High Building Extinguishing System

What is a High-rise Building?

We define high-rise buildings as those that have a building height of more than 30.50 meters or a structure height of more than 21.50 meters. The definition of building or structure height includes structures such as hotels, residences, hospitals, and office centers according to their intended use. Protecting a building with a sprinkler system means that all areas, including electrical panel rooms, must be equipped with a sprinkler system if alternative fire prevention measures have not been taken. Areas that can be entered, such as electrical and mechanical shafts, saunas, indoor swimming pools, circulation areas, garbage rooms, cold rooms, and the top and bottom landings of staircase enclosures, must be protected with a sprinkler system.

Working Pressure and Precautions to be Taken

The pressure value to which the material is exposed must be in harmony with the material's working pressure range. The material's test pressure value cannot be considered as the working pressure value. At the same time, the shut-off head value of the fire pumps used, in particular, should be taken into account as the pressure value to which they are exposed, and the possible results should be analyzed. It is inevitable that this value will cause problems in operation in critical limits. Again, taking into account the operating conditions and maintenance and service possibilities, from the sprinkler to the valve, from the pump to the other auxiliary accessories, the system integrity must be taken into account and evaluated. The opposite approach and practices are open to discussion about the ownership of system responsibility and carry risks for the investor. The investor should not forget that the construction service and responsibility will end after the final acceptance, but the product and system responsibility must be continuous. Firefighting valves of 2” or 2 ½” established in buildings must be connected to the building fire extinguishing system and be under constant pressure in high-rise buildings. It should be considered that these water intake openings allocated for firefighting use should be established on the access route of the firefighting personnel to the building, and their operating pressure should be considered as 4 bar. If a firefighting filling valve is established outside the building for the building water tank, the approach routes of firefighting vehicles to this point must be taken into account in the building's surrounding traffic calculations. When calculating the building's water tank, it should be considered that there will be a significant pressure difference between the point farthest from the pump and the point closest to the pump in high-rise buildings, and the water tanks should be determined by calculating the closest possible consumption to the pump. It should not be forgotten that Quick Response or fast-acting sprinkler heads are intended for areas with low thermal capacity. If the thermal capacity exceeds some of the predicted values in immature fires, the predicted flow rate may not control the fire. If fast-acting sprinklers are used in areas that are not physically limited in the Medium Hazard class, the possible number of sprinklers that need to be opened, in other words, the operational area's potential to grow, should be considered. It is essential that the sprinkler system and pumps are constantly under supervision and monitored from the central fire alarm system.

Can Fire Hydrant Valves and Fire Hose Cabinets be Supplied from the Sprinkler Line in High-Rise Buildings?

They can be supplied, provided that they are designed and installed according to the necessary standards.

Can a Tall Building be Defined as Low Hazard Class?

Regardless of its intended use, it is not possible to classify a tall building as low hazard due to reasons such as difficulty in external intervention, prolongation of evacuation time, and similar factors.

Points to Consider in Sprinkler Placement

Sprinkler placement should not be done randomly. Distance from the ceiling plane, obstacles created by beams and columns, and barriers created by partial walls inside the structure should be taken into consideration, and placement should be done with care and attention.

It should not be forgotten that there are both maximum and minimum limits for the distance between sprinklers. If there is a hot kitchen inside the structure, it should not be overlooked that suitable sprinklers should be used especially in the kitchen hood channel along with the potassium carbonate-based hood fire suppression system.

If a gas fire suppression system is to be installed for places such as electrical panel rooms, CCTV or control centers, generator rooms, etc., it should be considered that the system control unit must be independent, and if there are suspended ceilings, raised floors, and overall chamber volume, they should be calculated as a whole. The fact that the maximum safety of fire suppression systems is achieved in minimum complex system design should never be forgotten. In terms of total investment cost for building fire suppression systems, it should be taken into consideration that piping is 75% and equipment is 25%, and system manufacturing should never be done without hydraulic analysis in terms of investment cost.

Although not specific to tall buildings only, it should not be forgotten that the continuity of system performance is hidden in periodic testing, control, and maintenance, and necessary arrangements should be made and the continuity of system performance should be monitored without fail.

Norm Teknik Inc., which is the industry leader in Fire Protection Systems and aims to increase the "fire safety" awareness in our country, participated in the TÜYAK 2021 International Fire and Security Symposium and Exhibition by adding a new one to the symposium participations.

Norm Teknik Inc. acted as a sponsor and chaired the panel session on the first day of the symposium, which was held on March 31 - April 2, 2022 at the Istanbul Lutfi Kirdar International Congress and Exhibition Center. Norm Teknik Inc. Board Member Ismail Turanli shared his presentation on the topic of "The Role of High-Pressure Water Mist System in Performance-Based Fire Suppression Systems" with all participants.

On the second day of the symposium, Norm Teknik Inc. Engineering Department - Mechanical Engineer Murat Tasdemir participated with his presentation on "Fire Suppression System Design in Data Centers."

Norm Teknik Inc., which welcomed all visitors at its busy booths, conveyed the developments in the industry to the participants with various product and service ranges such as water-based fire suppression systems, gas-based fire suppression systems, fire cabinets, fire detection systems, and successfully completed the TÜYAK 2021 International Fire and Security Symposium and Exhibition.