How to disable enable zones on a Fire Alarm Panel

Why would you consider Disabling a Device or Zone?

What should you do, if the fire alarm keeps on activating? The first thing is to ensure that the activation is not due to a real fire. On confirmation that it is not a fire that activated the alarm, you can silence the Sounders or bells and locate the device responsible for triggering the alarm. This could be a manual call point or a detector. If it is a manual call point you can reset the unit with the reset key or if it is the old type, you may have to replace the glass.

If the activation was caused by smoke or heat alarm, you need to establish the cause, maybe smoke or heat was generated during the use of the building unintentionally and if this was to be the case when the environment around that device is back to normal you should be able to reset the system.

However, there may be a time, when the smoke detector is contaminated or faulty and continues to trigger the fire alarm. Then the next course of action would be to disable the faulty device until it can be replaced. Another reason to disable a device or zone, is you are aware that some work or activity within the building may trigger the fire alarm, so to prevent this happening you will disable the devices that may be affected.

The example in this video is disabling a Zone on a Conventional C-TEC fire alarm Panel.

How to use the authorized user controls on one of C-TEC’s CFP Fire Panels to enable and disable zones and all other functions. To gain access to these controls, you must first put the panel into access level two. You can do this using one of two methods: Entering the secure code using the panel’s keypad or turning the key switch. The access light will turn on to indicate the authorized user control’s operative. You can enable and disable functions you require using a simple selection process. To start the process, press and hold the next option’s button for three seconds until the general disablement and zone one false lights are flashing yellow.

For the purpose of this video, we’ll use zone three as an example of a zone that needs disabling. Press the next option button until zone three is flashing. If it flashes slower than the general disablement light, its current status is enabled. If it flashes at the same rate, its status is disabled. Press the enable/disable button to toggle between enabled and disabled. As we want to disable zone three, we need to make sure the two lights are flashing at the same rate. To confirm the selection, press the next option button. This moves the selection process on to the next available option. In our case, zone four. The fault light for zone four is flashing. Meanwhile, the fault light for zone three is lit steady to confirm it’s disabled while zones one and two lights are off to confirm they are enabled.

The selection process can also be used to enable and disable the panel’s fault output, remote output, all of its alarm devices, its auxiliary output, or any delays programmed into the panel. For example, we will now disable the remote output. Press the next option button until you come to the remote output status indicator. Again, its fault light is flashing at a slower rate. Its current status is enabled. If it is flashing at the same rate, its status is disabled. Use the enable/disable button to toggle between the enabled and disabled. We want to disable the remote output, so the lights are flashing at the same rate. We confirm our selection by pressing the next option button. To enable and disable further options, simply select them one by one. The enable/disable process is complete when all of the available options have been selected in turn and the next option button is pressed for the last time.

At this point, all disabled options will be lit steady and all enabled options will be switched off. In our example, zone three and the remote output are disabled while all other options are enabled. To exit the selection process, turn the key to the off position and remove it. The only changes that will be saved will be those made prior to the last press of the next option button.

How to Silence and Reset a Fire Alarm Panel

Silencing and resetting your fire alarm is a simple procedure.
However, for many, it can be difficult due to unfamiliarity with the fire alarm controls.
The fire alarm activates during a busy part of the working day; your boss rings down to reception to tell you it is a false alarm and to quickly silence and reset the fire panel; however, due to not being familiar with the fire alarm controls you begin to panic. The bells are ringing furiously and staff begin leaving the building, you look at the panel but cannot see the enable key! You look in the key box and find the key, but you are struggling to remember the sequence of how to silence the bells. Your boss calls you again and asks what’s the delay the building has been evacuated. Too late.

For many this is a typical scenario, but how can this be avoided?

You must ensure that those responsible for the fire alarm are familiar as to how to silence and reset the system. The best way is to make sure you carry out fire alarm testing on a weekly basis.

See a video showing how to silence and reset a conventional fire alarm.

In a fire alarm condition, the panel’s internal beeper will sound to inform you that an alarm has been detected.

The panel’s red general fire and at least one of its zonal indicators will flash to show you which zones are in a fire. In this case, zone one is in fire. The remote output indicator is also lit to confirm that the panel is in alarm.

After everyone has been evacuated from the building, or in accordance with the site’s fire management plan, you will need to silence the alarm sounder while investigations take place. To do this, you will need to access the panel’s access level two authorized user controls. You can do this using one of two methods, the panels keypad or the key switch.

The access indicator will turn on to inform you that the authorized user controls are operative. Next, press the silence/resound sounders button.

The alarms sounders and the panel’s internal beeper will stop sounding and its red general fire and relevant zonal indicators will be lit steady. The remote output indicator will also turn off. If for any reason you need to manually reactivate the alarm sounders, press the silence/resound sounders buttons once again.

Likewise, to again silence the sounders, press the silence/resound sounders button once more.

After the cause of the alarm has been investigated and you are confident everything is back to normal, you can reset the panel by pressing the reset button.

The panel will give a double beep to confirm that the reset process has started and after a few seconds, its red general fire and relevant zonal indicators will go out. You can now exit access level two by turning the key to “O” position and removing it.