"Highly effective in case of emergency" (which happens every 5 minutes - GDV), the leading safety magazine GIT rightly writes about sprinklers.

Extinguishing systems quickly control over 98 % of the frequent fires (bvfa) - which is also reflected in the insurers´ high success statistics. These "results among other factors out of the comprehensive Guidelines of VdS Loss Prevention, bundling years of experience and a large number of fire tests". (Institute for Claims Research of Public Insurers)

The wheel of time + atmospheric as well as operational influences particularly affect the sprinkler heads - the narrow point of the entire system, much thinner than the pipes.
(and only inspected visually from the outside during building law and insurance inspections).

Lime, rust, micro-organisms, bacterial adhesions - all those deposits and foreign matter accumulate at the outlet point. In case of emergency, they minimize, often even stop the fire water. Or corroded components burst under the release pressure surge. Or the release fluid has years ago diffused through a hairline crack. Then operators rely on expensive protection technology that can no longer save human lives or the site when needed.

Therefore, the Guidelines VdS CEA 4001en (18.4.6) and VdS 2109en (18.4.6) stipulate a precise inspection for wet systems after 25 years and dry systems after 12.5 years (why shorter? Because of the higher risk of rust). An important part of this expert inspection: the examination of randomly selected sprinkler heads.

Want to know more? Precise support for securing the operational readiness of extinguishing systems provides VdS leaflet 2091 on 28 pages.

You can easily ensure optimum fire protection: with the expertise of VdS, Europe's largest institute for technical safety.

We have been testing these systems since they were first used in Europe - rely on well over 115 years of loss prevention experience.  

For all sprinkler heads sent in by you:

• Visual and haptic assessment by our engineers (e.g. for contamination, damage and to detect the dreaded hairline cracks).

For 80 % of the samples:

• Precise determination of the response value (of course under realistic water pressure) with an automated hot air blower test stand.
• Nominal value adjustment of the K-factor (exact water flow) and spray pattern analysis in steps from 350 mbar to 3.5 bar.

For 20 % of the samples:

• Determination of the nominal release temperature by liquid bath.

All on test benches accredited by the DAkkS (all of which are VdS in-house developments - which we are constantly optimising for your protection and our speed of service).

On one page:  "Agreement on the testing of sprinklers from old systems in accordance with VdS 2092 or VdS CEA 4001 and VdS 2109". (By the way, prescribed for dry systems after 12.5 years, wet systems after 25 years - differences due to the higher risk of rust)

• For the tests we need at least 5 DSP sprinklers, 20 sprinklers per type used or 10 nozzles / fire detection.
• And of course information on the type + year of construction of the system as well as the total number of sprinklers.

Here you will find the precise assistance provided by the guidelines VdS CEA 4001en, "Sprinkler systems", VdS 2109en, "Spray water extinguishing systems" (in both also the following table) as well as the compact VdS 2091, "Maintenance of operational readiness".

The characteristic data of the installed sprinklers of each approved installer must be randomly checked by the VdS laboratories. The scope of the random samples is listed in Table 4.02.

We would be more than pleased to support you:
pbreidbach(at)vds.de     +49 (0)221 77 66 - 6424