprinkler system water supply), underground mains pipework network and fire hydrants themselves. It is essential that when installed they are regularly maintained/tested to ensure that when called upon in the event of a fire the correct flow/pressure can be delivered.

They are non - industry specific and as such are found in all industry sectors.

Gas fire protection systems are usually used to protect rooms where the items within are high value and could be destroyed if water or other agents were used to extinguish a fire, for example in an art gallery, museum, data centre, or other areas containing high value equipment.

In instances such as the above, gas is preferable as an extinguishing agent due to the need to minimise damage to the assets.  A further example of where a system like this may be used is an air traffic control centre, where there not only is highly expensive equipment present, but the potential for airline disruption should the fire not be extinguished quickly and equipment be damaged.

However, the overall integrity of the system is vitally important and many factors including the design of the system, the quality of the installation, the testing of the pipes that carry the gas and the integrity of the protected room matters greatly to the overall effectiveness of the system.  

Room Integrity Testing is a test that is designed to ensure that the room is sufficiently well sealed to prevent the gas from leaking out. 

The test needs to be carried out every 12 months as part of a maintenance schedule.  The need for remedial leak sealing is the responsibility of the client and not the fire protection contractor. 

The room integrity test also referred to as the door fan test can be regarded as a MOT for the enclosure. As such it applies to the enclosure and its associated gaseous fire extinguishing system on the day the room integrity test was carried out.

However, it is necessary to ensure that the gas system continues to provide effective protection throughout the service life of the protected risk. It is therefore essential that, as part of the routine inspection and maintenance procedures that apply to the systems itself, the room integrity test and the hold time calculation is repeated annually (as required in the ISO 14520 and EN 15004 standards) unless documentary evidence exists that no changes have been made to the protected enclosure, since it’s last test.

Richmond Fire can carry out routine maintenance and services to all recognised standards

More and more insurance companies are requesting this be carried out as they recognise that kitchens in buildings are one of the biggest fire risks with potential to become a very expensive claim for them should the worst happen.

Commercial Kitchens utilise high temperature cooking oils, slow cooking appliances and deep-fat fryers all of which represent a difficult and unique challenge to maintaining a safe working environment and compliance to Health and Safety legislation.

Restaurant suppression systems are fixed extinguishing systems designed to quickly detect and suppress kitchen fires using advanced extinguishing agents specifically designed to effectively combat kitchen fires and limit damage so that the operation of the kitchen can be quickly reinstated once the fire has been safely extinguished.

Nozzles placed under the cooker canopies and over each risk area propel a water-based agent with a chemical foam type mix over the risk. This is usually triggered by a fusible link (a thermal link fixed to a cable which connects to an actuator which when it breaks releases the agent through the pipework and nozzles) or a manual pull station.

The agent is usually situated near the risk in a box. This is basically a large automatically operated fire extinguisher. Pipework from the nozzles terminate at this point and a valve operates the release. Once the system is triggered the agent is propelled from this valve/cylinder to the nozzles.

The agent is a water-based chemical which acts like a foam extinguisher. This is to ensure any flammable liquids are covered by the foam to avoid a boil over from any oven/fryer that may still be switched on which stops the oil from re-igniting.

To ensure system functionality and compliance to British and European Standards, Biannual maintenance visits are required.