For buildings, typically it is not stop the explosion, but limit the damage. Light weight wall and roof panels that blow out, saving the frame of the building. Use structural elements that avoid horizontal surfaces where dust can accumulate. Of course, like a grain or feed mill, good housekeeping to limit the dust build-up. To quote an engineer expert on dust explosion hazards: "If you can write your name in a combustible dust, you have a potential problem." See NFPA 68 and 654.
Dave David A. de Vries, P.E., CSP Firetech Engineering Incorporated --- On Wed, 3/17/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: RE: Nuts To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 4:27 PM One of the worst sugar explosions was down in this neck of the woods not that long ago. But that's a whole other issue. Explosion suppression systems are pretty cool, it's been a while but for dust collectors they were not that uncommon. For buildings, us in the FP world have nothing to offer to stop an explosion. Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Specialist Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [email protected] http://www.ch2m.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George Church Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:17 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Nuts Was it NFPA Journal that just ad an article about the sugar company hiring away one of the best corporate risk managers to: Change the physical addressing of dust with re-design of process and quantum improvement of housekeeping; change the corporate culture completely, to give everyone ownership of safety and stewardship of preventing another explosion. It had a good bit on controlling dust explosions. Scariest part was how no one thought it was a problem even while there was a huge one every couple months. Reminds me of First Interstate Bank fire, other cities thought it was an LA problem. Can't happen here! glc -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 2:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Nuts Combustible dust will be an issue but you're not going to provide any kind of protection against it from a fire suppression standpoint. Protection and control of dust explosions area handled by a combination of architectural and structural features. >From a fire protection standpoint, NFPA 13 identifies bagged nuts as a Class III commodity. That's the closes you get there. If you're looking for an Occupancy classification most likely OH 2 gets the closest since it includes Agricultural, Feed and Cereal Mills. Craig L. Prahl, CET Fire Protection Specialist Mechanical Department CH2MHILL Lockwood Greene 1500 International Drive PO Box 491, Spartanburg, SC 29304-0491 Direct - 864.599.4102 Fax - 864.599.8439 [email protected] http://www.ch2m.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matt Grise Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 1:53 PM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: Nuts That reminds me of a recycling center I looked at. They just dumped paper and plastic on the ground and pushed it around with wheel loaders. We called their setup 'solid pile storage'. One thing that comes to mind: their warehouse sounds dusty...do they have/need any dust explosion protection? Matt Grisé PE*, LEED AP Sales Engineer Alliance Fire Protection *Licensed in KS & MO 913.888.0647 ph 913.888.0618 f 913.927.0222 cell www. AFPsprink.com -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dennis Browning Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 12:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Nuts I have a warehouse where they dump nuts [in the shell] onto the floor and then push them around with skip loaders and dump them into bins and/or conveyors. My question is what would the design parameters be? This is a new one for me but I'm sure not new in the industry! Any help would be much appreciated. Dennis Browning Browning Fire Protection Office # (541) 245-0466 Fax # (541) 245-0498 Email: [email protected] _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
