Kitchen Fire Suppression

[Greg1707]

I received a call from a customer regarding the fire suppression system in their commercial kitchen. I was told the system has been in place for several years, however; the automatic function has never been connected to the electric panel. Currently, the system is activated manually. I was told that all I would need to do is run a circuit from the panel to the automatic system.

I have no experience with these systems. Does this description of the situation sound reasonable? Are there any obvious issues beyond just running a circuit with MC cable? Would this be 120 or 240 volt?
Thanks,

 

[fmtjfw]

Typically all the electric circuits under the hood need to be shunt-tripped if the hood extinguisher trips. If this is the case and you are lucky all you need to do is connect the shunt-trip circuit(s) in the existing breakers. If the breaker(s) are not shunt-trip then you may have to add a shunt-trip to the feeder for the panel....

There may be more requirements, talk to the local inspector or fire department.

good luck

 

[gadfly56]

Kitchen hood suppression systems are actuated manually, from a pull station or automatically, through fusible links installed in the plenum space. On rare occasions you may find them activated via a solenoid wired to Fenwal-style "finger" detectors.

As mentioned, electrical and gas appliances must be shut down when the system activates. Gas appliances may be shut down via a mechanical connection to the system control head, or a solenoid with remote reset.

For under-hood electric, that means ALL the electric, if you're going by the IBC codes. Including that little clock plugged in over the stove. If the stove, fryers, or other appliances have a "spark-start" ingnition, they have to shut down also.

If there is a fire alarm on the premises, you must make a connection to it. If there is no fire alarm, you must provide local annunciation via a bell, horn, horn/strobe or some other alarm indicating device when the system is activated. Most system manufacturers provide 2-4 relays for this purpose, usually rated at 20 amps.

As a further note, I prefer N/O contactors to shunt breakers. The AHJ may get up in your face about monitoring for loss of power to the shunt coil. If you lose the power to the shunt coil, you won't know until the next service (in 6 months if they do it on schedule) or when the fire department shows up.

And I almost forgot, there is a requirement now that you install a thermostat control in the duct or plenum space to automatically turn on the exhast fan if the temperature gets over 130F or so. Exhaust should stay on during system activation; make-up air, if any, must be shut down.