TYPES OF FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS
At the beginning of any fire detection system project, a good fire alarm system designer should choose and decide which system type he/she will implement.
There are two worldwide known types of fire alarm systems to choose from:
1- Conventional fire alarm system
2- Addressable fire alarm system
This is the most important and crucial step in the fire alarm system design.
In this article we will give you a summery for both types of fire alarm systems including:
- Fire system connection
- Cost comparison between both systems
- The key choice for both systems
How the fire system is connected?
Fire detection system circuit connection is different for both systems.
Conventional fire alarm systems:
- In conventional fire alarm system each zone (a lot of smoke detectors and manual call points) is connected to one contact in the main fire alarm control panel (two wires contact).
- If any fire alarm sensor senses a fire, it gives the fire alarm control panel an indication of fire case in the whole zone.
- This zone could contain 30 smoke detectors.
- The conventional fire alarm control panel is a limited zone panel.
- It could be 2 zones, 4 zones, 8 zones, 16 zones and up to 32 zones.
- When we say the whole zone we mean that all detectors are seen as a one detector by the fire alarm control panel.
- No individual addressing for each detector.
Typical conventional fire alarm system connection as described below:
Therefore in conventional fire detection systems all fire alarm detectors are connected in parallel in each individual zone. The detectors will be seen as on detector in the fire control panel.
So, the Conventional fire alarm system is applicable for small applications that have a few zones and limited area to allow the fire fighters to reach the right zone with the fire.
Addressable fire alarm systems:
In the contrary, when using addressable fire alarm system one can give an address to each individual fire alarm detector or manual call point.
The Fire alarm system diagram of addressable fire alarm system is as follows:
Addressable fire alarm system connection diagram
The connection in the addressable fire detection systems is called LOOP connection. Every point is connected to the fire alarm control panel through the loop connection which can be up to 250 point or fire detector. So, the Addressable fire alarm system is applicable for large applications that has a lot of zones and need more details in a wide area.
Cost comparison of both systems
Another thing you have to consider is the fire system cost.
The addressable fire setection system cost is very expensive compared to the conventional fire alarm system cost when applied to the same application. We will give you two examples to let you understand how to choose the suitable fire alarm system for your application.
Example#1 :
Suppose you have a house of two floors and each floor has two rooms (Total 4 rooms), what fire alarm system would you implement?
The suitable fire system would be a conventional fire alarm system because it is just 4 zones (4 rooms) and you need a lower cost system. No need for loop connection and extra details of the points.
Example#2:
Suppose you are in charge of a control room that monitors all the apartments and buildings in a large residential compound that has 4 buildings and more than 200 point to monitor (apartments + garage + entrances). What fire alarm system would you implement?
The suitable system is an addressable fire alarm system because it is more than 200 points and it is a large application fire alarm system (you need to identify each point of the system by its own address to allow firefighter to reach their target effectively).
What is the key choice for both systems?
The key choices between the conventional and the addressable fire alarm systems are:
1- Do we need extra details and information of the places to be monitored?
2- The cost of the fire protection system and the budget you have!
In our above mentioned example of the “four room” house:
We don’t need more details than the room name, and it is residential fire alarm system should be cheap. Four zones fire alarm control panel is adequate.
Nevertheless, in the second example of the residential “compound control room” we need to address each individual point of the compound with extra details like (Building#3 – floor 22 – apartment 5) So, the system will be expensive and has more than 200 point to monitor.
Finally, types of fire alarm systems’s choice depends on the application.
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