T
The Ghost
So three days and half a K later am I wiser?
Not having anything to compare it to it is hard to benchmark. However the tutor was good knows his stuff and fielded questions very well. The course was well organised. The food was ermmm well could have been more varied.
Two days were spent on BS5839-1:2017 and BS5839-6:2013. We were artfully shoehorned into the BS books and key facts as well as how to reference material in them. We were let loose on rigs and told to find at least five faults. I found that a bit daunting as I have done little to nothing on fire alarms. But you can access BS which tells you exactly what you need to look for, that and the preceding lessons, and given you are at least an electrician provided enough fodder to get on with it. There was some small sense of achievement as well as a burgeoning sense that yes it is perfectly logical and really simple circuits, I can do this. Then liven up the rig and test the components and check on the panel for the correct lights going on. Canned smoke, break glass test, heat applied to heat detectors very sensible and orderly really.
Then (after learning application of types of detector and required locations,spacing etc.) design a simple residential large house fire alarm system and designate categories and grades. The books become more and more valuable and you reference them more and more. Very accessible in their organisation indeed. Unlike BS7671. Then a little exam maybe 20 questions with 100% pass mark required. You would have to be an idiot to get this wrong. You have the books and now you have to use them, do so correctly and you can't go wrong. Commercial the first day then domestic the second. You begin to see you have to have both books as they are interdependant. Especially BS....-6 to BS....-1
All in all I came out thinking yes I could design, install, commission, test, service and certify a fire alarm system. It would take some thinking but certainly within my grasp. The beauty of it is though you don't actually have to as you are required to receive the design from the user.
Then on to emergency lights again very good again BS standards abound, three books this time! (forget the holiday you just planned) Cleared up a number of issues and shone a torch on exactly what I should and should not be doing. Really good and clear again on the testing commissioning (its all in the book)
Over all I feel much more confident around such systems, no doubt I will receive a bit of paper in a few weeks bearing this out. I think money well spent as I have come out of it with a sense of fire alarms and emergency lighting are no longer a mystery. I do actually understand them even though at a rudimentary level. Not massive systems that really are complex with visual monitoring etc. with cameras. Risk assessment especially commercially is in its own class and way beyond my remit. But then many aspects of fire alarms and em. lighting are the responsibility of others. Certainly this will equip one to design and install as well as certify the average installation we are likely to encounter. Anyway I will stop wittering on.
Not having anything to compare it to it is hard to benchmark. However the tutor was good knows his stuff and fielded questions very well. The course was well organised. The food was ermmm well could have been more varied.
Two days were spent on BS5839-1:2017 and BS5839-6:2013. We were artfully shoehorned into the BS books and key facts as well as how to reference material in them. We were let loose on rigs and told to find at least five faults. I found that a bit daunting as I have done little to nothing on fire alarms. But you can access BS which tells you exactly what you need to look for, that and the preceding lessons, and given you are at least an electrician provided enough fodder to get on with it. There was some small sense of achievement as well as a burgeoning sense that yes it is perfectly logical and really simple circuits, I can do this. Then liven up the rig and test the components and check on the panel for the correct lights going on. Canned smoke, break glass test, heat applied to heat detectors very sensible and orderly really.
Then (after learning application of types of detector and required locations,spacing etc.) design a simple residential large house fire alarm system and designate categories and grades. The books become more and more valuable and you reference them more and more. Very accessible in their organisation indeed. Unlike BS7671. Then a little exam maybe 20 questions with 100% pass mark required. You would have to be an idiot to get this wrong. You have the books and now you have to use them, do so correctly and you can't go wrong. Commercial the first day then domestic the second. You begin to see you have to have both books as they are interdependant. Especially BS....-6 to BS....-1
All in all I came out thinking yes I could design, install, commission, test, service and certify a fire alarm system. It would take some thinking but certainly within my grasp. The beauty of it is though you don't actually have to as you are required to receive the design from the user.
Then on to emergency lights again very good again BS standards abound, three books this time! (forget the holiday you just planned) Cleared up a number of issues and shone a torch on exactly what I should and should not be doing. Really good and clear again on the testing commissioning (its all in the book)
Over all I feel much more confident around such systems, no doubt I will receive a bit of paper in a few weeks bearing this out. I think money well spent as I have come out of it with a sense of fire alarms and emergency lighting are no longer a mystery. I do actually understand them even though at a rudimentary level. Not massive systems that really are complex with visual monitoring etc. with cameras. Risk assessment especially commercially is in its own class and way beyond my remit. But then many aspects of fire alarms and em. lighting are the responsibility of others. Certainly this will equip one to design and install as well as certify the average installation we are likely to encounter. Anyway I will stop wittering on.
