Hi everyone,
I’ve been working with different types of fire alarm systems recently, and I wanted to get the community’s perspective.
From my experience, addressable fire alarm systems make troubleshooting much easier since you can pinpoint the exact device that triggered the alarm. On the other hand, conventional systems are often simpler and more budget-friendly, which some clients prefer for smaller projects.
What do you think works best in commercial or industrial setups here in Saudi Arabia (or elsewhere)? Do you feel the higher upfront cost of addressable systems is worth the long-term benefits, or is a well-installed conventional system still a solid choice?
Well from the looks of it conventional systems are slowly going extinct (if not already such) due to all the advantages addressable systems bring (most main manufacturers don’t even make any conventional panels at all now!). When it comes to from an enthusiast perspective, conventional systems are probably seen as generally easier to use since you need neither modules nor to learn the complex kind of programming most addressable FACPs require.
While I’m not familiar with what the Saudis have adopted for Codes, I can give a US perspective from someone who is familiar with the ICC and NFPA codes, albeit not in a professional capacity.
In short: you use addressable if:
you need automatic detection beyond self-protection or elevator recall (i.e. corridor detection like you’d find in a hotel or nursing home, or total coverage smoke detection),
your system is large enough to need complex functions (smoke control is exclusively the domain of addressable panels in this day and age)
or you somehow find yourself in a situation where you have a bunch of manual or sprinkler zones. (such as in a large multi-building complex)
Conventional panels are generally better for smaller or simpler buildings, especially those that are primarily reliant on sprinkler protection or are small enough to be considered a single zone otherwise. They’re also the better choice for straightforward releasing systems, due to smaller scope of potential problems they present compared to an addressable system. (Addressable systems can be easier to pinpoint straightforward faults on, but can also exhibit complex intermittent failure modes that are far harder/more complicated to troubleshoot than just about anything that can happen to even today’s conventional panels.)
There are also situations where:
a fire alarm communicator with supervised inputs (DMP, Napco, DSC, higher end Honeywell) is all you need. This is true if sprinkler monitoring is all that’s called for, as you don’t need notification in this situation (most aware/ambulatory people won’t stick around a fire long enough for sprinklers to go off, and any that do will get the memo quickly from the 25+gpm of water coming out)
you are doing a dedicated function elevator recall system in a building that otherwise doesn’t need a fire alarm at all. These are often done using addressable systems, and sometimes misunderstood to require addressable systems, but can be done using conventional panels provided the elevator controller accepts Normally Closed recall inputs. (non-proprietary controllers such as Pixels and GALaxys can do this, and I believe the major proprietary controllers support this as well)
or you are objectively best off with a combination panel for the system capabilities you need & the price point you are targeting. Low-end conventional fire panels (Kidde FX-5/10 & their Edwards counterparts, FireLite MS-2/4/8 and MS-5/10s, Potter PFC-5000s) can only do T3 tone, not T4 or other alternate tone codings (such as marchtime), while fire/burg combo panels in the same priceclass (Honeywell Vista FBs, Bosch B8512Gs, DMP XRs, and Napco GEMCs) can do T4 coding for CO, or even marchtime or other codes used for gas leak alarming. (This is something that comes up because of the expanded CO detection requirements in newer IBC editions, extending CO alerting and detection beyond residential occupancies.)
One other sidenote is that in some contexts where ElectroMagnetic Compatibility is a critical concern, it may be better to use a conventional system, or at the very least have conventional zones running into the space. Most addressable fire alarm systems are only certified to the less stringent “Class A” EMC standards for commercial and industrial unintentional radiators instead of the more stringent “Class B” EMC standards for consumer gear, and the combination of long wire and relatively sharp/fast transitions present on SLCs means that they can propagate EMI rather effectively.