- Aug 17, 2008
- 11,465
- 15,136
I work in Fire alarm servicing, but have fixed many fuck ups & work on some hefty systems. From what has been said, there are fuck ups with all aspects of the systemI'd be incredibly surprised if they had to "pull the whole system out" and start again.
For that to be the case, then (1) all the fire cabling is faulty (2) all the heat/smoke detector heads are faulty (3) all the break-glass panels are faulty (4) all the relay-switches and fire panels across the site are faulty, (5) the main fire control system is faulty, etc, etc.
Literally, everything they've put in.
If it's something to do with software installation, then that's a pain, but it wouldn't take 12 months even if you had to replace fire panels/hardware, etc. Especially since there'll be a team of guys working on it; it's not going to be one old-boy, plodding around the site for 12 months!
Anyway, I could be wrong, but like I said it will be interesting to see what the problem is.
PS If there is anyone on here who is an actual fire safety installation engineer, then I'd love to hear your views on this.
1) The electricians were not properly paid, so they sabotaged the cabling - This came out a few months back, not sure how true this is, but if so, that should hopefully be repaired by now.
2) The installers have fitted approx 30% more devices than what was planned - Most fire alarm panels loops have a maximum amount of devices you can have on a loop, I'm not sure what it is with the Tyco system, but if they've gone over that amount, then they'll need to split the loops. If the panel doesn't have enough loops, then they need to install more panels.
There's also the amount of current the additional devices on the loop use when in alarm to take into consideration, again if there's too much load on the loop, they'll need to split it.
3) The panels not able to handle it all & is failing - Any of the issues above could be causing this, however I've had previous experience of a bespoke Tyco panel having a mare & had to be replaced with a different system, thankfully in that case they'd fitted Apollo detectors which are compatible with other manufacturers panels. This does not appear to be the case at the stadium, where it appears they've used Minerva kit, which only work with Minerva protocol panels. Tyco should have been instructed to install open protocol equipment as part of the job, which would have left Spurs options open if the panel failed.
Also being that it's a bespoke panel, they can't just grab one off the shelf, though I'm assuming with the time this has taken, they've likely tried replacing it at least once.
So, they can either persevere & try & get what's there working, or rip out all the devices & panels & start again. If they can get away with a radio system temporarily then they could open sooner while the proper system is installed, though that would be down to LFB to agree to.