The importance of fire suppression for a Houston business is crucial, but it doesn’t just stop at a smoke alarm. Just having a smoke alarm to notify you and the fire department isn’t enough. Wouldn’t you prefer the fire be put out within minutes of it breaking out? One reliable solution is fire sprinklers. This isn’t meant to replace smoke detectors, as they also have a crucial role in Houston fire suppression.
Once a fire breaks out the smoke resulted will set off the smoke detector alerting anyone inside the building and it should also alert your local fire department. The hot air rises to reach the ceiling which will eventually reach the closest fire sprinkler and when the fire sprinkler heads detect a temperature between 135°F to 165°F it will activate.
Each fire sprinkler is essentially a faucet except you don’t need to do manually let the water out. Fire sprinklers work with a heat-sensitive plug which detects high temperature and then breaks to allow the under-pressure water to spray out. The majority of these plugs are made of glass, this glass bulb is full of glycerin-based liquid that expands under heat which then shatters the glass allowing an opening. The fire sprinkler head is attached to pipes, usually wrapped around the building, which is connected to a water source. A valve to the pipe system is opened once the sprinkler head is set off, the water is then pushed out of the sprinkler head extinguishing the fire. The fire sprinklers nearest to the fire will set off first and if the fire grows it will activate the other fire sprinklers until the fire is out or until firefighters extinguish it.