Plumbers appear to be afraid of our sprinkler tank

[rsb123]

We have recently had a fire safety sprinkler system fitted (due to fire regulations related to a loft conversion). Because our water pressure/flow rate are not high enough, the sprinkler company recommended we have a 1 cubic meter tank and electric pump placed in back garden to feed sprinkler heads.

Well they have fitted the tank and pump but it is not connected to the house water supply or electric supply. Yes, in the contract they did say we needed to supply our own plumber and electrician to do this work which we are OK with.

The problem however, is that no plumber seems to want to touch it.

The first plumber initially agreed to do it and then literally ran off claiming an emergency callout, mumbling something about not wanting to be liable for a 'live' system.

The second guy took a look and scratched his head as to why sprinkler company didn't finish the job and mentioning we need to notify water company any time a pump is connected to water supply.

The third guy said don't say anything to the water company and he wasn't keen to fit a supply pipe to it.

We've only tried to contact one electrician and he won't ring us back - a guy who previously was friendly and responsive.

This makes me think the sprinkler company is trying to avoid responsibility and liability if the system fails. In other words, if something goes wrong, they can blame the plumber and electrician (who of course will blame the sprinkler company).

Should I take this back to the sprinkler company and ask them to provide a plumber, or shall I keep searching for that elusive plumber who cares not about regulations and potential liability?

thanks

 

[stani]

We recently did a misting system which was, as yours is, due to build regs, we supplied a cold supply via a washing machine type tap and a switched fused supply from a non RCD protected supply, the sprinkler engineers then connected to our supplies and all was good.

 

[Masood]

There should be no issue with water regs compliance as the pump will be fitted after the break tank. No need to notify the water company if the work is carried out by a water regs approved plumber.

I would be wary of connecting this type of system up as I don't know in detail how the sprinkler system works and I'd be worried about liability if I accidentally triggered it. Also how would you test without getting your house wet?

The solution Stani mentioned above seems most logical - get a plumber to install a mains supply to the tank, then a supply to the pump. Get a sparkie to provide a fused spur then let the sprinkler company deal with the product-specific connection and testing.

 

[stani]

As above, the misting company in our case sign off, test and certify build regs compliance.

 

[stani]

Home

For those interested this is what was fitted, neat small unit, high pressure hose only needs something like 9l/m and 13amp supply. Can use either wall mounted spray plate or there is a fitting for the tap. Really looked the part and saved a lot of money fitting a standard sprinkler system.

 

[Riley]

I'm intrigued can anyone point me to the regs for this as that link Stani sent mentions open plan space and I know I have a couple coming up. May need to brush up

 

[stani]

Riley, it's something in http://webarchive.nationalarchives....ortal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_B1_2013.pdf
The building inspector made us have these fitted due to a loft conversion which exited into a kitchen, bit gobsmacked when they came up with a sprinkler system, but because of this we found this misting system, think it still cost quite a bit, but no where near what a sprinkler system would have cost.

 

[oz-plumber]

We've only tried to contact one electrician and he won't ring us back - a guy who previously was friendly and responsive.

This makes me think the sprinkler company is trying to avoid responsibility and liability if the system fails. In other words, if something goes wrong, they can blame the plumber and electrician (who of course will blame the sprinkler company).

Should I take this back to the sprinkler company and ask them to provide a plumber, or shall I keep searching for that elusive plumber who cares not about regulations and potential liability?

thanks

First, don't keep searching for the Plumber who does not care about regulations, because when it come to liability he will have disappeared.

Re: The sprinkler company.
Get them to provide specifications on the water supply required to maintain the Tank, in case of a fire. You don't want to run out of water when a fire is underway.

Electrical specifications: There may be a requirement of a generator back-up if the power goes off.

So get the full required specs on water supply, pressure and flow rate off the sprinkler company, show them to a Plumber and find out whether or not the requirements are achievable.

Do the same regarding the Electrical specifications.

I can see this getting messy and expensive