Driftserfarenheter från sprinkler-installationer i kyrkor och andra kulturhistoriskt värdefulla byggnader Brandforsk projekt 323-010

Operating experiences from sprinkler system installations in Swedish churches and other heritage buildings During the past 20 years, the fire protection of many historically valuable buildings in Sweden, especially ancient wooden churches, have been improved with the installation of fire detection and fire sprinkler systems. The objective of the project was to document the operating experiences from some of these buildings. Most of the installations have been made in small- or intermediate-sized wooden churches, but installations in larger buildings were identified. The operating experiences were documented by interviews with the end users, fire protection inspectors and system installers, and by study visits. Problems associated with the use of antifreeze were identified. Systems have experienced leakage, high and varying system pressures during warm days and unintentional activations due to breakage of nozzles or nozzle glass bulbs. For systems designed as dry-pipe systems, unintentional activations have occurred during wintertime due to freezing. Testing of dry-pipe systems during the study visits also revealed unacceptably long water delivery times and residual water in piping. Many of the smaller rural churches are using a high-pressure gas (nitrogen) driven pump because the public grid is unreliable. Three suffocation incidents were documented when nitrogen was unintentionally released into the technical space. Two of the incidents can be described as profoundly serious. The church building managers have a key role in the daily supervision of these installations. But it requires effort, technical competence and not least a substantial deal of self-interest. For some churches, high staff turnover has contributed to a lack of competence and supervision and maintenance has been neglected. High frequency of fault alarms (operating alarms) was also perceived as a burden and is also costly. Overall, the occurrence of technical problems and excessive costs have contributed to the shutdown or even dismantling of several sprinkler systems.