Foam suppression systems
Low- and high-expansion foam for flammable liquid storage, loading bays and transformer yards — a blanket over the fuel, not water into it.
- Scope
- Survey → commissioning → AMC
- Practice
- NFPA 11 · NBC 2016 Pt.4
- Typical use
- Tank farms, loading bays, plant
Water sinks through burning fuel; foam sits on top of it
Putting water on a burning hydrocarbon spreads it. Foam works because it floats: a proportioned concentrate is aerated at the discharge device and laid over the fuel surface as a blanket that smothers the flame, blocks the vapour and cools what is underneath. Keeping that blanket intact for long enough is what the design is actually for.
The right arrangement depends on what is burning and where it sits. A bunded tank takes low-expansion foam applied gently at the rim so the blanket is not broken up. A loading bay or a plant floor takes monitors and pourers covering the spill area. An enclosed basement or a cable gallery takes high-expansion foam that fills the volume. Concentrate type matters as much as quantity, and it is selected against the fuel rather than by price.
The proportioning system is where these installations succeed or fail, so we design and commission it as a unit: concentrate storage, the proportioner, the water supply and the discharge devices, tested with foam and measured at the device, not calculated on paper. Concentrate has a shelf life and needs periodic sampling, which the maintenance contract covers.
What the installation is built from
Concentrate, proportioning and discharge — plus the water supply that has to deliver at the pressure the proportioner expects.
Tell us about the project
Send the drawings or the BOQ and we will price it line by line. Most enquiries start with a site visit, because the site decides the system — not the catalogue.