North Road Academy, an Islamic primary school in Stoke-on-Trent, has avoided a complete replacement of its fire detection system by converting the existing conventional installation to an addressable one using FastConvert, C-TEC's conventional-to-addressable zone converter. According to specialist electrical contractor W R Fire & Security, the approach saved approximately £3,500 on the project.
The school had initially considered replacing its fire system outright. Following a site survey, however, W R Fire & Security identified the potential to enhance the existing conventional system rather than start again, converting it to an addressable system with FastConvert.
Three alternative upgrade routes weighed
Before opting for FastConvert, the contractor considered three other upgrade options.
- A new conventional panel would have allowed the zones to be separated out and additional zones to be created, but would have required extra cabling and would still have left the school with a conventional system able to report only zonal fire and fault information.
- A full re-cable was ruled out on budget grounds: it would have added an estimated £10,000 in materials and additional labour, along with far greater disruption and a longer installation timetable.
- Converting the remaining six zones into loops would have added about a week to the installation for two engineers, plus additional cabling, materials and disruption, at an estimated extra cost of £3,000–£4,000.
FastConvert was the only option that avoided all three drawbacks at once, according to the company: it reuses existing wiring, delivers a genuine loop-based addressable system rather than a conventional one, and does so without the extra cost, labour or disruption.
From legacy wiring to a CAST addressable system
Working with the old system's wiring, FastConvert upgraded the school's legacy conventional installation into an open-protocol CAST addressable system. According to C-TEC, the resulting system is capable of lockdown alert functionality and internet connectivity, and can accommodate the company's CAST-PRO combined fire detection and alarm devices, which the manufacturer describes as award-winning and false-alarm resistant. To achieve the conversion, two radials were combined into a single loop, with a dedicated two-loop panel installed for FastConvert.
Wayne Riley, managing director of W R Fire & Security, said the contractor was impressed with the converter's capabilities. He said FastConvert had been the clear choice compared with a full rewire, which would have added around £10,000 to the job, or converting the remaining zones into loops, which would have cost an extra £3,000–£4,000 plus a week's additional labour for two engineers. He added that the approach had substantially reduced installation time, site disruption and labour costs, and saved approximately £3,500 on the project.
Riley also said the contractor rated the new CAST-PRO devices highly, describing them as superior to other manufacturers' products because the sounders and VADs and the multi-sensors are built into the heads, so separate sounder bases are not needed.