Alarm Systems

Alarm Systems have become standard equipment in commercial, industrial and institutions. They are also becoming increasingly common in private homes as well. Fire alarm systems are active fire protection systems that detects fire or the effects of fire, and as a result provides one or more of the following: notifies the occupants, notifies persons in the surrounding area, summons the fire service, and controls all the fire alarm components in a building. Fire alarm systems can include alarm initiating devices, alarm notification appliances, control units, fire safety control devices, annunciators, power supplies, and wiring.

Alarm systems have devices connected to them to detect smoke and heat, or to alert the occupants of an emergency. Below is a list of common devices found on a fire alarm.

Manual pull stations/manual call points - Devices to allow people to manually activate the fire alarm. Usually located near exits. Also called "manual pull boxes". Other countries have different devices as standard, for example the UK uses ^^break-glass callpoints^^, when people break a small pane of glass to activate the alarm. Smoke detectors - Spot type: Photoelectric and Ionization; Line type: Projected Beam Smoke Detector; Air-Sampling type: Cloud Chamber
Water Flow Switches - Detect when water is flowing through the fire sprinkler system. Rate-of-Rise and Thermostat (heat) Detectors - Detect heat changes
Valve Supervisory Switch - Indicates that a fire sprinkler system valve that is required to be open, is now closed (off-normal). Carbon Monoxide Detectors - Detects poisonous carbon monoxide gas and usually only connected to household fire alarm systems. Very rarely seen in commercial systems.