Fire Alarms for Businesses
Fire detection and alarm systems are often taken for granted, and yet when they are needed in an emergency their effectiveness is a matter of life and death. Getting the best fire protection for your staff and premises is essential because a fire can result in significant losses for businesses through production time lost and customers who source supplies from third parties and never return. Fire statistics show that 80% of business that suffer a significant fire fail within the following 12 months. We lead the way in life saving technology with fire detection and alarm systems that cover every application. To find out how our fire alarm systems can help protect your business, please contact us or request a call back on our home page for further information.
L Fire Categories for Commercial Properties
The L stands for Life Protection and there are five categories of life protection fire alarm systems, each suited to different environments and applications. A fire alarm system can differ in price considerably depending on the complexity of the system. For example, we install a single panel with a detector and sounder for a small commercial customer, through to a fully addressable fire alarm system for a building of multiple-occupancy. Our guide below should shed some light on the differences between the five main life protection categories and the environments they are best suited to.
L1 – An L1 fire alarm system provides the highest standard for protection of life. Fire alarm detectors are installed in all rooms and areas of the building, including roof spaces and voids. Some areas need not be protected if they are of low fire risk such as stairways, lobbies and small cupboards. Typical installations for an L1 system include residential care premises and large office blocks.
L2 – An L2 fire alarm system is designed to give an early warning of fire to occupants beyond the room in which the fire starts and to provide early detection in areas of high risk. It is our job as fire alarm designers to look at your building plan and recommend extra detection for high risk areas. Example areas of high risk could include boiler rooms, plant rooms and other areas with heavy plant machinery.
L3 – The purpose of an L3 fire alarm system is to provide warning to occupants beyond the room in which the fire starts, so that they use escape routes, such as corridors and staircases, before they are smoke-filled. Fire alarm detectors should be installed in all escape routes and all rooms that open onto an escape route.
L4 – An L4 fire alarm system provides automatic fire detection within escape routes comprising circulation areas and spaces, such as corridors and stairways. An L4 system would not satisfy the requirements of legislation in buildings in which people sleep.
L5 – Often the requirement for an L5 fire alarm system is based on recommendations from a fire risk assessment. This is a custom category and relates to special client requirements for their premises. The details need to be specified by a qualified fire engineer. For example, this could be a fire extinguishing system triggered by automatic detection.
LD Fire Categories for Domestic Properties
Much like the L category for commercial properties, the domestic market also has its own categories of fire alarm, that again vary throughout the coverage.
LD1 – This is the highest level of protection of all occupants who might occupy the dwelling. The system will have detectors in all areas that form part of the escape routes, and in all rooms and areas including loft conversions if applicable, other than those with negligible sources of ignition such as toilets, bathrooms and shower rooms.
LD2 – This system will incorporate detectors in all areas that form part of an escape routes and in all areas that present a high fire risk to occupants including kitchen, living room, hallways, landings and loft conversions if applicable.
LD3 – This system incorporates detectors in all areas that form part of the escape routes from the premises which would be hallways, landings and loft conversions if applicable. This system would not comply with British Standards for houses of multiple occupancy.
Elan can provide a vast array of Radio Fire Alarm Systems that can be used in various situations, wether this is to add additional detection to an existing wired alarm system for hard to reach places, that cabling is an issue, through to completely wireless systems for buildings or building sites where cabling is not an option. Due to the complexity of Radio systems please contact us or request a call back on our home page for further information.
Telephone: (0)345 0215 999 | E-mail: sales@elansecurity.com
Fire Alarms for Homeowners
Government statistics show that the average cost of a house fire is about £24,900 with £7,900 due to property damage and the remainder £14,600 for the economic cost of injuries and fatalities. Many homes have smoke detectors, but just how many actually work? All our fire alarms, including smoke detectors are constantly monitored providing complete peace of mind.
