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The primary purpose of installing a dry rising main is for fire fighting purposes and to comply with Building Regulations.
The principal behind the installation is to remove the need for fire fighters to carry charged fire fighting hoses up several levels of a building, which would undoubtedly delay fire fighting and present an evacuation hazard.
Approved Document B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations (England and Wales) requires any building more than 18m high, measured from the fire service access level to the top floor, to provide a “fire fighting shaft” and a fire fighting rising main. These regulations also apply to buildings which have floors greater than 10m beneath ground level.
In Scotland, the Technical Handbook requires a rising main for buildings 7.5 metres and above.
Rising mains in buildings can either be charged with water (a wet riser) or left dry (a dry riser). Both wet and dry risers should be designed and installed in accordance with BS 9990: 2015 Code of Practice for Non-Automatic Fire Fighting Systems in Buildings.
For such buildings where the highest floor level is less than 50m, the fire fighting main can be either a dry or a wet riser. Above 50m. the fire fighting main must be a wet riser.