A fire pump is a part of a fire sprinkler system's water supply and powered by electric, diesel or steam. The pump intake is either connected to the public underground water supply piping, or a static water source (e.g., tank, reservoir, lake).
Fire pumps are needed when the local municipal water system cannot provide sufficient pressure to meet the hydraulic design requirements of the fire sprinkler system. This usually occurs if the building is very tall, such as in high-rise buildings, or in systems that require a relatively high terminal pressure at the fire sprinkler in order to provide a large volume of water, such as in storage warehouses. Fire pumps are also needed if fire protection water supply is provided from a ground level water storage tank.
A jockey pump is a pump connected to a fire sprinkler system and is intended to maintain pressure in a fire protection piping system to an artificially high level so that the operation of a single fire sprinkler will cause a pressure drop which will be sensed by the fire pump automatic controller, causing the fire pump to start. The jockey pump is essentially a portion of the fire pump's control system. A jockey pump is sized for a flow less than the flow to one sprinkler in order to ensure a system pressure drop. Hence a jockey pump is an important part of the fire pumps control system.
AxFlow has over 50 years of experience in selling and designing and maintaining fire pump systems. Once the set has been sized we can offer an installation and commissioning service via our service department
