Domestic Fire Alarm

chloebear · Aug 2, 2009

Hi,
Anyone know if when fitting a fire alarm with panel (Grade B Cat LU3) if you have to fit the Break Glass Call Points or can you have the alarm sytem working on just the sensors? Tried to wade throughthe regs for this, but it's a bit like drowning in quicksand. The instalation is in a large house andthe problem is that the call points will just look out of place.

Darkwood · Aug 2, 2009

Is the house shared by numerous tenants or is it just one family?

chloebear · Aug 2, 2009

Just one Family - the house is undergoing a major extension to it at the moment which takes it into the 'large house' bracket.

Darkwood · Aug 2, 2009

Not heard of a house with one family requiring breakglasses or even a panel just treat it as a standard domestic install and due to its size as long as the sounders operate throughout on detection which they do with a standard panel then think its ok although, i believe normal domestic mains linked smoke alarms with a control link between all smokes would have been adequate, youve just give the costumer more control with a panel.

chloebear · Aug 2, 2009

Trouble with this one is that Building control and the architects have got their sticky fingers involved and are specifying the alarm system has to have a panel and be of Grade B - Cat LU3.

Cerb NI · Aug 4, 2009

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Practically speaking,it only should relate to mansions and and 4 or more stories - I just love architects and the like who think they know what they are talking about.Had one today insisting that he wanted smoke detectors installed in a large freezer store!
18 Manual call points

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18.1 Commentary

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In most single-family dwellings, the provision of manual call points is not necessary. If persons discover a fire, normally they can alert other occupants by word of mouth. In these dwellings, the role of the fire detection and fire alarm system is to provide automatic detection and warning of a fire that would not be detected by occupants until a much later stage in its development, when it would present a more serious
danger to occupants, particularly those who are asleep.
However, if people are present in the room where a fire originates, they will normally detect the fire before it is detected automatically.
In a very large property, such as a country house or a mansion, and in most houses
in multiple occupation, manual call points are of benefit, so that a warning of fire can be initiated before it is detected by automatic fire detectors.
Generally, the incorporation of manual call points in the fire detection and fire alarm system will only be necessary in certain dwellings that warrant the provision of a Grade A or Grade B system. Manual call points can, however, readily be incorporated within a Grade C system. Grades D, E and F systems normally have no facility for incorporation of manual call points, nor are manual call points necessary in the types of dwelling for which these Grades of system are suitable. However, some smoke alarms do have a facility for connection of one or more manual call points, which can then be useful to test the operation of the system
(see Clause

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It is necessary for any manual call points installed within a dwelling to be simple and safe to operate by persons who are likely to have received no special instruction in their use. It is also necessary for any delay between operation of a manual call point and the sounding of the fire alarm signal to be kept to a minimum, so that there can be no doubt on the part of any person operating a manual call point that its operation has successfully resulted in the sounding of the fire alarm signal. Any significant delay in the sounding of the fire alarm signal might result in confusion, such as an impression that the system is defective, leading to inappropriate action.

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18.2 Recommendations
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The following recommendations are applicable.
a) Manual call points should be installed in very large single-family dwellings (including dwellings with long-term lodgers), and very large dwellings shared by no more than six persons, generally living in a similar manner to a single family (e.g. houses rented by a number of students), if a verbal fire warning, shouted by a person on the ground floor, is unlikely to be heard by all occupants of the dwelling.

NOTE 1 This situation is only likely to apply in the case of houses with four or more storeys above ground floor level and large, multi-storey mansions, country houses, etc. However, it will generally be appropriate to, at least, consider the need for incorporation of manual call points in any Grade A system that is installed.
NOTE 2 This recommendation applies to both Category LD and Category PD systems.

b) Manual call points should be provided in all houses in multiple occupation, other than the following:
i) single-family dwellings with long-term lodgers;
ii) houses shared by no more than six persons, generally living in a similar manner to a single family
(e.g. houses rented by a number of students);
iii) houses of only one or two storeys, with no floor greater than 200 m

2 in area.

NOTE 3 In the case of i) and ii), there might be a need for manual call points in order to satisfy the recommendations of

[FONT=CenturySchoolbook,Bold][FONT=CenturySchoolbook,Bold]18.2[/FONT][/FONT]a).

c) The method of operation of all manual call points in a system should be that of type A as specified in
BS EN 54-11. All manual call points should be identical.

NOTE 4 The type A manual call point is defined in BS EN 54-11 as follows:
“Type A Direct operation. A manual call point in which the change to the alarm condition is automatic (i.e. without the need for
further manual action) when the frangible element is broken or displaced.”

d) The delay between operation of a manual call point and the sounding of the fire alarm signal should not exceed three seconds.
e) In dwellings in which manual call points are appropriate, the manual call points should be located on escape routes (e.g. in the case of a house in multiple occupation, the common parts) and, in particular, at all storey exits and all principal exits to open air. Those located at storey exits may be sited close to a door leading onto a protected stairway or on the landing of the stairway.

NOTE 5 A principal exit to open air includes a “back door” (e.g. located in a kitchen), but does not include all exits between rooms
and open air (e.g. French doors leading from a living room to a garden).

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