Apollo Discovery and XP95 fire detectors have been
installed to protect Styal Mill, a working museum and industrial
heritage site near Wilmslow, Cheshire, which is owned by the
National Trust. The intelligent fire detection system incorporates
over 700 Apollo devices and forms part of an upgrade of the whole
property. The fire detection system was supplied by First City Fire
& Security and installed by G R Bayley Electrical to meet the
client's specification.
Styal Mill, which is also known as Quarry Bank Mill, is a museum
which charts the history of silk and cotton making. Set in the
beautiful Styal Country Estate, the Georgian building dates from
1784 and now serves as a resource for learning about the industrial
and social heritage of textiles manufacturing. Among other
attractions, visitors to the site can see working demonstrations of
textile production, the most powerful working waterwheel in Europe,
and one of the earliest steam-powered beam engines to be built in
the world. The museum also houses a restaurant and café and is
hired out as a conference centre and wedding venue.
The design of the fire detection system had to take into account
the diverse activities that take place in the museum. Barry Cook,
Manager at Styal Mill and a chief engineer for The National Trust,
explains: "We had to ensure that the fire detection system
protected out visitors as well as the mill equipment, which is
irreplaceable. We also wanted the best specification possible at
the best price."
Having examined the client's requirements, First City Fire &
Security and G R Bayley recommended a fire detection system based
on Apollo technology. Managing Director of First City Fire &
Security, Darren Morrell, comments: "We know Apollo well and
consider them an excellent company with which to work. As well as
offering a wide range of options and add-ons, they are very
competitive on price. We try to give our installers a good deal and
this was definitely the best option for them, too."
Jason Dunn, contracts manager of G R Bayley adds: "The open
digital protocol shared by all Apollo intelligent fire detection
products enables forwards and backwards compatibility, so we have
confidence that future maintenance and system upgrades will be
easily achievable."
The new fire detection system at Styal Mill is based around two
Morley networked analogue addressable control panels. The working
demonstration areas, where activities such as spinning can create a
lot of dust that could lead to unacceptably high incidences of
nuisance alarms, are protected with approximately 300 Apollo
Discovery multisensor fire detectors. .
The Discovery multisensor uses an optical smoke and a thermistor
temperature sensor in combination, which means it responds well to
a range of fires. The outputs from both sensors are analysed to
produce the final analogue value, which makes the multisensor
particularly reliable and virtually eliminates causes of false
alarms such as steam, exhaust fumes and transient high dust levels,
like those encountered at Styal Mill.
In addition to the Discovery multisensors, the Styal Mill fire
detection system includes some 400 other devices from the
compatible XP95 analogue addressable range including optical smoke
and heat detectors, manual callpoints, loop-powered sounders and
loop-powered sounder beacons. It also interfaces with other pieces
of plant such as boilers, gas valves and lifts. The fire detection
system uses a one out, all out' evacuation principle in the event
of an emergency.
Commenting on the new fire detection system, Styal Mill Manager
Barry Cook says: "The Apollo system is highly efficient, the panels
are user-friendly and the installers provided exactly what we
wanted. We suffered a number of false alarms with the old system,
which proved very costly. Since the Apollo fire detection system
was installed, these have been completely eradicated."