FEATURES 17
The hidden firefighter: the plumber’ s role in fire systems
Compiled by
Megan O’ Connor, with technical input by Marius Atterbury, FPASA, and Sean Okhuysen, FFETA
This month, we dive into the plumber’ s responsibilities in terms of fire installation and fire protection, as laid out in SANS 10400-T and SANS 10400-W.
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The role of the plumber in terms of fire protection and fire installation lies in the integrity of the water supply – not in fire engineering or system performance. However, failure to install fire water pipework correctly can have fatal consequences, placing plumbers at legal and financial risk if they exceed their scope or ignore approved specifications and standards.
Fire protection equipment and the plumber Effectively, any fire product that water flows through for the purpose of trying to control or extinguish fires falls under the scope of being a plumbing installation. These include fire hose reels and fire hydrants, which will be the focus of this feature.
SANS 10400-T, 4.34 Hose reels states:
• Hose reels shall be installed in any building of two or more storeys in height or in any single-storey building of more than 250m 2 in floor area, at a rate of one hose reel for every 500m 2 or part thereof of floor area in any story
• Hose reels must comply with requirements in SANS 543, be installed in accordance with SANS 10105-1 and SANS 10400-W, and maintained in accordance with the requirements in SANS 1475-2
• Any hose reel installed must be positioned to ensure that the end of the hose will reach any point in the area to be protected
• Any hose reel installed in any building must have a certification mark from an accredited certification body facing the user
SANS 10400-T, 4.35 Hydrants states:
• Hydrants must be provided at a rate of not fewer than one per 1 000m 2 or part thereof of total floor area, and not fewer than one per storey located in the firemen’ s lift lobby in such building or occupancy, or emergency stairway where no firemen’ s lift is provided, as the case might be, and shall be distributed in such a manner that the fire hose referred can reach to every part of the relevant area
• Hydrants shall, where required by the local authority, be provided with an appropriate fire hydrant hose of 24m or 30m in length, together with couplings and a 16mm internal diameter nozzle, all of which should comply with the requirements of SANS 1128-2
• A hydrant shall comply with SANS 1128-2
The plumber’ s responsibility in the fire installation depends on the size of the development. In smaller installations with a smaller team, the plumber may be responsible for determining the pipe sizing, pipe length and calculations as laid out in SANS 10400-W, as well as product selection and installation of the system. For bigger developments, fire engineers or fire consulting companies may be employed. In this case, the appointed entity with credentials will do the calculations, and the plumber is responsible for executing the plan put in front of them.
Fire installation SANS 10400-W, 3.8 refers to a fire installation as‘ any water installation which conveys water for the purpose of fire-fighting’. SANS 10400-W, 4.1 lays out the general requirements of a fire installation: 4.1 The functional regulations W3 contains in part W of the Nationals Building Regulations shall be deemed to be satisfied where: a) fire installations comply with the requirements of 4.2( communication pipe), 4.3( water meter), 4.4( isolating valves) and 4.5( fire pump connections), b) a supply of water is provided in each division for the effective operation of the number of hose reels, hydrants and sprinkler heads that are required in accordance with SANS 10400-T and which may be operated or come into operation simultaneously, and
April 2026 Volume 32 I Number 02 www. plumbingafrica. co. za