Fire Protection and Design Calculator

MEP Analysis

Fire Protection & Design Calculator

A few building details give a first-pass sizing for both the fire fighting system (hydrants, sprinklers, pump and water storage) and the fire alarm system (detectors, call points and panel zones).

Building details

Just the basics. Building height fills in automatically from the number of floors — edit it if you know the actual height.

Occupancy Residential / apartments Commercial / office High-rise (above 15 m) Assembly (mall, cinema, hotel) Industrial / warehouse Hospital / healthcare

Number of floors

Floor plate areasq.m, per floor

Number of staircases

Building height Suggested from the number of floors

Sprinklers

Auto follows the occupancy you picked

Design assumptions (optional to change)

These fill in from the occupancy you picked. Change any value to match your project brief.

Flow per hydrant valveL/min, at the landing valve

Hydrants operating togetherUsed for the design water demand

Sprinkler coveragesq.m per head

Sprinkler design densityL/min per sq.m

Sprinkler design areasq.m, for the hydraulic demand

Minimum residual pressurem head, at the topmost outlet

Friction and fitting margin%, added to the pump head

Storage durationminutes, of full demand

Detector coveragesq.m per smoke detector

Fire fighting sizing

Hydrant landing valves, one per staircase per floor, plus a sprinkler system where applicable.

Hydrant landing valves

–

Hydrant system demand

– L/min

Sprinkler heads

–

Sprinkler system demand

– L/min

Total pump demand

– L/min

Pump head

– m

Fire water storage

– m³

Jockey pump flow

– L/min

Fire alarm sizing

A rough device count and panel zoning for early-stage budgeting.

Smoke detectors

–

Manual call points

–

Sounders / hooters

–

Panel zones

–

Life-safety system — get it checked. This is a first-pass estimate to size a budget and a pump room, built from common rule-of-thumb design practice. The final fire fighting and fire alarm design, hydraulic calculations, and equipment selection must be prepared and stamped by a licensed fire consultant and approved by the local fire authority before construction.

How this works. One hydrant landing valve is assumed per staircase per floor. The design water demand assumes a set number of hydrants flow together, plus a sprinkler allowance over a typical design area where sprinklers apply. Pump head adds the building height, a minimum residual pressure at the top outlet, and a margin for pipe friction. Storage is the total demand held for the duration set above. Detector and call point counts use a simple area and floor-count rule for an early estimate, not a final device layout.