Many zones, one file
Each zone keeps its own design basis and design area. Solve one zone, or all of them in one pass.
FHC
Fire sprinkler hydraulics for Windows
Hydraulic calculations that show their working.
Firefinch FHC lays out, solves and reports fire sprinkler systems. Every report records the calculation program, the exact engine version and a fingerprint of its inputs, so a reviewer can retrace any number on it.
64-bit Windows 10 or 11 · 30-day trial · Works offline · Metric and imperial
Built for speed
Most of a network is placed by commands, not by hand.
Trace over the architect's drawing, let Firefinch FHC fill each zone with sprinklers, copy the repeats, and let Auto-size propose the pipes. You check and adjust; it does the drafting.
- Lay out sprinklers fills a zone outline with the fewest sprinklers that meet your spacing and coverage limits, then connects them to the main.
- Array copies a selected part of the network as many times as you need, at the offset you give.
- Stitch connects loose pieces to the nearest point of the network in one step.
- Generate fittings adds the elbow and tee allowances the geometry implies, in one undoable edit.
- Auto-size proposes pipe sizes against your velocity and pressure limits. Nothing changes until you apply them.
- Pump curves off the datasheet. Mark the sheet's axes and click along the curve, in whatever units the manufacturer printed, and the Pump Catalogue builds the curve. Your AI tool can read it for you, and the marks it read are kept so you can check them over the sheet.
In the box
Built for real projects, with many zones, one pump and late changes.
Project
Supply
One pump, every zone
Solve-all checks each zone against the shared pump curve and names the zone that governs flow and the one that governs pressure.
Solve
Design area search
Firefinch FHC finds the most demanding area at Solve. Pick your own and it is compared against the one it found.
Building
Levels and 3D
Work floor by floor on levels, each with its own drawing, and check the runs in 3D with every floor shown.
Drawing
Trace over PDFs
Load the architect's drawing as an underlay, set its scale, and draw the network straight over it.
Pipe
Pipe catalogue
46 pipe types and 472 sizes, each with C-factors for SANS 10287 and for NFPA 13 wet and dry systems. Pick a pipe by the size you order it by, or add types of your own.
Report
A report you can retrace
Export a report for the authority having jurisdiction, stamped with the program, engine version and a fingerprint of its inputs.
Automate
Command line and Python
Run solves and exports from scripts, and batch the repetitive parts of a large project.
How it works
From design basis to signed report, in one program.
Firefinch FHC follows the order you already work in. Each step hands the next one something you can check.
-
01
Set the design basis
Enter the design values and limits from the code your project runs on. Each zone keeps its own design basis, so one project can hold areas of different hazard.
Gives: density, area, duration, limits -
02
Draw the network
Trace over a PDF drawing, fill zone outlines with Lay out sprinklers, and copy the repeats with Array. Work floor by floor on levels and check the runs in 3D.
Gives: a network per zone -
03
Solve and size
Solve finds each zone's most demanding design area and checks every limit you set. Auto-size proposes pipe sizes, and nothing changes until you apply them.
Gives: pressures, flows, verdicts -
04
Report
Export a report for the authority having jurisdiction. It records the calculation program, the engine version and a fingerprint of the inputs behind it.
Gives: a report a reviewer can retrace
Use it with
NFPA 13
SANS 10287
EN 12845
FM Global
Your own limits
Coming: the design criteria wizard, working towards formal support for NFPA 13 (2025), with every derived value cited to its table or clause. About the wizard
How we check
How we check our engine
Every report shows its working.
Sprinkler calculations protect lives, so you should not have to take ours on trust. Firefinch FHC is checked the way all our software is.
Checked against EPANET 2.2
The solver is checked against the US EPA's open hydraulic solver on a set of reference networks, on every change.
Stamped on every report
Every report records the calculation program, the exact engine version and a fingerprint of its inputs.
The reviewing engineer decides
Firefinch FHC checks results against the limits you entered. Whether the design is right, and signing it off, stays with the reviewing engineer.
CALCULATION RECORD
Printed on the report
- Calculation program
- hydraulic.network.gga 1.4
- Engine version (this calculation)
- 0.28.0
- Law
- Hazen-Williams
- Units
- Metric
- Input hash
- 9c41e07b2d5af318
Works with AI tools
Your AI tool, with the whole program to work with.
Connect the AI app you choose through MCP. It can do nearly everything a click can: levels and underlays, zones, pipes and sprinklers, Array and Stitch, Auto-size, solving and the report. It can even read a pump curve off the manufacturer's PDF. You keep every decision.
- Off until you switch it on. The connection starts off every time Firefinch FHC opens.
- Runs on your computer. Firefinch FHC talks only to the AI app installed on the same machine.
- Every change is visible. Each step shows in Firefinch FHC and can be undone like your own edits.
Claude Desktop
Claude Code
ChatGPT with Codex
VS Code
Cursor
Any MCP client
You
Fill Zone 2 with sprinklers, connect them to the main on Level 1, then propose pipe sizes.
- ✓lay_out_sprinklersZone 2: 18 sprinklers on 3 branch lines
- ✓solveZone 2 solved, design area found
- ✓propose_pipe_sizes9 pipes changed, all within your velocity limit
- ○apply_pipe_sizesWaiting for you
Assistant
Zone 2 now has 18 sprinklers on three branch lines off the main. The proposed sizes keep every pipe within your velocity limit. Shall I apply them?
Pricing
Try it on the samples. Pay when it earns its place.
Explore
Free
No card, no time limit
Open the sample projects and see all of it: inputs, network, results, the report and its calculation record.
- Bundled sample projects, read-only
- Every screen and the full report
- Solve and export unlock with a licence
Solo
At launch
Per engineer, billed yearly
One engineer with the whole program, including the AI connection and the command line.
- 30-day trial
- Works offline, checks the licence about every 30 days
- Move your licence to a new computer yourself
- Updates for the year
Practice
Talk to us
Several engineers
Licences for a design office. Tell us how many engineers you have and how you work.
- Everything in Solo
- One account for the office
If your licence lapses, your files stay yours. You can still open, view and re-export your own projects. New solves wait until you renew.
Prices exclude local taxes. Our payment provider works out any VAT or sales tax at checkout and issues the invoice.
Questions
Before you install
Which codes can I use Firefinch FHC with?
Any code that sets limits Firefinch FHC can check. You enter the design values and limits from your governing code, such as NFPA 13, SANS 10287, EN 12845 or FM Global data sheets, and Firefinch FHC computes the actual values and checks them against your limits.
We are also working towards formal support for NFPA 13 (2025) through the design criteria wizard, which derives the criteria with the table or clause behind each value.
Who is responsible for the results?
The reviewing engineer. Firefinch FHC guarantees its arithmetic and lets anyone reproduce it. It does not certify that a design complies with a code, and results stay in working state until they are signed off.
Does Firefinch FHC work offline?
Yes. Firefinch FHC runs fully offline and checks the licence online about once every 30 days.
Does my design leave my computer?
No. Your projects, crash reports and logs stay on your computer. Firefinch FHC uses the network for two things only: checking the licence, and checking for and downloading updates. The AI connection runs inside your computer, not over the network.
What do I need to run it?
A PC with 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Firefinch FHC does not run on a Mac.
How do I get help?
By email. The support address goes up here when Firefinch FHC is released.
Support covers whether the software works: installing it, using it, and fixing problems in it. Whether a design is correct or meets a code is for the reviewing engineer, and we do not advise on it.
Routine replies, such as confirming we have your message or pointing you to the right part of the user guide, may come from an AI assistant. Everything else is answered by a person.
What happens when my licence lapses?
You can still open, view and re-export your own projects. New solves and new reports wait until you renew.
Firefinch FHC · by Gooey Goat
Draw it fast. Check every number.
Download Firefinch FHC, open the sample projects, and follow any number on the report back to where it came from.