Archives for February 2014

Fire Alarm and Emergency Voice System Testing and Inspection

In our last post, we talked about why it’s important to use a third party to test a smoke detector’s sensitivity level.  In this post, we’ll cover another area of concern: verification of outputs.  In a simple system that just activates the horn/strobes, that may seem to be an easy task.  However, there is always more than [Read More]

Testing & Inspecting Fire Alarm & Emergency Voice Systems

A fire alarm system is required to be tested regularly, the results of which are reviewed by the fire department.  When scheduling a test of a facility’s fire alarm system, property managers have a vested interest in maintaining safety compliance and limiting their liability exposure while keeping an eye on operating costs.  Operating cost reduction might seem [Read More]

Smoke Detector Testing

At Affiliated Fire Systems, we often get asked about a smoke detector’s lifespan .  Specifically, when should a building manager replace smoke detectors?  There is no hard and fast lifespan for a commercial smoke detector.  To be clear, commercial smoke detectors are connected to a fire alarm panel, not the battery operated devices you can [Read More]