This British Standard accordingly covers design, installation, components, water supplies, maintenance and testing of residential sprinkler systems installed for the purpose of reducing risk to life and minimizing the spread of fire

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Residential sprinkler systems consist of a water supply, backflow prevention device (e.g. check valve), stop valve, priority demand valve (where required), automatic alarm system and pipework to sprinkler heads. The sprinklers are fitted at specified locations, the appropriate sprinkler type being used for each location

Why do I need to monitor the fire sprinkler system?

Section 5.15 of BS9251:2021 states:

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"Except for category 1 systems, all valves which control the flow of water to the system should be electrically monitored for the open position."

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Section 5.11.4.1 of BS9251:2021 states:

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"An alarm to indicate low water levels should be provided for a stored water supply"

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Section 5.18 of BS9251:2021 states:

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"The aim of monitoring sprinkler systems is the continuous supervision of the main functions of the system, i.e. those whose failure might impair the correct automatic operation of the system in case of fire, and the raising of a supervisory alarm to allow corrective measures to be taken.

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All devices used for monitoring should have at least IP 54 protection as specified in BS EN 60529 and be connected to a common supervisory alarm device.

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With the exception of category 1 systems, all devices that provide a fault signal or an alarm device signal, should be via supervised circuits”

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Why FloWatch

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FloWatch are specialist manufacturer of fire sprinkler monitoring system. It is an addressable system so each device can be easily programmed and identified. FloWatch monitors the following elements of the system:

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• Monitored isolation valves not being in the correct position

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• Tank low level switches for low water content in a storage tank

• Pumps - Including faults, pump running and power failure (All depending on the pump controller being used)

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• Trace heating signals ​

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• Other input devices - High tank level switches, Priority demand valves 

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• Flow switches for activation of the sprinkler system.

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FloWatch outputs provide the facility to:

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• Send a signal to an alarm system upon activation of any flow switch

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• Send a signal to BMS if any fault or alarm occurs within the sprinkler monitoring system

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• Correctly activate the priority demand valve in accordance with BS9251:2021 (when used in conjunction with Rapidrop PDV

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