Why Fire Sprinklers?

Fire Sprinkler Systems - The Best Protection

The danger to life and damage to property resulting from fire is a high cost to pay for inadequate fire protection.

Increasing public awareness to the hazards of fire, together with the use of smoke detectors, will help reduce the risk to injury or death. Whilst smoke detectors give warning of fire, they do nothing to extinguish it. How the fire is dealt with in the first four minutes can sometimes mean the difference between life or death.

In an unprotected environment, just four minutes after a fire has erupted it is out of control and the building may be lost entirely. In a building protected by a fire sprinkler system, the fire is contained and controlled immediately, and the possibility of personal injury is dramatically reduced.

In fact, the greatest danger to life is the inhalation of toxic fumes generated by a fire long before it has had a chance to engulf the building structure. Early warning of a fire by using smoke detectors will reduce the risk to life by up to 50 percent. If a fire can also be extinguished early, the effect is even more dramatic. Using a combination of fire sprinklers and smoke detectors, the potential reduction in the loss of life is almost doubled to up to 98.5 percent.

CPVC Fire Sprinkler Systems - The Best Solution

Many people consider fire sprinkler systems an expensive proposition, with costs that put them out of reach of most consumers. Metallic systems - such as steel and copper - require extensive prefabrication or have to be joined on-site by soldering or using heavy, oily engineering equipment. Additionally, where the system is being fitted into an existing building, often either all or part of the space has to be vacated while the installation takes place.

CPVC is an engineered thermoplastic material that has been used successfull for years in a wide range of applications, including sprinkler systems. There is no prefabrication or soldering required for installation - just a simple process of cutting and bonding using a one-step solvent cement. In addition, the total installed costs are almost always lower than those of the metallic alternatives.

CPVC material will not support fire, and will only char when subjected to flame. In fire conditions, it performs superbly, and it has over twenty five years successful track record for this application. As may be expected, the system is fully tested and approved by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Factory Mutual (FM) and the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB). It also has UK approval under the Water Regulations (1999).

CPVC provides a large, smooth internal diameter pipe that has a very low friction loss (Hazen-Williams C Factor = 150). These exceptional characteristics can allow down-sizing to smaller diameters, reducing material and installation costs.

Unlike metal systems, the material is highly resistant to corrosion, pitting and scale build-up, giving long-term reductions in maintenance costs. CPVC has a life expectancy of 50 years with a safety factor of 2:1.

Installation is clean and quiet requiring only a few simple hand tools. Pipe lengths can be cut and prepared on the spot, eliminating power saws, threaders and torches. There is no oil or grease on the pipe, minimizing the clean-up needed and reducing the risk of damage to the work area.

CPVC will not support combustion, has low smoke generation and has very low toxicity when compared to other common building materials.

Fully approved for fire sprinkler applications with a proven fifteen year track record.