Shamelessly stolen from the NICET Fire Alarms Facebook group:
Which is more important, a sprinkler system or a alarm system AND WHY?
Both are important, and ideally you should have both. But if you could only have one, which would it be and why?
I’ll reserve my personal opinion for later.
Probably a sprinkler system I’d imagine, since a sprinkler system will actually control & maybe even extinguish a fire: smoke alarms & fire alarm systems both give warning of a fire, but do nothing to actually control it.
If it were up to me, a Fire Suppression System.
These systems activate fire alarms and suppress the fire.
More expensive, but Hey!
Well so will a sprinkler system (at least if the system has at least one waterflow switch fitted), but not if there’s no fire alarm system!
Inergen if possible. Won’t fog out the view, and won’t poison you down instantly or cause greenhouse effects like what CO2 or halon will do.
I’d rather go with Novec 1230, since according to 3M it’s got so many advantages compared to virtually all other fire suppression agents & seemingly no downsides.