GST-IFP4M Intelligent Fire Alarm Control Panel
Installation and Operation Manual
Page
1
Fire Alarm System Limitations
While a fire alarm system may lower insurance rates, it is not a substitute for fire
insurance!
An automatic fire alarm system
– typically made up of smoke detectors, heat detectors,
manual pull stations, Notification Appliances, and a fire alarm control with remote
notification capability
–can provide early warning of a developing fire. Such a system,
however, does not assure protection against property damage or loss of life resulting from
a fire.
The Manufacturer recommends that smoke and/or heat detectors be located throughout a
protected premises following the recommendations of the current edition of the National
Fire Protection Association Standard 72 (NFPA 72), manufacturer's recommendations,
State and local codes, and the recommendations contained in installation and operation
manual of the detectors, which is made available at no charge to all installing dealers. A
study by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (an agency of the United States
government) indicated that smoke detectors may not go off in as many as 35% of all fires.
While fire alarm systems are designed to provide early warning against fire, they do not
guarantee warning or protection against fire. A fire alarm system may not provide timely or
adequate warning, or simply may not function, for a variety of reasons:
Smoke detectors
may not sense fire where smoke cannot reach the detectors such as in
chimneys, in or behind walls, on roofs, or on the other side of closed doors. Smoke
detectors also may not sense a fire on another level or floor of a building. A second-floor
detector, for example, may not sense a first-floor or basement fire.
Particles of combustion or "smoke"
from a developing fire may not reach the sensing
chambers of smoke detectors because:
Barriers such as closed or partially closed doors, walls, or chimneys may inhibit
particle or smoke flow.
Smoke particles may become "cold," stratify, and not reach the ceiling or upper walls
where detectors are located.
Smoke particles may be blown away from detectors by air outlets.
Smoke particles may be drawn into air returns before reaching the detector.
The amount of "smoke" present may be insufficient to alarm smoke detectors. Smoke
detectors are designed to alarm at various levels of smoke density. If such density levels
are not created by a developing fire at the location of detectors, the detectors will not go
into alarm.
Smoke detectors, even when working properly, have sensing limitations. Detectors that
have photoelectric sensing chambers tend to detect smoldering fires better than flaming
fires, which have little visible smoke. Detectors that have ionizing-type sensing chambers
tend to detect fast-flaming fires better than smoldering fires. Because fires develop in
different ways and are often unpredictable in their growth, neither type of detector is
necessarily best nor may a given type of detector not provide adequate warning of a fire.
Summary of Contents for GST-IFP4M
Page 1: ......
