Fire Suppression System Servicing

Fire Suppression Systems are vital safety elements to any kitchen. From a compliance perspective, they require servicing by suitably qualified engineers at the system manufacturer’s recommended service intervals. This interval is usually six-monthly, but in a high volume scenario or an environment where excessive grease is introduced into the equipment, this interval might be reduced.

Upon arrival, our engineer will perform a basic check of the environment, take part in any site induction and, having located the Fire Suppression System, request an isolation from the building fire alarm control panel.

Our Fire Suppression Engineer will then make the system safe and begin to work their way through the manufacturer’s prescribed service elements. This will involve partial disassembly of the system so that liquid levels and/or gas pressures cartridges can be verified. The nozzle assemblies will be cleaned and checked along with the detection components in the plenum.

Compressed air or Nitrogen will be used to blow through the complete piping networks to ensure that they are connected and have not been compromised in any way. The nozzle caps should blow off at this stage to provide a visual check and ensure that this part of the system is functioning.

Attention to detail and cleanliness is paramount as blockages or fouled components could be catastrophic in the event of a fire.

Larger systems will usually include an actuation pipe network which allows multiple Agent Tanks to discharge simultaneously. This also needs to be tested to confirm integrity and actuation of all moving components.

The specification of the system as a whole is checked against the manufacturer’s installation specification and any anomalies noted. If equipment has been moved or added to the cook-line, this will be noted for further attention.

To carry out these tasks completely and correctly takes about ninety minutes for a smaller system through to a few hours for a larger system.

When the service engineer is satisfied, they will recommission the system, put seals in place and complete the paperwork to continue the certification until the next visit.