Museum sprinkler systems in Kettering
Museum sprinkler systems installed and serviced to BS EN 12845, with the tanks covered and an emergency line that answers at any hour.
- ISO 9001, the certification insurers look for
- BS EN 12845
- Free survey, fixed price in writing, no travel charge
What is different about museums and galleries
Museum sprinkler systems usually come up with a refurbishment, a new gallery, an insurer asking about suppression, or a collection moving into a building that was never designed to hold it. Sentry Sprinkler Protection installs and services sprinkler systems for museums and galleries, to BS EN 12845. Annex A of BS EN 12845 classifies museums as at least Ordinary Hazard Group 2, a step above hospitals and offices, which surprises people who think of a gallery as a quiet room with pictures in it. What actually drives the decision in a museum is rarely the classification. It is the fear of water, and that fear is usually pointed at the wrong risk.
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A sprinkler is not a deluge, and this is the part worth understanding
Every head is held shut by its own heat sensitive bulb. Only the heads over the fire open, typically one or two, and they discharge a fraction of what a firefighting hose delivers through a door or a window at whatever the crew can reach. The choice in a museum is not water or no water. It is a measured amount of water, early and local, against an uncontrolled amount later.
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Accidental discharge is the real worry, and it has an answer
A pre-action arrangement keeps the pipework dry and will not let water in until a detection system has also operated, which removes the burst pipe and the knocked head from the equation. It costs more and it adds a second system to maintain, and for an irreplaceable collection that is usually a trade worth making. It is a design decision, made from the building and the collection, not from a catalogue.
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Stores are a different building from the galleries
The public rooms are sparse by design. The stores, the workshops and the conservation spaces are dense, and they hold the things not currently on display. Annex A is explicit that its classifications are minimums, and a packed store can sit well above the gallery it serves. Protecting only what the visitors see is a common and expensive way to be under-designed.
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Listed fabric changes how it is installed, not whether
Concealed pipework, sidewall heads, routes that follow existing services, and a conversation with the conservation officer before anything is drawn. It makes the installation slower and more careful. It does not usually make it impossible, and a scheme designed around the fabric from the start is far cheaper than one redesigned after a refusal.
What we do for these buildings
- BS EN 12845 Sprinkler servicing The full BS EN 12845 routine, from the weekly gauge and alarm check to the annual service. Fire sprinkler servicing
- BS EN 12845 and BS 9251 Design and installation New systems, extensions and upgrades, designed, installed and commissioned. Fire sprinkler installation
- BS EN 12845 Sprinkler tanks The water supply behind the system, inspected, cleaned and replaced when it is past it. Sprinkler tank maintenance
- Any hour 24/7 emergency A leak, a failed pump or a discharged head, answered out of hours. Emergency sprinkler repair
From first call to certificate
Four steps, the same on every job.
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01Free survey
We look at the building and its records, and tell you what it is due.
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02Fixed price in writing
Every item priced line by line. No survey fee, nothing added afterwards.
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03The work, on your dates
Isolation agreed before anyone arrives, kept as short as the job takes.
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04Certificate and record
A certificate and a photographed defect list, ready for your insurer.
- Start
Book the free survey
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.
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Four quick taps and your details. A free survey and a fixed price in writing, with no survey fee and no obligation.
Mon to Fri, 7am to 5pm. Emergencies any hour.
Request received
We’ve got it from here.
Step 1 of 5 is done. Here is how the rest goes.
- Request sent Done
- 2 We call you Next
- 3 Free survey
- 4 Fixed price
- 5 Work done
Museums and galleries: questions
Will a sprinkler system soak the collection if it goes off?
Only the heads directly over a fire open, and they open one at a time as the heat reaches each bulb. In most real incidents that is one or two heads over the seat of the fire. Compare that with what a fire and rescue service delivers once it is alight enough to need them, which is orders of magnitude more water, aimed by people who cannot see what is behind the smoke. The damage arithmetic is not close.
Can we have a system that cannot discharge by accident?
A pre-action system is the usual answer. The pipes stay dry and empty, and water is only admitted when an independent detection system has operated as well as a head. Two things have to be true before anything gets wet, which rules out the burst pipe, the corroded fitting and the head knocked by a ladder. It is more system to design and more to maintain, and for an irreplaceable collection that is normally the right trade.
Our building is listed. Is this going to be refused?
Usually not, but the route matters. Schemes get refused when they are drawn as if the building were a warehouse and then presented to a conservation officer as a finished design. Schemes get approved when the constraints are in the brief from the start: where pipework can run, what can be concealed, which finishes cannot be disturbed. Talk to the conservation officer before the design, not after.
What does maintenance look like in a gallery that stays open?
Most of it is invisible. The weekly and monthly checks are non-intrusive and happen before opening. The annual needs the system isolated, and BS EN 12845 asks that only one zone is down at a time and for the shortest time the work needs. In practice that means a zone at a time, out of hours, with the galleries told what their fire strategy is running on while it is down.
Worth reading first
- Sprinklers How a fire sprinkler system actually works Each sprinkler head is held shut by a heat-sensitive glass bulb or fusible link, so only the heads directly over a fire open. The resulting flow drops the pressure in the pipework, which starts the pump and operates the alarm.
- Compliance What your insurer actually wants from a sprinkler system Insurers price a sprinkler system as risk mitigation only if they can trust it. Who installed it, what it was designed to and an unbroken maintenance record are what make it count.
- Sprinklers How often should sprinklers be serviced? Under BS EN 12845, sprinklers are checked weekly by the site, checked monthly for water and fuel, tested quarterly, given an interim contractor service every six months and a full service once a year, with the pump proved under flow.
The published documents behind this page
Every interval and threshold on this page comes from one of these. Links go to the publisher, not to a copy of the document.
- BS EN 12845Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems. Design, installation and maintenance
The standard commercial and industrial sprinkler systems are designed, installed and maintained to. It sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual routines.
BSI
British Standards are copyright documents and most are bought rather than read free. We hold the ones we work to. If you need to know what one of them says about your building, ask us rather than buying it.
Certified, and audited on a schedule.
ISO 9001, certified by BRE Global and accredited by UKAS. Somebody independent audits how every job is planned, recorded and signed off, on a schedule.
ISO 9001:2015
Certified by BRE Global, accredited by UKAS
An audited quality management system. It means the way a job is planned, recorded and signed off is itself inspected by somebody independent, on a schedule.
Working to BS EN 12845, BS 9251 and BS 9990. If your insurer or fire risk assessor wants the certificates themselves, ring us and we will send them over.
5.0 on Google
3 reviews, and every one of them five stars.
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Lewis W. Sprinkler installation, warehouse Had them install a full sprinkler system across one of our warehouses, and couldn't be happier. They were professional from start to finish and the on-site team were genuinely friendly to work with. […] Highly recommend if you would need your building or warehouse properly fire-protected.
5 stars on Google
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Mike C. Weekly maintenance, testing and repair Sentry Sprinkler Protection have recently taken over the weekly maintenance, testing and repair of the […] sprinkler equipment. They are providing a excellent service, good value and they are also very helpful when on site.
5 stars on Google
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Sam E. Sprinkler pipework installation Couldn't recommend [Sentry] enough. Their work ethic, consistent efficient install of the pipework and overall approach to a project should be something every sub-contractor strives to mirror. Marius is incredibly approachable and methodical in his work with laydown areas kept very neat and tidy and all work carried out in a safe manner.
5 stars on Google
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.
No survey fee to find out where you stand. Describe the site and we will tell you which intervals apply and what the visit involves.
Request received
We’ve got it from here.
Step 1 of 5 is done. Here is how the rest goes.
- Request sent Done
- 2 We call you Next
- 3 Free survey
- 4 Fixed price
- 5 Work done