Building Control and Local Authorities are starting to accept watermist as a viable alternative more frequently, with some often giving favour to watermist rather than sprinklers.

This is due to ongoing validation and performance testing, widespread acceptance of the new performance technology and lower structural requirements for buildings, as there are no large reinforcement works required to manage the weight of large water tanks.

Also, considering that smoke alarms statistically only save lives in just over 50% of activations, watermist is a fully viable addition to your life safety and protection within your property.

Like all new advancements in life safety, watermist systems should be fully tested against the British Standard BS 8458:2015. This shows the performance of the system is as it should be and fully certified.

While validation reports are available for some systems on the market, the most reliable source of performance validation is for a full British Standard test report from an independent third party testing facility.

Watermist as a fire suppression method remains relatively new compared to sprinklers, but as with the Guardian system, watermist technology can bring a number of benefits to your property.

Safety is at the heart of any fire protection system. While safety is key, it is equally important to understand what will happen should the system discharge.

In compliance with the British Standards, particularly BS 8458:2015, the system must discharge water for a minimum period of 10 minutes in most homes and apartments, or 30 minutes in more residential application such as care homes or HMO’s. Surely, this is a lot of water, you may ask.

In comparison to a traditional 55 lpm sprinkler system, the water discharge is extremely small with watermist, with the Guardian system flowing only 12 lpm throughout the whole system.