The short answer is YES approvals are important!. However many companies claim approvals in a way that is vague and designed to distract you the buyer from the truth. Statements such as "generally in accordance with NFPA " etc. are sometimes no more than a smoke screen. Others supply a list of numerous but meaningless approvals such as component testing authorities far removed from the fire protection industry. What we are saying here is that there are many bogus approval claims by companies trying to deceive. Do not be fooled and best check with the proper authorities what are real approvals and whether these approvals are specific to the system you are being offered.

One also has to differentiate between system approval and component approval. The most appropriate and essential approvals are the following: