Wet and Dry Risers are a key part of fire safety protection for all multi-storey buildings.
Many commercial, industrial and non-residential properties rely on wet and dry risers as a key part of their fire safety procedures.
Both risers are designed to provide firefighters with easy access to water when tackling fires in tall buildings, helping them to extinguish them and prevent the blaze from spreading.
Wet and dry risers do very similar jobs, and it's easy to confuse the two. The designs and functionality are almost identical, but it's important to understand the difference between wet and dry risers.
At BLEC GROUP, we offer a whole host of building fire safety services, including the installation and maintenance of wet and dry risers. In this article, we'll explore the key differences between wet risers and dry risers and outline their importance to commercial fire safety.
What is a Wet Riser?
Designed for buildings that stand taller than 50m in height, wet risers have a constant supply of water in a place that can be accessed by emergency services during a fire. Water storage tanks and pumps are used in order to create sufficient pressure that can provide a water supply able to tackle any outbreak of fire on every floor of a high-rise building.
Wet risers can be located inside or outside a building and feature two outlets that are connected to water pipes, which firefighters will then access to tackle a blaze.
What is a Dry Riser?
Unlike wet risers, dry risers are not permanently filled with water. Instead, they make use of an interconnected system of pipes that can swiftly provide firefighters with a supply of water in the upper floors of a building.
Dry risers are necessary for buildings taller than 18m, and provide easily accessible ports to which the fire brigade can hook their hoses while extinguishing a fire. As well as this, dry risers also mean that firefighters do not have to worry about carrying additional equipment and resources into the building - helping them tackle the emergency faster.
In order for dry risers to operate successfully, pipework, external inlets and internal outlets are required. These elements need to be made to the highest possible standard and must be manufactured in line with BS 5041, BS 5306, BS 9990, and building approval regulations.
Maintenance of your Wet and Dry Risers
Arguably, the most important element of commercial fire safety is the maintenance of your fire safety equipment. Both wet and dry risers should be serviced and tested to ensure they're working to the best of their ability at least twice a year.
By doing this, you can rest assured that if a fire does break out on your property, this equipment will rise to the challenge and prove to be an effective part of your building fire safety procedures. If your equipment isn't up to scratch, the safety of everyone on your premises could be compromised, so it's vitally important that everything is working as it should be. If not, you could even face legal proceedings.
Whether you're looking for general upkeep or to fix a problem, all of the maintenance that we offer at BLEC GROUP complies with BS9990:2015 regulations, guaranteeing you the highest levels of service.
How BLEC GROUP Can Help
Need fire safety services in your business or non-residential property? At BLEC GROUP, we offer so much more than just WET AND DRY RISER maintenance and testing to customers throughout the South West and the surrounding areas.
From the supply of fire extinguishers to the installation and Maintence of fire alarms, at BLEC GROUP our dedicated team of engineers offers a comprehensive commercial fire safety service, helping safeguard your business in every way.