If you're selecting foam to fight a 3dimensional tank fire you've made the wrong selection. If you've selected foam for suppression of a pool fire in a tank farm, that's another story.
Selection of the correct product and the correct style of application is critical for sucessful use of these type systems. CH2MHILL/SPB Craig Prahl 8640599-4102 ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ron Greenman [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 2:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Foam Do remember though that most big tanks are contained and the containment is lined so the fire extinguishing aspect has to do, depending on your philosophical predilections, with saving product or with environmental (air quality) issues. How many big tank fires equal one volcano? How much money is lost in a big tank fire allowed to burn itself out? How much bad environmental press do you get if you let that occur? Lots of this stuff requires lawyers, guns, and money (OK, rarely need the guns but guns and whisky are more fun than lawyers and money). On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 10:59 AM, å... .... <[email protected]> wrote: > Foam is not foam. Some are kick-ass, others are a bit lack- > luster. Some have environmental clean up issues (some fluoro-foams in > particular). > Some low-priced foam may be discounted as it is approaching its intended > shelf life. > > If we use enough detergent soap, we can put out a tank fire, > but who would want to use that much? Better to buy a smaller quantity of > quality foam. > > It is realized fires requiring foam extinguishment are rare, > and so in consideration of that probability, > we may buy cheaper > foam and fulfill the letter- > of-the-standard with regard to checking the boxes > on foam suppression quantities. A big fire > in a large tank (e.g. > 60 ft diameter) will not > care what boxes were checked, however. > > It takes quality foam (and the appropriate specs to > assure it is acquired) to put out big tanks of flammable/ > combustible liquids using recommended application rates > in the letter-of-some-standards. > > scot deal > excelsior fire engineering > _______________________________________________ > 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) > -- Ron Greenman Instructor Fire Protection Engineering Bates Technical College Tacoma, WA Member: SFPE, ASCET, NFPA, AFSA, NFSA AFAA, NIBS, WSAFM, WFC _______________________________________________ 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)
