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Sprinklers have been incorporated in buildings for some considerable time and were originally seen and developed as a means of reducing fire losses to property and contents. Over recent years there has been a growing recognition of their use as a means of contributing to life safety, which is recognised in current guidance to the Building Regulations.

Sprinklers can:

  • Reduce death and injury from fire.
  • Reduce the risks to firefighters.
  • Protect property and heritage.
  • Reduce the effects of arson.
  • Reduce the environmental impact of fire.
  • Reduce fire costs and the disruption to the community and business.
  • Permit design freedoms and encourage innovative, inclusive and sustainable architecture.

How do sprinklers operate?

Fire sprinklers are individually heat-activated and connected to a network of water pipes. When the heat from the fire plumes hot gases reach the sprinkler and at a specific temperature (usually about 68 deg. C) that sprinkler activates delivering water directly to the source of the heat.

How reliable are sprinklers?

Evidence shows that sprinkler systems are highly reliable and operate on 94% of occasions. When sprinklers do operate they extinguish or contain the fire on 99% of

Can sprinklers go off accidentally?

Records show that the chance of an accidental discharge from a sprinkler is in the region of 16 million to1.

When there is a fire do all the sprinklers go off at once?

This only happens in the movies. In reality each head is independent and only the head(s) adjacent to the fire will operate.

Is water damage as bad as the fire damage?

a typical sprinkler discharges 55 litres of water per minute.  A firefighting hose discharges over 600 litres per minute. You can expect a sprinkler to discharge less than 5% of the water used by the fire service.

Other benefits…

Sprinklers are:

  • Environmentally friendly.
  • Save water.
  • Allow design flexibility.
  • Give legal protection.
  • Are easy to install.
  • Are reliable.
  • Are popular.
  • Have a life safety record.
  • Save money.
  • Limit water damage.
  • Cost effective to install.
  • Reduce insurance costs.
Our Sprinklers Leaflet

Automatic Fire Suppression Systems (AFSS) – Automatic Fire Suppression Systems (AFSS) include wet sprinklers, water mist, and gas suppression systems. They can be used to compensate for limitations in historic buildings – where some items are not moveable or may be particularly rare or valuable. Consider installing an AFSS as part of your fire safety measures.

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