EN 12845 Weekly User Routine

The checks you carry out every week, by simply opening the door, so that the system works when there is a fire — from reading a gauge to restarting the diesel. Eighty per cent of the work on site is applying this list with discipline.

At a logistics warehouse, the fire panel showed a water flow alarm. On arrival the sprinkler room lights were on, the gong was silent and the B gauge read zero. Everything had worked at commissioning three months earlier — but because nobody had done the weekly check in between, a slow leak had gradually emptied the installation. The user programme in Clause 20.2 exists to prevent exactly that: a simple, disciplined weekly list that even a non-specialist can carry out.

This article opens Clause 20.2.2 item by item: what to measure, what to record, and the errors I most often catch on site.

The general principle

The standard requires the installing contractor to hand the user a documented inspection and check procedure. In other words, when the system is handed over there must be a dated, signed weekly check form and a logbook on site. I recommend hanging it on the pump room wall. In Turkish practice this form is often either lost or a template downloaded from the internet. The standard requires the logbook to be kept in the building.

Frequency

Each check item is carried out at intervals no greater than 7 days. Monday morning or Friday evening — it makes no difference, as long as you are consistent. Do not slip past seven days, holiday weeks included; otherwise a maintenance contract audit will readily record a missed routine.

Pressure and level checks

Three measurement items:

• (a) Gauge readings: water and air gauges on all installations, main manifolds and pressure tanks. Water only on wet systems; both water and air on dry, alternate and pre-action systems. Weekly pressure loss on the dry side must not exceed 1.0 bar per week; above that, go and find the leak.
• (b) Water levels: open tanks, reservoirs, river or lake intakes and pressure tanks. Act as soon as any level falls below its nominal mark.
• (c) Stop valve positions: are all main stop valves open? Sealed or strapped? Is the tamper switch showing healthy?

Field error: "The gauge shows 4 bar, same as last week." When the recorded value is never verified, the logbook turns into a repeated number; two months later the pressure has drifted from 4 to 3.5 bar and nobody noticed. If the record shows the same figure three weeks running, go and take the reading yourself.

Water motor alarm test

Every water motor gong must run for at least 30 seconds. The procedure: open the test valve beside the alarm valve, and the gong should turn and produce an audible sound for 30 s. A weak sound or no rotation means sediment or a wasp nest on the pelton wheel shaft; strip and clean it. After the test, close the valve fully — left half open, the retard chamber will not drain and a real alarm will be delayed.

Automatic pump starting test

Weekly, for each pump separately (electric and diesel):

• (a) On diesel engines, check fuel level and engine oil level.
• (b) Reduce the water pressure at the starting device by draining through the test valve, simulating the automatic start scenario.
• (c) As soon as the pump starts, measure and record the start pressure. It must match the design start pressure, with the jockey pump differential accounted for separately.
• (d) On diesel pumps, also check oil pressure and the open-circuit cooling flow reaching the radiator inlet.

The most common omission here: the jockey pump starts, everyone concludes the system works, and the main pump is never tested. The jockey trips at 0.5 bar of drop and the main pump at 1.5 bar; both have to be simulated.

Diesel restart test

Immediately after the pump start test, the diesel engine is:

• Run for 20 minutes, or the manufacturer's stated period, then stopped and restarted immediately from the manual start button.
• On engines with closed-circuit cooling, the primary circuit water level is checked.

Throughout the test, monitor oil pressure, engine temperature and cooling water flow. Inspect oil hoses visually and look for fuel, coolant or exhaust leaks.

Why does the restart matter so much? In a fire the pump runs, and shortly afterwards it may look as though it will stop — a fuel level sensor flickers, or the control panel intervenes. Whether a hot engine responds instantly to a manual start is critical performance data. A cold start is easy; a hot restart is the real-world scenario.

Trace heating and local heating

Trace heating and local heaters in freeze-prone areas need a weekly functional check. The fuse or controller may have failed, or a segment of cable may have broken. Use a thermometer or thermal camera: if a manifold reads 5 °C while the surrounding air is at 12 °C, the trace heating has dropped out. Around cold stores, on external runs in roof voids, and on the control valve arms of externally mounted valve sets, this is where problems most often start.

Suggested logbook format

In a spreadsheet or on paper, one row per week: date, time, gauge P1, P2, P3, tank level, gong duration in seconds, jockey start pressure, main pump start pressure, diesel start pressure, diesel restart OK/NO, trace heating OK/NO, observations, signature. Fifty-two rows a year. At the annual inspection this form is the primary input to the periodic inspection report; without it, "no record" means "no routine".

Field error — what one skipped week costs

At a shopping centre sprinkler room, a public holiday pushed the routine from Monday to Tuesday, then to Friday the following week, then it was missed altogether. Three weeks later the dry installation had fallen from 5.0 to 1.8 bar and the air compressor was running day and night without keeping up. The leak was a frozen test valve on the external facade. It would have been caught not at an annual test but at the second weekly check.

Comparison with NFPA 25

NFPA 25 asks for similar items under its weekly heading: gauge readings, dry system air pressure and jockey pump runtime. The most visible differences: NFPA 25 runs the diesel start test weekly for 30 minutes, where EN 12845 requires 20 minutes and places clearer emphasis on the restart. NFPA 25 places the alarm valve test on a monthly interval, where EN 12845 makes the gong test weekly.

Link to Turkish regulation

BYKHY defines the sprinkler maintenance obligation as being "to TS EN 12845", referring the periodic maintenance and record requirements directly to Clause 20. Building inspections and external insurance audits in Turkey most often ask for the logbook; if it exists, they look at the format. If it does not exist, a non-conformity is easy to write.

Quick check list

• All water and air gauges read and recorded?
• Dry or alternate pressure loss no more than 1.0 bar per week?
• Tank levels at nominal?
• All stop valves open and sealed?
• Water motor gong ran for at least 30 seconds?
• Jockey and main pump start pressures recorded?
• Diesel ran for 20 min, then restarted successfully by hand?
• Trace heating functional?
• Logbook signed?

Frequently Asked Questions

How often must the weekly checks be done?

At intervals no greater than 7 days, holiday weeks included. Slipping past seven days is recorded as a missed routine at a maintenance audit.

What pressure loss is acceptable on a dry system?

No more than 1.0 bar per week. Above that, there is a leak to find — and the weekly check is where it gets caught rather than at the annual test.

How long must the water motor gong run?

At least 30 seconds. Weak sound or no rotation usually means sediment on the pelton wheel shaft. Close the test valve fully afterwards, or the retard chamber will not drain.

Why is the diesel hot restart so important?

Because a cold start is easy. In a real fire the engine is hot, and whether it responds instantly to a manual start after a stop is the performance that actually matters.

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