Situation

The de Gruchy department store is undergoing major renovation and modernising. The menswear department has gained an additional 3000 sq ft taking it to a total of 7000 sq ft at a budget of £1.2m.

As a part of the renovations there are new ceilings being installed in the department, which has affected the fire safety precautions in the area. Void protection is already installed and as a result of the new ceiling, new fire protection was needed below the void.

Solution

The traditional way of making additions to an existing sprinkler system is time consuming organising drain downs and work that has to be done in conjunction with other contractors, depending on the area where the work is to be carried out it might have to be completed out of normal working hours which brings about further costs and inconveniences. When draining down a sprinkler system the building no longer has fire protection and the local fire authorities have to be notified.

A new concept “Livetap” has been developed to address issues that arise when planning and implementing modifications and additions to existing sprinkler systems. The concept of under pressure drilling has been around for a while, and services that employ this method i.e. Water, Gas etc., were able to incorporate isolating valves in their service pipelines. Fire sprinkler systems code standards specifically, Do Not Allow the installation of isolating valves in the system. The Livetap® drilling method has been developed to overcome this restriction for the first time.

The Livetap® drilling system allows the installer to fit a branch tee connection to an existing sprinkler main. At de Gruchy 15 No Drain T connections were made to the existing **mm mains with the addition of ** sprinkler heads. The No Drain T connector has been engineered and developed to provide a branch tee without an inline valve (which overcomes the code standards restrictions). The unique fitting comprises of an LPCB/U.L approved mechanical tee which has been developed specifically, for the purpose of live tapping. The tee has unique features that allow it to be flush fitted to an existing sprinkler main.

To start the job suitable positions for the No Drain Tees are determined. Then we continue to install the additional ranges of pipe work and connect them to the 50mm No Drain T connection that has already been fitted to the existing sprinkler main. The drill is connected to the No Drain T branch connection. The new pipe work was then backfilled and pressure tested according to code standards. After a successful test the pressure in the new pipe work was reduced in line with the working pressure of the existing system. The drill is then fed through the No Drain T by means of a simple hand operated ratchet drive, which feeds the drill into the existing sprinkler main in a matter of minutes. The drill is now withdrawn along with it the swarf and coupon remembering to release the system pressure and closing the valve. To show that the drilling was successful the coupon from the existing sprinkler main is handed over to the client.

Result

The Livetap® drilling system is a simple system that saves time and money when making additions to, or modifying an existing sprinkler system. During these works there was no need to drain down the system which saves a valuable resource in the form of water. It also saves the hassle of organising a drain down with centre management, having to isolate alarms valves and notifying local fire authorities there will be down time of the buildings fire protection. All the work at de Gruchy was carried out with the sprinkler system still ‘live’ so there is no loss of protection during the works, which reduces the risk of property damage and the life safety of the people using the building at the time. Normal business is not interrupted when works are being carried out using the Livetap® process. If the job required a drain down to make the connections then the works would have had to be carried out during out of normal hours inducing extra labour costs and time taken to orchestrate the works with the client, security and other contractors. When using the Livetap® system there is no water release during the process, no fire pumps to run and all equipment is user friendly. Another advantage of the Livetap® process is when taking into account the occurrence of any leaks, as only the newly installed pipe work has to be drained in order to amend them saving time draining down and refilling the pipe work.

The Livetap® system is a faster, simpler way of working. The additions to the sprinkler system at de Gruchy were made efficiently also using the Livetap® process also resulted in substaintial cost savings.

Benefits of Livetap® Under Pressure Drilling

> No Drain Down
> No Loss of Protection
> No Inline Valve
> 24 / 7 Sprinkler Protection
> Substantial Cost Savings
> Simple Minor Works Connections
> Ability to Work in Normal Hours
> No Release of Water
> No Pumps Running
> User Friendly Equipment
> No Activating of Other Alarms
> Saves Water

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