Why a Building Owner Should Upgrade to an Addressable Fire Alarm Panel

Posted on: July 25, 2017

Addressable panels provide essential information to building managers, contractors, and safety personnel

If you own, operate, or manage a building with conventional fire alarm panels – ones that don’t specify where an alarm or detector was triggered – you may want to consider upgrading to an addressable fire alarm panel. Unlike conventional panels, addressable panels provide specific and essential information that can drastically reduce service time and costs and, in some cases, could even provide you the information needed to prevent emergencies.

Addressable panels show which heat alarm, smoke detector, pull handle, or duct detector was triggered

If you hear a fire alarm go off a very large building with a conventional fire alarm panel, it could be coming from one (or more) of hundreds of heat detectors, smoke detectors, pull stations, or duct detectors, and it could take a long time to determine which of these triggered the alarm. This could simply lead to inconveniences, such as taking hours to determine the unit in which a toaster triggered a smoke detector in a large apartment complex, or costly and potentially dangerous problems, such as not being able to discover the source of fire in an office building before it spreads, endangering the safety of occupants.

Addressable panels may be able to reduce service costs by providing contractors more detailed information

In addition to saving time for a building manager and his or her staff, addressable panels may also be able to reduce service costs when a building’s safety contractors test, upgrade, or otherwise repair the fire alarm and its related equipment. Many safety contractors bill by the hour. And instead of spending time searching your building for the cause of a problem, with addressable panels, they can spend that time fixing it.

For example, addressable panels can often help service companies determine whether a problem in a fire system is related to the wiring or to a device itself, which could save clients more time and money on service by preventing the unnecessary replacement of expensive safety equipment.

Some cities are now requiring that new buildings have addressable panels installed, and it’s not hard to see why

In some cities across the United States, local governments are mandating that new buildings are built with addressable panels to help save fire departments time and improve overall fire safety. And providing detailed information to fire departments doesn’t only save money, it could save lives.

Upgrading to an addressable system is a great, long-term investment in building safety

Upgrading to an addressable fire alarm panel can sometimes be costly, but it’s a great way to invest in the safety of your building. And while you shouldn’t expect to recoup the investment quickly, over the life-cycle of the system, an addressable fire alarm panel often pays for itself, especially if it prevents a serious fire from occurring on your property.

An addressable panel means more information, less headaches, less hassle, and the peace of mind that you’re doing everything possible to protect your property and what matters most – the people using it. To learn more about addressable fire alarm panels and other technologies that can help make your building safer, contact the experts at LifeSafety Management today at (800) 330-1158 or through our contact form for a free consultation.