Danfoss pumps free up commercial space for rent

The AKADEMIK Business Center has a unique history. Created on the site of an unfinished building from the 1990s, an award-winning team of architects transformed the abandoned project into a bold new urban statement between 2015 and 2019.

“When we first began discussions with the general contractor, owners and architects had planned to use traditional sprinklers as the main fire suppression system,” recalls Fogstream CEO Andrey Kupfer. “But after we introduced the benefits of water-mist technology, they asked our engineers to calculate the potential impact of using this instead of a traditional fire extinguishing system. The calculations were quite convincing.”

Fogstream proposed a space-saving two-part water-mist system built around Danfoss PAH pumps, as part of a comprehensive turnkey solution, a Fogstream specialty, that included everything from design to production and installation.

“We knew from previous experience that the Danfoss PAH pumps are extremely reliable,” says Kupfer, “and this is, of course, priority number one in any fire suppression system. But the PAH pumps are also very compact. In addition to simpler maintenance, the compactness of the system also enabled substantial and sustainable economic and design benefits for the client.”

For the underground parking floors, Fogstream installed four main and one standby PAH 80 pumps with one PAH 12.5 jockey pump for a total flow of 392 l/min at an operating pressure of 90 bar. For the aboveground floors, Fogstream opted for two main and one standby PAH 80 pumps with one PAH 12.5 jockey pump for a total flow rate of 228 l/min at an operating pressure of 90 bar. Danfoss’s VRH relief valves and VCH check valves were also used throughout.

Compared to the traditional fire extinguishing system originally planned, Fogstream’s high-pressure water-mist proposal resulted in very significant savings.

Eliminating the need for tanks to supply water for traditional fire extinguishing system freed up 380 m3, or 180 m2 of commercial floor space that could be leased instead of holding water. The high-pressure water mist system takes up under 8 m2 of floor space. Architects were also happy to be able to increase ceiling height on all floors by 20 cm due to the smaller pipes in the highpressure  system.

Increasing the building’s leasable floor space, downsizing pipe dimensions throughout the building, and reducing maintenance costs cut the total cost of ownership for fire suppression by RUB 12,000,000 (€133,000) annually, CAPEX by 11%, and OPEX by 8%.

“The architectural and financial benefits of such a compact watermist system make it a very interesting alternative to traditional fire extinguishing systems,” concludes Kupfer. “Fogstream looks forward to telling more clients about these architectural and financial advantages.”