John Woodgate wrote: "But what advice to you give about the circumstances under which the system may be switched off? The building must surely be substantially unoccupied, so that lives are not at risk. But there may be other requirements as well; the insurers wouldn't like the building to burn down even if there were no people in it.."
John makes very good points. You must balance dual objectives of protecting lives/property and preventing false alarms (hollering 'wolf'). 1) If mains is disabled, the Control Panel reports a "power loss" fault to the Central Station which investigates and/or notifies authorities. This is not recommended: fire and police departments do not appreciate false alarms; some even charge fines. 2) An authorized user code is needed to disarm via keypad console; the Central Station will be alerted to the status change but will probably not investigate unless other faults are sent. Disarming the fire detection for maintenance (e.g. replace batteries, add or replace sensors) requires maintenance-level access. This puts the building at risk, but down time is presumably short, and the maintenance person is likely on site in case of fire. 3) If the entire system is wiped out (explosion, cutting telco, etc.) the Central Station automatically supervises the site on a regular basis and detects missing communicating devices. The Central Station can investigate the fault and/or notify authorities. The extent of protection depends on system installation, programming and the Central Station service agreement. Proposed functionality levels are given in prEN50131-n and prEN30133-n. Local requirements may apply as well. David Sterner Alarm Device Manufacturing Co. ADEMCO Group, Syosset NY -----Original Message----- From: John Woodgate [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 10:29 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Temporarily disabling a fire fighting system I read in !emc-pstc that [email protected] wrote (in <2DF7C54A75B [email protected]>) about 'Temporarily disabling a fire fighting system', on Tue, 19 Mar 2002: >Our Installation Instructions for Fire/Burglary Alarm Control Panels specify >permanent wiring to the mains for security reasons. However, a double-pole >circuit breaker on the branch circuit supplying the control panel is >recommended to satisfy the LVD. > >In the US-Canada we have optional radio- and cellular links so the panel >with aux. battery reports faults even if mains and telephone are severed by >intruders. > >To temporarily disable the system it is best to enter the proper commands on >a keypad console. But what advice to you give about the circumstances under which the system may be switched off? The building must surely be substantially unoccupied, so that lives are not at risk. But there may be other requirements as well; the insurers wouldn't like the building to burn down even if there were no people in it.. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to http://www.isce.org.uk PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL! ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: [email protected] Dave Heald: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list" ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: [email protected] Dave Heald: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
