Tenability Analysis of Television Set Fires in a Sprinkler Protected Compartment

Abstract

This paper describes an evaluation of the performance of a fast response residential sprinkler system in a simulated apartment in the event of a fire caused by a burning television set. The evaluation was conducted in an 8m × 4m × 2.4m high gypsum plasterboard lined compartment. A 1.2 m² lobby was used to represent an adjoining room and a standard hollow core door connected the two spaces. The compartment was fitted with two pendent mounted fast response residential sprinkler heads, and the television sets were located in one corner of the compartment. A series of 21 tests was conducted using a tea light candle against the outside of the television casing as the ignition source. Gas analysis for CO, CO₂, O₂ was carried out along with measurements of visual obscuration, compartment temperature and mass loss of the fuel. Tenability conditions within the compartment were determined using Fractional Effective Dose calculations. The results showed that the sprinkler system did not respond well to the television fires. Conditions within the compartment approached or exceeded tenable limits on a number of occasions. In some instances the television set burned out completely without activating the sprinkler system.