Over the last decade, Mist sprinkler systems have been increasingly used for residential homes. They were more commonly used in businesses such as hotels, cruise ships, and commercial buildings where the application was appropriate to the surroundings. Now, there are numerous residential mist systems in use throughout the UK installed by a growing number of distributors.
According to the London Fire Brigade, there are many organizations and types of property that will greatly benefit from installing a fire sprinkler or suppression system.
Who Benefits from Fire Sprinkler Systems?
These include heritage buildings, hostels, hotels, schools, colleges, museums, hospitals, and big warehouses. One Department of Education bulletin on buildings specifies that new schools – with the exception of some low-risk schools – must have fire sprinklers installed.
Care homes and the homes of very vulnerable people, specialist buildings, and not forgetting the firefighters themselves also benefit from installed and operable sprinkler systems.
Note that in England, the law requires automatic fire sprinklers be installed in new residential blocks more than 30 m high, self-storage facilities with an open plan greater than 2000 m2, and compartmented shop areas.
Mist Sprinkler System or Conventional Sprinkler System?
The main difference between a mist sprinkler system and a conventional sprinkler system is that the mist produced by the former is more than 100 x finer than that produced by the latter. The finer the mist, the faster it stops the combustion process, smothering the oxygen and suppressing the heat out of the fire. Another difference is that mist sprinkler systems operate at a higher pressure than conventional sprinkler systems.
Mist sprinkler systems react to the temperature of their surroundings. Once the temperature reaches 57 0C, the sprinkler system sprays mist to lower the temperature of the fire and suppress it. Sprinklers get triggered one system at a time. Automatic sprinkler systems can lower the cost of constructing a building, by eliminating the need of compartmentation (to prevent a fire from spreading). Installing a mist sprinkler system can decrease the number of fire protection structures the builders would have had to include otherwise.
Since mist sprinkler systems react faster to fires than conventional sprinkler systems, people, especially vulnerable people, or those with little or no mobility have more time to escape to safety in the event of a fire. Businesses are also able to get employees to safety, in the event of a fire, if mist sprinkler systems are installed in the premises. Mist sprinkler systems are effective in most types of premises, we suggest you seek professional advice prior to committing to one waymethod of fire suppression. Other than installing fire alarms, fire doors and emergency signage, you can make your property safer with a mist sprinkler system.
