A wireless fire alarm for a 54,000 sq ft warehouse

The client

Fileder Filter Systems Ltd supplies water filtration and treatment products to businesses across the UK and Europe, from microfiltration cartridges to ultraviolet disinfection and reverse osmosis systems. We look after their fire and security systems.

The challenge

Fileder needed to replace the fire alarm in its warehouse: three storeys and more than 5,000 m² (54,000 sq ft) of floor space, densely packed with metal racking. Metal is hard on radio signals, so the design had to make sure every device could talk to the panel reliably.

Fileder also wanted a modern system its own staff and the monitoring company could manage from an app, and one that would act automatically on doors, ventilation, lighting and barriers when the alarm goes off.

What we installed

We designed the system around the Ajax EN54 wireless range, which is certified to EN 54 and fully wireless.

• 138 wireless devices, installed without running cable to any of them. That saved days on site and let us put every device exactly where it works best, not where a cable could reach.
• One range extender for the whole building. Despite the racking, every device shows a solid signal with a single EN54 Fire ReX.
• EN54 Fire Hub, the control panel, with a 10.1-inch colour touchscreen, mounted beside one of our own custom laser-cut acrylic zone plan frames.
• Heat and smoke detectors, manual call points, sounders and sounder/beacons, with the alarm sounding within about three seconds.
• Fire Beam detectors on the top floor. Several Fire Beam Blue beam detectors protect the open roof space.
• Photo verification. Kent Fire and Rescue Service needs a fire to be confirmed before it sends crews to an automatic fire alarm. MotionCam (PhOD) detectors in each fire zone are programmed to take snapshots the moment the alarm operates and send them straight to the responsible person, so a real fire can be confirmed quickly and the alarm receiving centre can call the brigade.
• Automatic response through I/O modules. Ajax 2x2 input/output modules link the fire alarm to all the Paxton access control doors, the ventilation, the Crestron lighting controls, the air dampers and the car park barriers, so when the alarm operates the building helps clear the escape routes.

The result

One wireless system now protects the whole warehouse. Fileder’s facility managers and the monitoring company see every alarm and event in the Ajax app, with the exact device, location and time, photos from the detectors, and maintenance reminders, all in one place.

Ajax Systems wrote the project up as a customer story: Wireless fire protection for an industrial-scale warehouse on ajax.systems.

Thanks to our supplier SatSecure for finding so much stock, and to the team at Ajax for their support.