Transcript Bild 1 - Sprinklerworld.org

7th International Fire Sprinkler Conference & Exhibition, Copenhagen, 24-25 June 2008
Protection of Cultural Resources
Sprinkler Protection for Historic Wood churches
Magnus Arvidson
Department of Fire Technology
SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden
The objective of the project
 Gather relevant fire statistics and examples of illustrative
fires or attempts to start fires.
 Summarize lessons learned and practical experience from
recent fire sprinkler installations.
 Identify issues where additional research, testing or
development work is needed.
The full report, ”An overview of fire protection of Swedish
wooden churches”, SP Report 2006:42 may be
downloaded from www.sp.se.
Fire is historically the main reason for damage
During almost 800 years, 1193 – 1984, a total of 524 churches and
chapels in Sweden were damaged by fire, war, plundering,
collapse, storm, snow, etc.
In total, 447 (85%) were damaged or destroyed by fire.
A total of 106 of these fires
occurred due to lightning.
Examples from recent years
Katarina church (1990)
Rörbäcksnsäs (1992)
Salabacke (1993)
Lundby (1993)
Trönö (1998)
Sura old church (1998)
Skaga chapel (2000)
Bäckaby old church (2000)
Södra Råda (2001)
Ryssby (2001)
Ledsjö (2004)
Ramnäs (2006)
Älvestad (2007)
Öjebyns kyrkstad, Piteå (2007)
Älvestads church March 29, 2007
Photo: Johnny Gustavsson
Example: The Södra Råda church (erected c. 1310)
Photos: The Swedish National Heritage Board
Unique and invaluable wall- and ceiling paintings
Highest artistic quality (paintings from 1323 and 1494)
Destroyed in a fire in November 2001
The fire was deliberately started.
System installation case studies in nine churches







Hedareds stave church
Frödinge church
Älgarås church
Habo church
Fröskog
Skållerud
+ three additional churches
Objective: Summarise lessons learned and practical
experience.
Six of the studied churches (year of installation)
Hedareds Stave Church (2004)
Frödinge (2007)
Älgarås (2005)
Habo (2006)
Fröskog (2006)
Skållerud (2006)
The ’typical’ system installation
 Water supply: Pump unit and water reservoir positioned in
a separate building adjacent to the church.
 Complete protection of the interior.
 Complete protection inside attics, bell towers and other
concealed spaces.
 Protection of the exterior. Primarily facades, in some cases
also the roof.
Separate buildings house the water supply
Hedareds stave church
Habo church
Fröskog church
Älgarås church
Water supply equipment
Fröskog church
Fröskog church
Habo church
Habo church
Älgarås church (interior)
Habo church (interior)
Frödinge church (attic)
Fire detection systems for facades and roofs
Fröskog church
Fröskog church
Hedared stave church
Habo church
Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs
Älgarås church
Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs
Habo church
Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs
Skållerud church
Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs
Älgarås church
Photo: Jan G Andersson
Sprinkler protection of facades and roofs
Habo church
Experiences from the installations
 Aesthetical aspects important. All installations are impressively
discreet.
 The level of system complexity is in some cases high.
 The use of antifreeze solutions may be questioned.
 Functional tests are essential to discover troubles.
 Unintentional activations are quite common.
 Unintentional fire alarms are quite common.
 Inspection, tests and maintenance are expensive.
Discreet installations
Habo church
Älgarås church
Habo church
Hedareds stave church
The level of system complexity in some cases high
 Different systems for interior vs. exterior.
 Different system types; wet-pipe with antifreeze, dry-pipe,
deluge, etc for different parts of the churches.
 Different fire detection techniques; aspirating systems, linear
heat detection wires, etc.
 New technical solutions, previously not used; gas driven pump
units, flushing of piping with compressed air, new nozzle
designs, etc.
The level of system complexity in some cases high
The attic of Habo church
Drainage of the system - special solutions.
Frödinge church
Fröskog church
Y-connections instead of T-connections for pendent nozzles.
Compressed air is used to flush the system piping.
The use of antifreeze solutions may be questioned
Careless use of antifreeze in Habo church.
Functional tests essential to discover troubles
Several cases documented where systems have failed to
operate during functional tests:
1. Pressure drop inside pneumatic pilot line not high enough to
open a deluge valve.
2. Component failure in alarm panel = solenoid valve of a preaction system never opened.
3. Electrical motor protector activated and stopped a pump during
fill-up of the system piping.
4. Mechanical problems with the deluge valves.
Unintentional activations quite common
Six cases (totally four churches) of unintentional activations
were documented. All cases involved facade protection:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Rain water got inside a junction box of the detection system.
Unknown reason (same church)
Too low temperature rating of heat detection wire on facade.
As case 3.
As case 3.
Manufacturing defect of a component in the fire alarm panel.
Unintentional fire alarms quite common
Several cases of unintentional activations of fire detection
systems have been documented:
1. Water leaking during a hydrostatic test found its way in to a
smoke detector. False alarm some weeks later.
2. Leaves were burnt outdoors – activated detection system inside
attic space.
3. Too low temperature rating of linear heat detection system
installed on facades.
Inspection, tests and maintenance are expensive
Example from Habo church, cost per year:




Own personnel: $5,000 (3 hours / week).
Service agreement (the system): $8,250.
Service agreement (the power generator): $1,500.
Annual, third party inspection: $3,800.
Totally: $18,550+ VAT = $23,200
per year.
Important: Statistics shows that regular inspection, tests and
maintenance is the key to high reliability.
Issues where additional research, testing or
development work is desired
 Water discharge densities and design areas relevant for heritage
buildings.
 The protection of facades and roofs.
 Fire detection for facades and roofs.
 Flashover prevention systems.
 Water exposure to vulnerable paintings and décor.
 The use of antifreeze.
 System reliability.
 Streaming of water in cold sprinkler piping – the risk for clogging.
Thank you!