Connecting CO alarm with addressable fire alarm panels

[katwalatapan]

Hello,

I'm working on an application to connect Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm in a utility room with the building's fire alarm panel so that the CO alarm could be monitored via an off-site monitoring station. In conventional panels both Kiddie and BRK have CO alarms and relevant relay modules which could connect the CO alarm to the fire alarm panel, however I'm not too sure about this application in addressable fire alarm panels. Is it possible to connect a Kiddie or BRK CO alarm with the relevant relay module to the addressable fire alarm panels? Or would we require a CO alarm and relay module specific to the addressable fire alarm panel manufacturer for compatibility. The objective is to send the alarm/trouble signal from the CO alarm to the off-site monitoring.

Thank you.

 

[waross]

I haven't done fire alarms since the pre-addressable days.
I found the manufacturer to be very helpful with specific problems.
I needed a fan shut down relay at the farthest point in the system from the panel.
After discussions with a manufacturers engineer, the manufacturer supplied a special relay that could be operated from a bell circuit.
The nearest bell was about 10 feet away from the fan, rather than several hundreds of feet to the panel.
This was one of the last fire alarm systems installed under the old code that required a minimum of #14 wire for signal circuits.
The saving in wire and conduit was considerable.
The manufacturer liked the idea so much that they added the relay to their product offerings.
Bottom line, try to talk to a service engineer.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[itsmoked]

Bill do you mean "bell 10 feet from fan"

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[waross]

Thanks Keith.
Edit made.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[VEBill]

It's not my area, but wouldn't any alarm panel also have at least some inputs for discrete signals? The assignment of addressing would then be internal to the panel. Such a scheme would be almost necessary for retrofits.

^- Speculation alert. Confirmation required.

 

[jmbelectrical]

For this application, you need an addressable input monitoring module. The module connects to the fire alarm system's signaling line circuit (SLC) and detects a change in contact status within another device, panel, or system. In general, there is no need to be concerned about compatibility between what is being monitored and the fire alarm system. They are used for a wide variety of applications, including:

-Fire sprinkler waterflow switches
-Fire sprinkler tamper switches
-Commercial kitchen hood fire suppression system monitoring
-Generator status monitoring
-Fire pump controller status monitoring
-Distributed antenna system (DAS) monitoring

One thing you need to verify with the AHJ is if the CO detector should trigger an alarm or a supervisory condition. (Recall that a trouble condition only results when a fault has occurred within the fire alarm system.) Depending on several factors, either could be appropriate. See [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.silentknightblog.com/co-detection-alarm-or-supervisory/[/url] for more information.