Anyone who has ever serviced a fire alarm system knows that ground faults can be quite a challenge, especially if the fault is intermittent. Many don’t realize the importance of testing the ground-fault feature and the effect...
There is a functional test for smoke detectors that essentially allows an installer to pretest the circuits and ensure the smoke detectors will report to the fire alarm control unit when they go into alarm or trouble. There...
Let’s kick off the new year by reviewing changes in the 2022 edition of the NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. While most jurisdictions won’t adopt this for a while, it’s good to know what’s coming. Let’s start...
We all know the importance of testing fire alarm systems, so this is a good time to review some recent changes in the NFPA 72 testing requirements and discuss some best practices. While teaching seminars, I always used to say...
In my July column, I reviewed the reason and importance for performing battery calculations. In this article, I will continue the conversation and review voltage-drop calculations. There has been some confusion about what...
Knowing how to perform battery and voltage drop calculations is essential to ensuring an installed system will operate properly, and especially important in the plan review process. Battery and voltage drop calculations are...
In the 2018 edition of the International Building Code, the documentation information in paragraph 907.1.2 on fire alarm shop drawings was deleted. A statement was added telling users to prepare the shop drawings per NFPA 72...
Because March is still winter, the weather can be very cold and stormy or it can be nice and warm. Since a lot of people will be staying inside with the heat on, this seems to be a good time to review the carbon monoxide...
Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Developing relationships and good communication with other stakeholders for a project will certainly save time, increase profits and...
How well do you understand the NFPA 72 requirements for pathway survivability? Like many other fire alarm applications, the code is not always clear, and there are quite a few different interpretations on this subject. Having...
Your life could depend on being able to hear and understand emergency messages broadcast from an emergency voice alarm system. Originally, NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, only stated that the message had to...
Two issues always seem to cause the most headaches when installing fire alarm systems. One has to do with duct detectors. The other has to do with installing fire alarm devices to interface with elevator controllers. There is...
Adding the Circuits and Pathways chapter was one of the many changes made in the 2010 edition of NFPA 72 as part of the restructuring of the National Fire Alarm Code. The primary reason for restructuring was to add a chapter...
As a member of the NFPA 72 Protected Premises Technical Committee during the past few code cycles, I have found it very interesting to discuss proposed changes to fire alarms of the future. Technology is improving the...
Some of the greatest changes in NFPA 72 over the last couple of code cycles have been the changes in ways to transmit signals from the fire alarm control unit to the monitoring facility. I’d like to take this opportunity to...
Happy New Year! Now that there is a lot of new construction going on, it is easy to put testing and servicing of fire alarms on the back burner. Since a number of companies will do just that, now is the best time for...
What will fire alarm systems of the future be like? Technology is changing rapidly, and historically, fire alarm systems have not kept up with these modifications. That is starting to change. In the 2016 NFPA 72, National...
There have been a few changes to the requirements for fire alarm system power supplies, and more are coming. This is a good time to review the ones we have so far. Obviously, since a fire alarm system is a life safety system...
In the January issue, we discussed changes to the fire alarm requirements in the 2018 International Building and Fire Codes. This month, let’s look at changes in the 2018 NFPA 101, Life Safety Code. First and foremost, it is...
Happy New Year to all of you! Each year, I like to start out with a column on fire alarm changes for new editions of the codes. We begin with the 2018 International Building Code (IBC). As a reminder, the fire alarm...
