Rafiki Twinflex plus is a patented, 2 wire intelligent fire alarm system suitable for the majority of fire alarm installations. The Twinflex plus also has the option of the added feature of ‘checkpoint’ alarm confirmation.
Checkpoint alarm confirmation drastically reduces the disruption and cost associated with false alarms, particularly during the settling-in-period following installation.
Introduction of mandatory licensing of HMO’s of three stories or more was introduced in April 2006.
Licensing of HMO’s is mandatory for all local authorities and all buildings that are registered must comply, amongst other things, with fire regulations contained within BS5839 part 6, the main code of practice for installations within HMO’s and in some cases BS5839 Part 1 may also be applicable in communal areas. False alarms are a huge problem in within these types of buildings and installers are constantly looking for an early warning fire alarm system without the disruption of false alarms.
There are over 485,000 false alarms attended by the Fire Services each year and hundreds of thousands more that are not recorded, sixty-five per-cent of which are attributed to equipment. In the main, detecting fire when no real fire is present, e.g. cooking fumes, steam etc. Even though these fire detectors are doing what they are designed to do they obviously can’t differentiate between a real fire and a false alarm, but the disruption caused and cost to the community is enormous. To tackle this problem Rafiki Protection has developed the Twinflex plus system incorporating ‘checkpoint’ alarm confirmation.
Extract from BS5839 Part 6 (Clause 12. Limitation of false alarms)
In some (usually larger) houses in multiple occupation, high levels of false alarms sometimes occur, simply as a result of the number different occupants, each of whom carry out activities, such as cooking, that can lead to false alarms. In such circumstances, occupiers have been known to compromise or even cause damage to, the fire detection and alarm system, or to ignore fire alarm signals. This makes it important to minimise, as far as practicable, the extent to which occupiers are disrupted by false alarms in other occupiers’ accommodation. This might, for example, be achieved by use of a mixed system (see 9.1.5)*. Alternatively, other measures might be adopted; for example, in the event of a fire signal in one dwelling unit, a short time delay might be incorporated for the occupier to investigate the cause and, if appropriate, reset the system before a fire alarm signal in other dwelling units.
* Mixed system BS5839 part 6 and BS5839 Part 1
What is Rafiki Twinflex Checkpoint?
Alarm selection, the main feature of the Twinflex plus is the ability to set a pre-alarm in individual rooms or apartments but at the same time initiate full alarm should fire be detected in any communal area. This is made possible by a detector sounder ‘logical link’ feature. This is the first time that this feature has been made available on a conventional system and is beneficial where two stage alarms are required.
At the planning stage of installation fire zones are designated as ‘dwelling’ or ‘communal’. Detectors in dwelling zones (e.g. apartments, hotel rooms etc.) are enabled with the ‘logical link’ feature by way of a dil switch in the detector. This then allows the control panel to be, simply, programmed with a variable time alarm confirmation period (1-5 minutes at one minute increments). In the event of a fire being detected in a dwelling only the local (room) sounder will operate to alarm occupants of that particular dwelling. The control panel will then carry out a number of checks over this period (which may be 2 minutes, for example ) to confirm the detector is still in alarm and is a genuine fire, not a false alarm generated by cooking fumes, steam etc. If at the end of this checking period the detector ceases to signal alarm the control panel will automatically reset the detector/sounder and the system will revert to its normal state.
If, however, at the end of the confirmation check the detector is still generating an alarm signal the control panel will instantly sound all alarms in the building for full evacuation. Detectors sensing fire, or, call point activation (in any zone) in communal areas instantly generate a full alarm throughout the building.
The Rafiki Twinflex Fire Alarm System is available now from Discount Fire Supplies.
This information has been referenced from an official Rafiki publication.
Discount Fire Supplies sell a range of fire alarms, fire alarm accessories and much more. Browse our online shop or contact us for a quote today.
