Fire Detection in a Waste Recycling Area

[Chris Houston]

Dear Experts ,

We want a large building protected by fire detection.  In the building is mostly rubbish and vehicles and the vahicles move the rubbish about in large piles.

The area needs fire detection, but smoke detectors could be set off by the fumes from the rubbish and vehicles.  

Heat detection could take too long to activate.

I'm thinking of flame detectors, but know their limitations.

Anyone got any better suggestions, or had anyone protected such a risk (with fire detection) before?

Muchos Gracias Amigos (and Amigas)

[Gary Howe]

Chris,

Have you thought about fibre optic heat detection, it has the advantage of being able to be programmed at 10m intervals, plus each section can be both rate of rise and fixed temperature. It is suitable for harsh/hazardous environments.

Temperatures are not fixed like linear heat cable, and give you the advantage of being able to tailor the settings to suit the risk.

The disadvantages are cost, mind you you pay for what you get.

If you require any further infomation, please e-mail me on my Zurich address.


Regards


Gary Howe

[Simon Morriss]

What about these systems that link into CCTV and detect praticles above the background?

Interesting topic please let me know the out come.

Simon

[wee brian]

I was thinking the same there are some sophisticated CCTV systems available that can recognised fire characteristics.

I'm not sure where the state of the art is these days, I would be tempted to back it up with a heat detection system of some kind.

The other approach is to ask why you need early warning. Can the building or process be changed to reduce this need?

[Peter]

Have you thought about sprinklers/drenchers as an option - I understand such buildings sometimes have a water spray system for dust supression, is there an option to combine the systems with a dual duty/fire system.

[Ian Scrim]

How about the  Mark I human eyeball and nose, possibly from a central control/ observation point thus avoiding False Alarms with Beam or point detection out of hours for property protection