Fire water pumping stations – rules of designing
Fire water pumping station is a common name of premises where pumps are located as well as other devices supplying fire fighting installations in fire extinguishing media.
These could be pumping stations supplying foam fire fighting installations, external and internal shydrant installations and sprinkler installations.
Pumping stations should be located in a room with fire resistance of at least 60 minutes. If the pumping station room is a separate fire zone, its walls and ceiling should have the fire resistance the same as determined for fire zones in the given building.
This should be (one of the following):
The pumping station facility should be protected with a sprinkler and equipped with ventilation in case of using pumps with diesel engine – ventilation should satisfy requirements of pump suppliers, in particular with reference to quick removal of excess heat and combustion gases at the moment of starting the pumps.
The temperature in this room should be at least:
The pumping station feedwater should not exceed 40°C. In case of using submersible pumps, water temperature should not exceed 25°C (unless the manufacturer allows motor operation in the temperature up to 40°C according to EN 12259-12 [4]).
The condition concerning sprinkler protection refers only to pumping stations feeding the sprinkler installation. In the case of pumping stations feeding a hydrant installation or network it is not necessary.
The conditions of use of hydrants and sprinkler installation are independent and not related. In the building with the functioning internal hydrant installation the sprinklers do not need to be automatically used.
How do design and plan the equipment set up in the pumping station? First of all, it depends on the location of the pumping station facility with regard to the water reservoir tank. In the best case the pumping station is located right next to the water tank. The perfect set-up is with the wall which is simultaneously the tank and the pumping station wall.
If you need professional advice and designing the fire water pumping station from the scratch, our Pompax engineers and specialists will help you at all stages of designing, construction and commissioning of the fire water pumping station.