Issue

As TJ Waste expand for the future, they are highly conscious of the environmental issues facing them and want to work with the Environment Agency to ensure that all aspects of the business meet the highest standards in the industry. Some of these issues involve water recycling, dust suppression and emergency fire control, and these also influence the availability and magnitude of the business insurance premiums.

Based on a past excellent working relationship, TJ Waste approached Wright Rain Environmental Ltd to assist with the design of the fire prevention system and a dust suppression system.

Due to the nature of the business, waste is continuously received throughout the day and material remains in the building during the night and weekends. Therefore, a substantial amount of water was demanded to address a potential fire in the building, despite the local fire service being available within a 15-minute call out.

Task

Having established the water requirement to address the fire and the areas at most risk of fire, Wright Rain Environmental Ltd designed a system to fulfil these requirements.

Solution

To enable the system to be completely automated, a 10kw submersible bore hole pump was mounted in the new 10,000l tank, this was then wired into the power supply to be linked in to the automation.

Large diameter PE piping was installed from the tank, along the back of the main building, this then went up to a simple 4 valve manifold assembly. The 7 specially designed deluge fire nozzles are in 3 separate sections and fed from a network of steel pipes mounted in the roof of the building to cover the potential areas of concern and can be individually isolated from the manifold mounted at ground level. Each nozzle covers around 8 metres diameter of floor area.

In order to have easy access to the nozzle control valves, the manifold is mounted on the back wall of the building, with the steel pipes running up the back wall.

The controls were wired into TJ Wastes fire detection equipment.

Some concern was expressed over false activation.
Therefore, a fail-safe system is incorporated involving a variable delay between the fire alarm being activated and the deluge nozzles operating.

Regular testing of the alarm system and pumping system can be carried out with the sprinkler lines isolated and the main bypass valve opened to return the water to the river without deluging the building.

Conclusion

Wright Rain Environmental Ltd are delighted to work with TJ Waste Ltd, who take their Environmental and Health and Safety responsibilities very seriously.