What is a quick response sprinkler? The difference between quick response and standard sprinklers

Contrary to popular belief, sprinklers are called “standard response” not because of their standard certification, but because they are less sensitive than quick response sprinklers and are slower to activate. In other words, all sprinklers may have a standard certificate, but that doesn’t mean they have a “standard response.”

Standard response sprinklers are distinguished from quick response based on the Response Time Index (RTI) parameter. For rapid response sprinklers, the RTI is less than 50 and for standard response is greater than 80. Also, the glass bubble of quick response sprinklers is designed to be narrower than the standard type (typically 3 mm for quick response and 5 mm for standard response).

According to the NFPA 13 standard and the National Building Code of Iran, quick response or residential sprinklers should be used in low-risk environments, except in special cases where standard response sprinklers are installed. The reason for emphasizing the use of quick response sprinklers in these environments is due to their quick activation capability.

Rapid response sprinklers activate faster than standard sprinklers under the same conditions and control the fire sooner. These sprinklers with a narrower glass bubble are more sensitive to temperature rise.

In low-risk environments, due to the accumulation of people, it is necessary to activate sprinklers quickly to prevent the spread of fire, increase in temperature and volume of smoke. Rapid response sprinklers are activated as soon as a fire breaks out and help control the fire in the early stages, as well as keep the temperature down and reduce the volume of smoke and toxic gases.

Economically, quick response sprinklers cost less. According to design standards, these sprinklers can cover up to 20.9 square meters, while other risk levels have less coverage. This increased coverage helps to reduce the number of sprinklers and thus reduce plumbing and maintenance costs.

In the event of a fire, only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate first, and in case of failure, other sprinklers will activate based on the temperature rise. The quick operation of these sprinklers extinguishes the fire in the initial stages and reduces the number of activated sprinklers, which ultimately leads to less water consumption. In this way, it can be said that quick response sprinklers require the least amount of water to extinguish a fire.