Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

FIRE ALARM & SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS

How to
Operate my

FIRE PANEL

System Conditions & Panel Signals

08152014

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us

Many people are intimidated by

their fire alarm panels.
They dont know what the signals
mean or what buttons to push when
the panel is making noise or the
whole thing goes into alarm. A simple
understanding of the signals that a fire
alarm panel can generate and what
the panel buttons do when they are
pushed can go a long way to building
confidence in your system.

Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

System Conditions &

Top 7 Problems | Fire Alarm and Suppression Systems
Panel Signals

Contact Us

Alarm

Fire panels have four conditions

that they can be in. The best
condition is normal condition.
Normal means that everything

Trouble

in the system is operating as

normal and there are no fire or
smoke conditions in the building.

Supervisory

NFPA 72 (2013)
3.3.57* Condition. A situation, environmental state, or equipment
state of a fire alarm or signaling system
3.3.257* Signal. A message indicating a condition, communicated
by electrical, visible, audible, wireless, or other means

Page

If something is wrong with the

system the panel will give an alarm,
trouble, or supervisory signal.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Alarm
Emergency Condition...
there is a fire!

A signal indicating an emergency condition

or alert that requires action

Temporal Code 3 tone

American Standard for Fire Evacuation

NFPA 72 (2013)
3.3.57.1.1* Alarm Condition. An abnormal condition that poses an
immediate threat to life, property, or mission
3.3.257.1* Alarm Signal. A signal that results from the manual or
automatic detection of an alarm condition
Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Alarm
When a panel generates an

Alarm and a local buzzer or piezo

alarm signal you will know it.

horn that operates.

The biggest indication will be an

The panel will also indicate where

evacuation tone that will come from

the alarm condition is coming

the buildings horns or speakers

from. The ability to indicate location

as well as a flashing indication

varies with the type of panel and

from any warning strobes in the

how the installer programmed it.

building. Fire alarm systems today

The greatest amount of information

are required to announce an alarm

comes from an intelligent fire alarm

using a distinctive evacuation

panel that knows each device by

signal so people know to evacuate

an address and what information

a building (any building) when

is coming to the panel from that

they hear that tone. The universal

address. The information it then

distinctive tone is a three-pulse

displays on a small screen at the

temporal pattern called Temporal-3.

panel.

At the fire panel there will be a

red light lit up usually marked as

Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Alarm

Panel Button Functions

ACKNOWLEDGE
SILENCE
RESET

Page

I acknowledge the cause of the alarm event.

Only stops the panel beeping
Im certain all is safe and ready for people to stop evacuating.
Stops the audible and visual devices
Im ready to put everything back to its normal state.
Resets all devices impacted by the alarm (fire safety functions)

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Alarm

Panel Button Functions

stops the evacuation of the building and

should only be pushed if the panel operator
is certain there is no smoke or fire in the
building.
The Reset button resets the fire alarm
panel and puts it back into its normal state.
If there is a fire in the building that couldnt
There are three (3) buttons that are
important during an alarm condition.

be found the panel should go back into

The Acknowledge button is

only silence and/or reset the alarm under

used to quiet the piezo at the fire

the direction of the Fire Department.

alarm panel during an emergency.

Be cautious of resetting a panel too

The Silence button stops all the

quickly. Good false-alarm investigations

notification appliances from making

depend on finding the device that caused

noise and flashing. This effectively

the alarm and that visual indication of the

alarm state after being reset. If in doubt,

device that caused the alarm goes away

when the panel is reset.

Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Trouble
Fault Condition...
somethings broken!

A signal initiated by a system device indicative

of a fault in a monitored circuit, system or
component

Examples include...

Open Circuit, Loss of Primary Power, Loss of Data

Communication

NFPA 72 (2013)
3.3.57.1.4* Trouble Condition. An abnormal condition in a system
due to a fault
3.3.257.10* Trouble Signal. A signal that results from the detection
of a trouble condition
Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Trouble
A trouble signal at the panel means
that there is something wrong with
the fire alarm system.
Fire alarm systems are selfmonitoring and they can tell
when there are problems. At the
panel when there is a trouble
condition a yellow light will be lit
next to the word Trouble. The
panel piezo horn will also sound.

Page

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Trouble
Acknowledge

I acknowledge this trouble exists.

Im working on it now.
Stops the panel beeping
Lamp remains illuminated

Page

Scroll

View multiple trouble events

Troubles clear
automatically

Lamps turn off

LCD message returns to All Systems Normal.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Trouble
Trouble signals clear automatically
when the trouble condition is fixed.
During a trouble signal it may be
necessary to quiet the panel. That can
be done by pressing the Acknowledge
button. In some cases where intelligent
panels are used it is possible to get more
information about the trouble condition
by pressing the Scroll button so extra
information about the trouble (or multiple
troubles) can be viewed in the panels
display screen. Panels are arranged so
that once the panel has been quieted
through the Acknowledge button the
panels piezo will re-sound in 24 hours
if the trouble condition has not been
resolved.

Page

10

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Supervisory Signal
Supervised System has
Fault Condition...

A signal indicating the need for action in correction

with the supervision of guard tours, the fire
suppression systems or equipment, or the
maintenance features of related systems

Examples include...

Sprinkler Valve Closed (Tamper), Agent Cylinder

Low Pressure

that system is impaired!

NFPA 72 (2013)
3.3.57.1.3* Supervisory Condition. An abnormal condition in
connection with the supervision of other systems, processes,
or equipment
Page

11

3.3.257.9* Supervisory Signal. A signal that results from the

detection of a supervisory condition

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Supervisory Signal
Supervisory signals get generated
from off-normal conditions of systems,
processes, or equipment that the fire
alarm system is monitoring (supervising),
not the fire alarm system itself. It is
important to note that a supervisory
signal is different than a trouble signal. At
the panel when there is a supervisory
condition a lamp next to the word
Supervisory will be lit along with the
sound from the panels piezo horn.

Page

12

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Supervisory Signal
Acknowledge

Im aware this supervisory condition exists

and am taking appropriate action.
Stops the panel beeping
Lamp remains illuminated

Page

Scroll

View multiple supervisory events

Supervisory Conditions
clear automatically

Lamps turn off

13

LCD message returns to All Systems Normal.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

How to Operate My Fire Panel

Contact Us
TopSystem
7 Problems
| Fire Alarm and
Conditions
&Suppression Systems

Panel Signals
Supervisory Signal
Like troubles, supervisory signals clear
automatically when the supervised device/
system is returned to normal condition.
During a supervisory signal it may be
necessary to quiet the panel. That can
be done by pressing the Acknowledge
button. The scroll button, if present,
can be used to get extra information
about the condition through the display
screen. Panels are arranged so that once
the panel has been quieted through the
Acknowledge button the panels piezo
will re-sound in 24 hours if the condition
has not been resolved.

Page

14

Mission Critical Fire Protection Experts!

Top 7 Problems | Fire Alarm and SuppressiontoSystems

Sch
FIRE PROTECTION for your TEAM

ORR Protection will host a Lunch

& Learn training session for your
team on any or all of your existing
fire systems.
We will train you and your team how
to recognize problems, properly
respond to and operate your systems
as well as review NFPA requirements
they need to know.
Oh, and we bring the lunch!
Click here and we will follow up with
you to schedule a date that is most
convenient for you!

TA
N

0 % LE A R N

TE

DE

SY

10

MS

LUNCH & LEARN

UN

For Mission Critical Fire Protection

ed

K
IC

e
ul

LUNCH & LEARN TRAINING

UNDERSTANDING YOUR FIRE SYSTEMS

CL

Click

DIN

E
G YOUR FIR