What Happens During a Fire Alarm Installation?

If you have never had a fire alarm installed, it helps to know what the process involves and how it affects the people using the building.

1. Confirming the design on site

Before any cable goes in, the installer checks the design against the actual building. Walls move, ceilings are lower than the drawings show and tenants change layouts. Any differences are agreed with you and recorded.

2. Planning access and timing

Installation takes place in a building that people may be using. Access, working hours, noisy or dusty work and the order in which areas are completed are agreed in advance. Out-of-hours working is sometimes used for sensitive areas.

3. Containment and cabling

Cables are routed according to the design and fixed so that they are protected from damage. For non-domestic systems, BS 5839-1 has recommendations on cable type and installation, which the design takes into account. The electrical side of the installation is carried out to BS 7671.

4. Fitting devices and the control panel

Detectors, sounders and manual call points are installed and connected, along with the control panel and its power supply and standby batteries. If the system interfaces with other equipment, those connections are made and noted.

5. Completion checks

The installer checks that the work matches the design, records any variations and prepares as-installed drawings.

6. Handing over to commissioning

Installation is not the final step. The system must then be commissioned, which means programming and testing it. Only after that should it be handed over for use.

Typical disruption

Short periods of access to ceilings and rooms
Some noise and dust from drilling and cable fixing
Ladders or platforms in circulation areas
A planned changeover if an old system is replaced

To discuss an installation, see fire alarm installation.

This article is general information, not advice for a particular building. What a building needs depends on its use, fire strategy, risk assessment and the requirements that apply to it. Standards are revised from time to time, so check that you are working from the current edition.

Related service: Fire Alarm Installation

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the building stay open while the system is installed?

Often, yes, but it depends on the building and the work. Access, noise, dust and any period when detection is reduced all need to be planned and agreed in advance.

Will the existing alarm be switched off during a replacement?

Where an existing system is being replaced, the changeover needs planning so that detection is maintained as far as possible, or alternative arrangements are agreed with the responsible person. We discuss this before work starts.

Is the system ready to use as soon as it is installed?

No. It needs to be commissioned first, which means programming, testing and verifying it against the design.

What documents should I receive?

Typically as-installed drawings, a record of any variations from the design and an installation certificate in the form recommended by BS 5839-1, where the work is carried out under that standard.