Complete List of Monitoring Points for Diesel Pump?

10/10/2019

Is there a complete list of points I need to monitor with fire alarm for a diesel driven fire pump?

I can't seem to find a comprehensive/definitive list in NFPA 20 or 72, but I would imagine at least one or more of the following would need to be monitored by code: fire pump running, primary sensor failure, low fuel level, main disconnect in "off" position, main disconnect in "manual" position, low pump room temperature, flowmeter left on, loss of AC power supply, loss of battery (load side of DC overcurrent), over-speed, and engine trouble (low oil, over temp, other?).

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2 Comments

Craig link

10/10/2019 10:36:38 am

Under the 2019 edition of NFPA 20, Section 12.4.2 provides the requirement for conditions to be monitored on a diesel engine-driven fire pump. Sections 12.4.1.3 and 12.4.1.4 identify the conditions that are to be remotely indicated when the fire pump room is not constantly attended.

Colin Lusher link

10/10/2019 12:02:16 pm

Agree with Craig....NFPA 20 does indeed provide a detailed list, separated by LOCAL indicatators, and REMOTE indication. Section 12.4.1.3 and 12.4.1.4 provide requirements for local indicators; ie indicator IN the pump room. You usually don't need to worry too much about these as any NFPA 20 compliant controller will have these built in.

Section 12.4.2.3 is what you need to worry about, as this gives the requirement for alarms that need to be monitored OFF premises assuming the pump room is not constantly attended. There are THREE required separate monitoring points:
1) Engine Running
2) Controller switch in off/manual
3) Trouble (controller and engine trouble can be monitored together).

The idea here is that trouble signal catches all your individual pump room problems (low fuel, low temp, loss of AC power, etc.) as a single trouble signal. Then when you go to teh site to investigate the generic trouble signal, you should be able to narrow down the problem based on the local indicators at the engine controller.

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