This week, Potter Electric Signal Co. is unveiling a brand-new fire alarm panel that may save the lives of apartment dwellers all over the country. The new system, which is a panel that is made to monitor a building’s sprinkler system and includes built-in options for setting up a fire alarm, is one of the first of its kind. The panel will offer the dual convenience of both a fire alarm system and also give building owners the opportunity to bring older buildings up to code when it comes to their sprinkler monitoring equipment.
Craig Summers, national sales manager for Potter, an independent fire manufacturer based here, told that the company believes “we’ve got a winner” with the PFC-6006 Sprinkler Monitoring Panel. The new solution is ideal for the many buildings that have fire sprinklers but no fire alarm systems, he said. Summers explained, “Fire sprinkler systems usually by code are required to be monitored by a central station.” Up until now, he said, two solutions have been available to do that, but both have drawbacks.”
Summers also went on to explain that most fire alarm systems that report to a central station run on a different voltage than most alarm panels, which do not make them compatible. The new panel allows both the alarm and the sprinkler systems to work in tandem with each other, which offers apartment dwellers an added measure of security when it comes to fire safety.
The new fire alarmpanel will be a boon to those who live in older apartment buildings because when operated with existing sprinkler systems, the alarm will give them more time to evacuate their apartment in the event of a fire. In most cases, sprinklers only activate when there is a fire already present, and by then, the flames and smoke might be too overwhelming for people to escape.
Summers also noted:
The six-zone sprinkler monitoring panel comes with “a big feature that everybody loves,” [. . .] “it comes with a dual-line dialer, DACT, built into the panel and then also has the ability to be monitored via IP… And the two technologies, both the DACT dialer and the IP-type communicator can co-exist so they can back each other up or either one can be primary. … Installers can choose how they want to do it.”
The technical specs of this panel are completely unique, and Potter Electric Signal Co. is expecting steadysales in the coming months as building owners discover its benefits.
Zach Jefferson
Author – Zach has six years under his belt as a marketing manager within the home security industry. He is in charge of keeping site information as accurate as possible, while developing new content ideas for consumers.