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Fire Pump Inspection
When was the last time you had a fire pump inspection? Your fire pump is the most important part of your fire sprinkler system (it’s the part that makes the whole system run!). Since fire pumps are so complex (and so out of the way), fire pumps are especially vulnerable to corrosive environmental hazards, accidental tampering or damage and careless use. As a result, annual fire pump inspection is absolutely essential to ensure that your fire pump will work properly to keep you safe from fires at all times.
Steps of Annual Fire Pump Inspection
The first step of fire pump inspection is making sure the couplings of all the pipes are aligned properly. There are a lot of things that can throw off the coupling alignment - thermal expansion, careless maintenance, etc. Misaligned couplings that go unchecked for too long it could result in premature failure and possible disruption of service when the pump is going off, so it is extremely important to have them checked during fire pump inspection.
The next step of the fire pump inspection process is checking the circulation relief valves. The circulation relief valves prevent the pump from overheating when operating at shut off conditions, very important for weekly fire pump testing (which we’ll get to soon). This part of the fire pump inspection process is extremely important – if your overheats during testing, it could cause serious problems if you see an actual fire!
The next step or fire pump inspection involves testing the tamper and flow switches. The tamper switches send a signal to the fire alarm monitoring company (if you have one), letting them know if a valve on the fire pump has been closed. This is crucial because it prevents any accidental (or intentional, as the case may be) tampering with your fire pump that could compromise its ability to keep you protected. Flow switches are the parts of your fire pump that start the water flow and trigger the alarms in the event of a fire. Needless to say, checking out these valves during fire pump inspection is crucial!
The fire pump test concludes with a test of the pressures and flow rates that your pump performs at when it’s on. Typically, this involves attaching long hoses to an outside manifold that measures the flow of water (and the water pressure) when the pump is turned on. Depending on the size of your building and the size of your fire pump, there can be an incredible amount of water kicked out onto your front lawn or street area.
Weekly Fire Pump Testing
To ensure that nothing happens between your fire pump inspections, you should run a weekly fire pump testing at shut off conditions (without water flowing through your sprinkler heads). These are fairly easy to do: call Kauffman Co. and tell us you’re going to run a fire pump test. Then, run your fire pump for 10 minutes. If all goes well, you’re good for another week. If not, let us know and we’ll come out and fix the problem.
If you need fire pump inspection in Houston, Texas, call Kauffman Co. today! We’ll check all the components of your fire pump and make sure you’ll always be protected if a fire strikes.
