Reported from ISC, Silent Knight, a Honeywell company and provider of industry-wide compatible fire alarm solutions for small to mid-size institutions and commercial sites, offers fire alarm systems with advanced capabilities that are instrumental in the elimination of false alarms - and the negative consequences that accompany them. For a number of reasons, false alarms produced by fire-protection systems are a headache for any company. To begin with, the interruption of business costs time and money. What’s more, a string of false alarms can potentially “desensitize” building occupants, reducing their sense of urgency in case of an actual fire event.

Silent Knight’s core offering of addressable fire alarm control panels (FACPs), including its Farenhyt IFP Series and IntelliKnight products, provide a variety of installation advantages over conventional fire systems, affording users a number of detailed information capabilities and a wide range of wire-routing strategies. In addition to features specially designed to harbor system data and alleviate maintenance time and costs, several enhancements are available on Silent Knight’s complete line of FACPs to mitigate false alarms. These include:

Drift Compensation. Drift compensation occurs as the smoke detector’s chambers begin to accumulate dirt and dust particles that result from day-to-day activity. Silent Knight addressable control panels detect this gradual accumulation of dirt and raise the smoke detector’s alarm threshold accordingly. This single action helps eliminate the natural tendency of a detector to get more sensitive over time as contaminants build up in the sensor, and proves extremely effective in reducing false alarms. 

Maintenance Alert. Silent Knight control panels “flag” dirty smoke detectors that are nearing the limits of drift compensation with a maintenance alert condition. This feature gives a two-level warning of detectors that need to be serviced; the first level is made available to the installers during routine testing or maintenance, the second level causes a local “trouble” signal (not an alarm) that can also be reported to a central station. Detectors in maintenance alert condition can be viewed locally on the system or uploaded and viewed remotely using the Silent Knight Software Suite (SKSS) up-download software. 

Digital Communication. Silent Knight utilizes the best communication method in the industry to communicate with the sensors. A digital protocol provides clear information that is not prone to false alarms due to electrical interference. What’s more, an interruption in communication would spur a trouble alert, rather than a false or nuisance alarm.

For more information regarding Silent Knight’s comprehensive offering of addressable fire systems for false and nuisance alarms, please visit www.silentknight.com.