Gates Power Transmission in Dumfries recently elected to choose C-TEC’s revolutionary touchscreen-controlled ZFP addressable fire panels to upgrade the existing fire alarm system.

A subsidiary of the giant US Corporation whose motto is “If it moves you, there’s a good chance Gates has a part in it”, Gates manufactures power transmission belts for the automotive and industrial markets.

The new fire alarm system was supplied and commissioned by leading fire specialist company, CMD Electrical Engineers Ltd and installed by Gates’ own engineering team. A network of eight, one and two loop, addressable fire panels areconnected to over 300 devices, including 90 of C-TEC’s new EN54-23 certified visual alarm
devices, used to upgrade the old fire alarm system.

To accommodate the plant’s 24-7 operation, a phased installation of the fire alrm system upgrade was required to ensure at least 90% of the existing fire system remained active during changeover. The incumbent system contained a mixture of conventional and addressable panels in multiple buildings. The project required the engineers to first install, network and commission the new C-TEC ZFP addressable fire panels, to allow for the phased changeover of each area before working through the old fire system.

Craig Dolier, Director for CMD Electrical Engeers, states,  “Gates’ engineers created loops between two radial circuits on the conventional systems and tested the wiring ready for connection. We then upgraded each addressable system to the new C-TEC ZFP’s, working through the radial circuits to make loops and configuring and commissioning the new devices. The facility also has two zone 1 areas which needed to be integrated into the new system”.

“The new system is a massive improvement on the old multiple one as, if a device previously activated, the area had to be physically visited to find out which one it was. With the new system, however, the identity and location of the triggered device is clearly visible on any one of the eight ZFPs”, adds Dolier.

To minimise the number of false alarms, phased evacuation is in operation, which means the first alarm triggered is a pulsing warning signal. This will be investigated and silenced if it proves to be a false alarm, however if a true fire is discovered, a key-switch is turned to trigger the full-scale evacuation of the site.

“The C-TEC ZFP is extremely well-engineered, reliable and ticks all the boxes for EN54 compliance. We are especially impressed its capacity to be
networked over multiple sites and the ease by which devices can be added to the system”, summarises Dolier.

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