MEBS 7013

FIRE SERVICE INSTALLATIONS

FIRE HYDRANT AND HOSE REEL SYSTEM
FIRE HYDRANT / HOSE REEL SYSTEM
(APPLICATIONS AND BASIC ARRANGEMENTS)

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 Legislative Requirement
• Refer to COP-FSI for the requirement of installation of the
FH/HR system
• Section 5.14 Fire Hydrant / Hose Reel System
• Section 5.25 Street Fire Hydrant System
• Section 5.26 Supply Tank
• Section 5.30 Water Supply

• Basically all types of buildings are required to be installed with

a FH/HR system.
• except for small buildings where HKFSD may request the
installation of a hose reel system only.

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 Hose Reel Application
• Hose reels enable first hand fire fighting by occupants
• Hose reels are provided to ensure that every location in a floor is
within the reach of the hose.
• Each hose reel has a 30m long tube (a shorter tubing is also
available in the market)
• A minimum of 6m length water jet from the hose reel nozzle has to
be provided (what is the water pressure required ???)

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Instruction using the Hose Reel

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 Fire Hydrant Application
• Fire Hydrants are designed for firemen’s use without having to
connect the water hose from ground level during fire fighting
• Fire hydrants are installed inside every protective staircases so
that firemen can plug in their 65mm fire hose to obtain water
• Fire hydrants are sited in the approach lobby to staircase or in
the staircase enclosure.

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• Either wet or dry riser can be used in the fire hydrant
system.
• Wet riser is permanently charged with water and water
pumping device is installed to maintained the required
pressure.
• Dry riser can only be used where there is a reliable
local fire brigade as it depends on the charging of water
into the riser by the fire brigade during fire.
• In Hong Kong, wet riser is generally used. Wet riser is
located in a protected staircase with the numbers of
hydrant outlet governed by the types of buildings served
• Please refer to FSD Circular letter No. 2/2013 7

regarding the locations of the FH and HR.

 Water Storage (Section 5.26 & 5.30)
A common water tank is to be provided for both FH and HR use. The size of the
tank is as below:
Floor area (Gross) Storage

< 230m2 9,000L

≥ 230m2 and < 460m2 18,000L
≥ 460m2 and < 920m2 27,000L
≥ 920m2 36,000L

Section 5.30 Water Supply

• … unless the town main is on 24 hour supply, provision must be made to guarantee
30 minutes stored supply…
• Means shall be provided to refill the supply tank automatically. If the tank is
situated at upper level of building and transfer pumps in duplicate for duty and
standby are required to rely water to the tank, the pumps capacity shall be able to 8
refill the tank to its full capacity within 6 hours. …
 Water Pressure
• Water pressure at the outlet of the fire hydrant shall be maintained
at between
• 350kPa (at running pressure – meaning water is flowing the
system) and
• 850kPa (in no case – meaning even when water not flowing = static
pressure)
• with a water flow of 450L/min at each outlet.

• Excessive pressure is usually reduced by installing a pressure

reducing valve (PRV) or a parity hydrant valve (or parity drain).
• There is no particular pressure requirement for hose reels, but the
minimum jet length of 6m has to be achieved. Due to high pressure
available (350kPa – 850kPa), the required performance can usually
be achieved.
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 FH/HR System Operation
• Operation : When the fire alarm call point (also
called Break Glass Unit (BGU) previously) is actuated
or when there is a general fire alarm, the fixed fire
pump for the FH/HR system will be started
automatically.

• Since no one may use the water from the pumps at

the first instance, in order to prevent ‘no flow’
condition, water from the pumps will flow back to the
water tank by the installation of a back flow pipe

• Occupants may pull out the hose from the hose reel to
fight the fire.
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 Hose Reel using building water supply
Water Tank

FS Pump (ON)

Water
Flow
ON THE WAY…..

Hose Heel

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 Fire Brigade Operation
• Upon arrival of the fire brigade, firemen will carry their
fire hoses into the building and connect them to the
hydrants for use
• At the same time, firemen will connect other hoses
from the street hydrant to the fire engine, and from the
fire engine to the fire service inlet to ensure a readily
available water supply
• Although the building fixed fire pump is to be used, it
may be de-energized according to fire fighting
operation and water will be pumped through the fire
service inlet into the system

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 Fire Hydrant using building water supply
Water Tank

FS Pump (ON)

Water
Flow
Connection to Street Hydrant
ON THE WAY…..

Fire Hydrant

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 Fire Hydrant using water supply from FSI
Pump Tender is a Water Tank
large diesel pump
with a water tank FS Pump (OFF)

Street Hydrant

FS Inlet
Water from Street Hydrant
ARRIVED Fire Hydrant

Water
Flow

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 Fire Services and Sprinkler Inlet –
Connection of Water Supply from Street Fire
Hydrant through Fire Engine

Fire
Service
Inlet
Sprinkler Inlet

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 Intermediate Pump Requirement
• When the building is greater than 60m in height (from the
lowest FSI to the highest FH), an intermediate booster pump is
required to booster water to the upper floors
• This is due to the insufficient pressure available from the fire
engine which is designed to provide a pumping pressure of
800kPa at the location of the Fire Service Inlet.
FS Inlet
FH
800kPa 350 – 850kPa

From fire engine 16

Intermediate booster pump
 Fire Hydrant for Podium Building
• For domestic blocks on top of a commercial podium :
A single common FH/HR plant to serve all residential
towers (or commercial industrial, etc) and the podium
is NOT acceptable. Each tower should have its own
plant.
• On the contrary, the podium may to be served by the
system(s) from one or more towers.
• In terms of electricity supply, a common emergency
generator, however, is acceptable to serve the whole
complex provided that it has the capacity to back-up
essential power for the entire podium plus one tower.

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 18

Note that for every riser, there should be an accompanied FS Inlet

SYSTEM COMPONENTS &
DESIGN OF
FH/HR SYSTEM

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Same examples of
system arrangements

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Same examples of
system arrangements

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Same examples of
system arrangements

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 Fire Hydrant
• To be used by firemen
Type : Fire hydrant should incorporate with individual
control valve.
Older twin outlet with plugs type are obsolete.
• Head loss of each outlet is approximately :
25kPa at 450L/min or 60kPa at 900 L/min (some use
150kPa at 450L/min) (no actual data available!!!)
• Position : Fire hydrant should be located at the staircase
main landing or direct one half landing below.
• Mounted at not more than 1200mm AFFL and not less
than 800mm AFFL
• For pressure reduction : parity valve type and pressure
reducing fire hydrant
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Fire Hydrant
with
Parity Valve
and
Parity Drain
Pipe

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 PRESSURE
REGULATING
TYPE FIRE
HYDRANT

FIRE HYDRANT
WITH PARITY
VALVE

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 Hose Reel
• Intended to be used by occupants
• Swing type to be used if recessed (to make
winding/unwinding of the hose easily)
• Position : No rule for the height of the hose reel drum, but it
affect the reaching distance of the hose reel.
• Nozzle and valve shall not exceed 1350mm AFFL
• If hose reel is recessed, the nozzle and valve shall be reached
within 500mm.
• Be careful to decide the positions of hose reel that point to point
distance shall not exceed 30m.
• Manual Call Point : Located at not exceeding 1200mm
AFFL (good for disabled people). The actuation of the
manual call point should automatically call upon the
activation of the fire pump even in gravity feed zone. 26
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Break Glass Unit and Hose Reel

1,200mm
AFFL

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 Hose Reel System
• Requirement if only hose reel system is installed:
Hose reel feed tank shall be 2,000L and this estimation is based
on two numbers of hose reels each at a flow rate of 24L/min in
operation and last for 40 minutes. Supply pipe size shall be
25mm dia. for one hose reel and 40mm dia. for two.
• There are a few updates of the required tank size mainly due to
the enforcement of Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance (CAP752)
for existing buildings.
Reference should be made to FSD Circular Letters 5/2016
and 3/2017.

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 Fixed Fire Pump
• Position : Enclosed in a pump room with 2 hours FRP solely for fire
services equipment.
• Flow rate requirement : 1,350L/min (3 x 450 L/min) for industrial
building and 900L/min (2 x 450 L/min) for other building types.
• Pump set shall be duplicated for duty and stand-by. Duty pump failed
to operate within 15 seconds the standby pump shall start to take over
the duty pump

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 Fixed Fire Pump
• Motor power : motor power should be 20% more power required at
rated flow.
• Status : Status indications required either on panel if any, or in main
entrance of building.
• Shall be started automatically once any fire call point is actuated
• Once started, must run continuously until stopped manually at the
pump control panel installed near the fixed fire pump

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 Acceptance Testing
• Refer to Appendix 5 of
the CoP for Inspection,
Testing and
Maintenance of
Installations and
Equipment (second
part of the CoP FSI)

Buildings other 33
than Industrial /
Godown Buildings
Industrial /
Godown Buildings

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 Intermediate Booster Pump
• Provided when height between the topmost
hydrant outlet and the lowest fire service inlet
> 60m
• Comprise of
• start/stop push button
• pump running light
• alarm buzzer
• Once started, it must be running continuously until
stopped manually
• Control circuit shall keep the pump running even
upon power change from normal to emergency
power supply
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 Intermediate Booster Pump
With fire engine boosting water into the FS Inlet at 800kPa (constant),
the pump shall be capable of producing the following water flow:

Number of Industrial/ Residential Other buildings

riser Godown
One riser 1,350L/min 900L/min 900L/min

Two or 2,700L/min 900L/min 1,800L/min

more risers

You should observe that the design flowrate of the

intermediate booster pump is TWICE that of the fixed fire pump 36
in premises other than residential.
CoP FSI 5.14

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• Stand-by pump requirement : Should be 100%
stand-by or at least one identical pump as per the
pumps set (2 or 3 are allowed) and by-pass valve
must be installed.
• Control : The On/Off operation button must installed
at relevant Fire Services Inlet and the intermediate
booster pump is allowed to be assumed in
sequential start within a time delay limitation of 30
seconds.

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Fire Services Inlet with On/Off Control
for Intermediate Booster Pump

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 DESIGN CONSIDERATION FOR
INTERMEDIATE BOOSTER PUMP

• One duty, one standby

• Acceptable, but not
recommended for
commercial building
• Power consumption still
Duty Standby
the same 1800 L/min 1800 L/min
• But generator set has to
upgrade for allowing a
heavy startup current 40
• 2 to 3 duty, 1 standby

• Recommended

• Section 5.14 states:

• Two or three pumps of same
capacity arranged in parallel
using sequential starting may be
employed as the duty
intermediate booster pumps to Duty Standby
achieve the required pressure
900 L/min 900 L/min
X2 X2
and flow within 30 seconds.
Under this arrangement, only
one standby pump is required
and shall be arranged in parallel
to the above duty pumps.
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 FIRE SERVICES INLET

• Each FSI shall be in a prominent position on the

exterior of the building
• Location approved by FSD
• Situated within easy reach of a fire appliance
parked near the building
(usually within one unimpeded 30m hose length)
• Not less than 600 mm nor more than 1000mm
above the ground
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 Rising Main

• Each wet riser connect to a FS Inlet on ground floor

(the floor which is accessible to fire engine)
• Size : Minimum 100mm dia. for industrial/godown
building and 80mm dia. for other types of building (it
is good practice to used 100mm dia.)
• Fire Services Inlet Connecting Pipe : Minimum
150mm dia. for industrial/godown building and
100mm dia. for other types of building. FS inlet loss
to be 50kPa for 900L/min and 110kPa for 1350L/min
(again – no actual head loss data). 44

• Each rising main connect with automatic air vent

Automatic air vent
PEDESTAL STREET HYDRANT

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 Statutory Requirement

• Current requirement of installation of pedestal hydrant is

defined in Circular Letter 4/96, stating that private
pedestal hydrant should be provided within private
developments will be regarded as Fire Services
Installation required under the provision of section 16(1)
of the Building Ordinance, Cap. 123.
• Usually, street hydrant location around the site should be
indicated on the Building Submission Drawing. FSD will
assess whether the street hydrant provided by Water
Authority outside the lot boundary is adequate or not.
• Normal practice is that when there is no street
hydrant provided within 100m around the site, 48

private street hydrant is required to be provided.

• Spacing between fire hydrants should be 100m
staggered on alternative sides of the roadway
wherever practicable.
Hydrant shall be standard pattern to BS1042 complied
with 1 no. 100mm dia. and 2 nos. 65mm dia. outlets.
• Street hydrant shall be capable of delivering not less
than 2,000L/min with a minimum running pressure
of 170kPa at 1 no. of 65mm dia. outlet and
4000L/min at 2 nos. of 65mm dia. outlet.
• Minimum delivery time = 60 minutes

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• Where minimum standards are not possible, water
supply may have to be augmented by other means e.g.
sump tank and pumps.
• All hydrant should be installed in accordance with
WSD standard.
• At least 2 hydrants within the site
• Fixed not less than 6 meters from the building they are
intended to protect.
• Red colour for fresh water, yellow colour for salt water

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 Calculation of Hydrant Loss
• The following is a simplified calculation of the head loss of a
street fire hydrant.

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• 1 sudden contraction,
coefficient = 0.2
• 1 spherical tee,
coefficient = 2.5 to 4.9
Head loss =
(0.2+2.5)*172/2g=
39.8mH
(Approx. 4 bar)
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FIRE HYDRANT / HOSE REEL SYSTEM
(SYSTEM DESIGN, PUMPING CALCULATIONS)

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 Legislative Requirement
• The following clauses from the COP-FSI shall be referred to
when designing FH/HR system
• 5.11 Fire Alarm System – specifying the manual fire alarm
system including the ‘Manual Fire Alarm Call Point’
• 5.14 Fire Hydrant / Hose Reel System – specifying the
individual components of the system including pump flow rate,
pipe sizing, pressure requirements, etc.
• 5.26 Supply Tank – specifying the supply tank for the FH/HR
system

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 Technical Details (For System Design)
Hydrant
• Sited in an approach lobby to a staircase or in the
staircase enclosure
• Every escape staircase shall be provided by fire
hydrant at every floor
• In older industrial buildings, one single hydrant with FH without
two outlets had been used (but due to high pressure
parity valve
loss, they became obsolete)
• Operating pressure at the outlet of each hydrant is
between 350kPa and 850kPa
• In case of over pressure (>850kPa even at static
condition), parity valve and drain pipe will have to be
installed
• A usual assumption for head loss in the FH is 25kPa
@ 450L/min (standard flow rate)
(we never know what is the pressure drop! The local FH with 55

supplier should do a test if possible!) parity valve

and drain
 Technical Details (For System Design)
Hose Reel
• Rising mains for HR not less than 40mm
• Pipes feeding individual HR not less than
25mm
• Number of HR required depends on the
whether all the floor area are in reach by a
30m length hose
• Upon activation of the Manual Fire Alarm Call
Point, the Fixed Fire Pump shall operate

40mm (min)
irrespective of zoning
HR with
Manual
Alarm Call
25mm 56
Point and
(min)
Alarm Bell
 Technical Details (For System Design)
Fixed Fire Pump
• Flow requirement
• Industrial / godown – 3 FH @ 450L/min (1350L/min)
• Others – 2 FH @ 450L/min (900L/min)

• Pressure (at FH outlet)

• Not less than 350kPa at design flow
Small return pipe for
• Never exceed 850kPa in all conditions minimum flow to protect the
• Duplicated for Duty and Standby pump from overheat when
no water is discharging
from the FH / HR

FS Tank

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 Technical Details (For System Design)
Intermediate Booster Pump
• Required ONLY when topmost FH is 60m higher than lowest FS Inlet
• Location will be somewhere from G/F (or even basement) to lower than 60m

• Flow requirement
• Industrial / godown – 3 FH @ 450L/min (1350L/min) for 1 rising main
• Industrial / godown – 6 FH @ 450L/min (2700L/min) for 2 rising main (double of Fixed Fire Pump)
• Domestic – 2 FH @ 450L/min (900L/min)
• Others – 2 FH @ 450L/min (900L/min) for 1 rising main
• Others – 4 FH @ 450L/min (1800L/min) for 2 rising main (double of Fixed Fire Pump)

• Pressure (at FH outlet)

• Not less than 350kPa at design flow
• Never exceed 850kPa in all conditions

• Duplicated for Duty and Standby

• Need not 100% standby
• 3 or 4 pumps (2 or 3 Duty / 1 Standby) acceptable
• Can be used as Fixed Fire Pump if suitably located
Bypass
• Bypass is required 58
 Technical Details (For System Design)
Rising Main & Fire Service Inlet
• Size
• Industrial / godown – not less than 100mm (each rising main supply for 2
FH per floor)
• Others – not less than 80mm (each rising main supply for 1 FH per floor)

• Each rising main with one FS Inlet at ground floor level

• When more than one rising main, the FS inlets will be interconnected
by a header pipe
• 150mm for industrial, 100mm for others
• Maximum height 30m above ground level

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 Technical Details (For System Design)
Pipe Losses
• Hazen Williams formula (used in sprinkler calculation but
applies to other piping calculation also)
𝐿𝐿 × 𝑄𝑄 1.85
𝑃𝑃 = 6.05 × 105 × 1.85 4.87
𝐶𝐶 𝑑𝑑

• P = head loss (bar)

• Q = flow rate (L/min)
• C = pipe material (commonly take 120)
• D = pipe diameter (mm)
• L = pipe length (m)
• Since FH/HR system uses mostly 80mm, 100mm & 150mm
pipework, and the flow is usually fixed at multiples of 450L/min,
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it would be easy to prepare a simple table for such flow rates
 Pipe size 450L/min Pipe 900L/min
Losses 1350L/min
80mm 0.0038 bar/m 0.014 bar/m No used
100mm 0.0013 bar/m 0.0046 bar/m 0.0097 bar/m
150mm 0.00018 bar/m 0.00064 bar/m 0.0014 bar/m

Pipe size 450L/min 900L/min 1350L/min

80mm 0.038 mH/m 0.14 mH/m Not used
100mm 0.013 mH/m 0.046 mH/m 0.097 mH/m
150mm 0.0018 mH/m 0.0064 mH/m 0.014 mH/m

Header 900L/min 1350L/min 1800L/min 2700L/min

100mm 0.046 mH/m 0.097 mH/m 0.17 mH/m Not used
150mm 0.0064 mH/m 0.014 mH/m 0.023 mH/m 0.05 mH/m 61

Those figures in red are common combinations of chosen pipe size and the anticipated flowrate.