When a customer decides to move ahead with the installation of a new fixed flame and/or gas detection system, we can’t help but get excited, and not for the reason you might think! As a company centered on safety, we have a passion for properly installed and operating safety systems and see this decision as a commitment to saving lives, and at minimum ensuring their people and contractors may work in safety and that they, their families, and their communities may live in health. On top of that, we always work to ensure our customers attain the maximum benefit and overall top system performance and protection possible. With that being said, here are some best practices for end users to consider getting their new detection system installed, commissioned, and operating to deliver 24/7 year-round protection.
Fixed flame and gas system installers should be qualified, licensed, and understand what it is they are installing. This means the installers need comprehensive, detailed documentation on exactly what is being installed, and why! If there is a gap here, we recommend that a small amount of installer training will go a long way! Be prepared to make this training available with emphasis on your specific system installation requirements. In addition, here is a short list of typical physical installation recommendations:
After installation is complete and the system and all field devices are powered-up and operating in a 100% fault-free mode, system commissioning can commence. It is important to note that system commissioning and integrated testing are two different concepts, and both must be completed successfully to properly evaluate the flame and gas detection system operation as well as its interaction with other systems.
Commissioning is a systematic process that provides documented confirmation that all system functions according to the intended design criteria set forth in project documents and satisfy the owner’s operational needs, including compliance with applicable laws, regulations, codes, and standards. A commissioning checklist is generally developed that spells out specific system functions, critical input and output signals, devices, and operational logic that must be tested and validated before the system can be considered fully commissioned. The commissioning checklist typically includes line item checks for:
After completion, the Commissioning Engineer typically prepares and submits a commissioning report including as-built drawings, cause/effect logic, and updated system database of all information developed, changed or modified during the full commissioning process.
Operations and Maintenance personnel are the ones generally assigned to keep the fire and gas system operating and ready. This means that these same folks have responsibility for maintaining a fire and gas detection system maintenance logbook! This logbook generally includes the means to document all system activities and events, logged by instrument tag number. Typical logbook entries include fire and gas alarms, faults, visual inspections, gas detector bump tests and/or calibrations, functional tests using a test lamp, and cleaning activities logged by tag number, date & time, and person. In addition, a routine visual inspection procedure should be established where the frequency of visual inspection points is defined.
This means that detector faceplate status LED’s should be routinely visually inspected as a check for normal or trouble status, along with confirmation that no foreign material or obstructions are present that will block the operation of any detector, and that alignment angles appear normal. If there are any protection accessories installed, these should also be inspected to ensure they are working properly. Finally, a functional test using a test lamp should be routinely executed for flame detectors. Be sure to bypass any suppression discharge apparatus before performing a functional fire detector alarm test.
We know that new employees are constantly brought into our customer’s organizations and that in some cases, comprehensive training programs on the fixed flame and gas detection system may not exist in a documented format for these new hands. For this reason, following below we have detailed some of the most basic system operating procedures that Operations and Maintenance Technicians should be able to perform and understand:
Please note the above mentioned best practices are only a short list of typical or most common system requirements and not intended to cover all possible system types or configurations. We recommend always contacting your local fire department and/or Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) for specific guidance on your local or national compliance requirements.