How an Addressable Fire Alarm System Can Benefit You
When most people think of fire alarms, they think of ringing bells and blinking lights that activate around the whole building and warn everyone to get out as safely as possible. But did you know that new advances in fire alarms have made it possible to pinpoint the exact location of a fire, making it easier to contain and allowing the fire department to extinguish it much more efficiently? Addressable fire alarm systems, while more expensive than conventional fire alarm systems, are significantly more technologically advanced and represent a whole new level of fire protection for your Houston, Texas office building.
In high demand among the commercial and industrial markets, addressable fire alarm systems provide numerous benefits that conventional fire alarms can’t match, including speed of detection, identification of the fire location and easier maintenance.
Benefits of an addressable fire alarm system
Addressable fire alarm systems are faster, safer and more reliable than conventional fire alarm systems. The ability to add an addressable fire alarm system to a fire alarm loop means that your options are almost endlessly scalable – you can create a network of fire alarm systems in anywhere from a single small office building to a huge building complex or office park and get the same level of fire protection.
Reliable, intelligent design – Most addressable fire alarm systems incorporate intelligent field devices that help them distinguish between smoke and other things that commonly result in false alarms, especially dust. In tests, intelligent field technology has been shown to cut down on false alarms by up to 50%.
Addressable fire alarm systems allow you to pinpoint the exact location of a fire with ease – Both conventional and addressable fire alarm systems utilize zoning to help give you an idea of where a fire is taking place, but an addressable fire alarm system takes this one step further by showing you exactly which devices are activated. This function also provides security through redundancy – if one device fails, not only will other systems in the area be able cover for it, but they will also show you which devices are not working.
Scalable, wireless fire alarm networks – Many addressable fire alarm systems are wireless, meaning you will not have to deal with installation of complex cable systems. This leads to great reductions in labor and material costs, and makes maintenance much simpler.
How an addressable fire alarm system works
Addressable fire alarm systems are wired on a loop circuit. This allows numerous other fire detection devices, including smoke detectors, fire sprinkler systems, manual pull-down alarm stations and more – up to 200 devices – to be attached to the loop. Each unit that is attached to the addressable fire alarm system loop is given a unique code or location address. When the unit is activated, this code lets you know exactly which type of device it is and where in the building it is located.
Disadvantages of an addressable fire alarm system
The main disadvantage of installing an addressable fire alarm system is that the systems are more expensive than conventional fire alarm systems. However, the level of protection that they offer makes them worth the price difference.
If you want to protect a large building complex or even a small office building from fire, installing an addressable fire alarm system may be exactly what you need. When you are ready to install a fire alarm system in your Houston, Texas office building, call Kauffman Co. today!
