Fire fighting systems are an essential item of building services as they help to prevent the loss of human life and destruction of property on the outbreak of a fire. Almost all the shopping malls, corporate offices, cinema halls and even homes have various fire fighting systems installed in order to extinguish fires.

Brief on Fire Fighting System

Generally, the fire-fighting systems constitute three basic parts:

• A huge water store in tanks known as the fire storage tanks which may be situated either on the building top or underground
• A specific pumping system
• A large pipe network ending in sprinklers or fire-hydrants

A fire hydrant or a sprinkler essentially needs to be present in all buildings. However, the methodology of providing the much needed water to douse the fire differs between the two of them. A fire hydrant contains two fire hoses which are stored close to the water outlet. In case of a fire, the fire hoses are broken down by the fire fighters who attach one of them to the outlet. The outlet is manually opened and this forces the water to gush out of the hose nozzle. The force with which the water gushes out makes the sensors perceive a drop in the system’s pressure and this signals the fire pumps to start working and pump water forcefully.

A sprinkler, on the other hand consists of a nozzle which lies below the ceiling of the room and is connected to a series of pipes. A glass bulb filled with liquid is attached to the sprinkler and this generally blocks the water flow. When fire occurs, the glass bulb is shattered due to the heat and water comes out from the sprinkler.

The difference between the two is that manual intervention is needed in case of the fire hydrant while in a sprinkler the water is sprayed automatically. The amount of time for which the water becomes available depends upon the capacity of the fire storage tanks and this is expressed in terms of hours of the pumping capacity.

Electric Motor – Fire-fighting Pump Drivers

All pumps need power for rotating their impellers so that the pumped water gets the required momentum. The two options for obtaining this power are through an electric motor or a diesel engine. The diesel engines are by far used in those areas where it is convenient and possible to obtain steam supplies on a reliable basis. However, the source of power in highly industrialized areas as recommended by all the Back pullout pump dealers and Fire-fighting pump dealers is the electric motor.  In this case, the Crompton Greaves electric motors and Crompton Greaves Flame-proof motors prove to be very useful. They are of top-notch quality and highly reliable. Moreover, use of electric motor as the power driver for the pumps gives certain additional advantages too. Easy startup, low maintenance cost and dependable operations are just to name a few of them. The internal combustion engine therefore, loses out to the electric motor in such cases.