Discuss Fire Alarm install practical advice in the Security Alarms, Door Entry and CCTV (Public) area at ElectriciansForums.net

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tomomac33

Hi Guys,


I am looking for some "practical" advice for a Fire alarm installation.


The building is a 3 story 5 flat HMO (HMO only due to 1991 building regs compliance). Currently has fitted a CTEC 4 zone conventional panel approx 5years old - each floor is zoned (including cellar). Wiring and detectors are more like 15-20years old.


Areas of current non compliance are generally cabling, missing detectors in high risk areas and majority of detectors are heavily painted, plus poor workmanship etc - and it all needs to eventually be within a purpose made fire cabinet in the communal hallway along with meters/landlord supplies etc. I also have a private building control inspector overseeing the refurb areas.


I'm struggling to find a way forward where I can do this "bit by bit". I know this is difficult but It needs to be done like this predominantly for cash flow reasons, 3 of the 5 flats are tenanted and the building ultimately needs full refurbishment throughout.


I am currently in the process of the top floor flat refurb - the general rewire is simple because it is contained within the flat. Supplies to the flats can be easily upgraded when the communal area is refurbed along with Emer lighting. All current suspended tile ceilings are being replaced with timber/plasterboard ceilings so now is the time to get the alarm cable properly clipped within the ceiling.


The difficulty is integration with the old system or ensuring adequate protection throughout the full refurb because the alarm runs in every area of the building. (Period of 12-18months or longer).


Thoughts: run two systems temporarily - something along the lines of a new two wire Alarmsense and Zone the dwellings individually and slowly switch over all flats. Or wire the new part of the alarm to the nearest old part within the communal hallway avoiding joints.


I'm looking for suggestions/help from people that have done this type of refurb and appreciate the difficulties with this method - ideally we would just boot the tenants for a month and gut the lot but this isn't feasible.


Many thanks
Tom
 
Biggest problem is you must continue a working systems while the tennants are sitting so to speak.
Would suggest running 2 systems together, or replace area by area, but at the end of each working day a system must be inplace. Any fire resulting in loss of life can get really nasty in courts, passing the blame right down the line.
 
as above^^^. leave existing system in place and install new system. only when new system is up and running should you disable/strip out the old one.
 

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