DoseTech Special Risk Fire Protection: 11th November 2010

Foam questions
So what's the real difference between 1% and 3% fire fighting foam concentrate? If you take a look at the base components, not much.
The major difference is that the 1% foam concentrate is simply more concentrated, if that makes sense.

As the various foam manufacturers have spent more time and money on R & D the manufacturing processes involved have improved dramatically allowing for more concentrated concentrates. As has been the case with 3% foams replacing 6% foams, for the most part, 1% foams are now beginning to replace 3% foams.
The benefits are vast, not the least of which being the foam storage tank size reduction by 2 thirds. For stainless steel tanks this translates into big money.

But the big question is of course, "Are the 1% concentrates as effective as their 3% or 6% counterparts?" The answer is yes but saying so is not always enough, we need some tangible evidence.

On the 11th November 2010 DoseTech Special Risk Fire Protection and Chemserve Systems gathered at the SAEC training school in Modderfontein to test the efficacy bot the 1% and 3% Dr Sthamer SThamex AFFF foam concentrates through a series of burn tests.

The criterea for the burn tests were as follows: 4 separate burns in the SEAC's 4,5M x 4,5m burn pan filled with Jet A1 fuel and the centre drum of the burn pan filled with tyres and wooden pallets. The fire would be lit from the centre, pallets and tyres first, and a 3 minute pre burn would be allowed for. Each burn was to be extinguished with a different agent and the results would be timed. The foam extinguishing tests would make use of our FD1000 adjustable FireDos proportional foam dosing pump and the end of line equipment would be our Akron Turbojet 1720 nozzle/branch complete with medium expansion foam aeration tube set at 115 L/min.

Burn test 1 was to test the effect of water only on the fire. This did not go particularly well and after 3 minutes the fire died out, more from the fuel burning off than the water being effective.

For burn test 2 our FireDos was set to admix an A class wetting agent manufactured by Chemserve, Flameblock, at 0.3%. The results from this test were slightly better with a total extinguishing time of 2 minutes 30 sec.

Test 3 was with our FireDos set at 3% admix rate to ad the 3% Sthamex AFFF to the fire fighting water supply. This test went extremely well with all signs of flame being out in 30 seconds flat. A nice aqueous film was formed over the Jet A1 fuel smothering out all oxygen.
Now for the big one, burn test 4 with a 1% Sthamex AFFF foam concentrate. With the FireDos set to 1% Johan of the SAEC began to fight the fire. If you'd blinked you would've missed it as the fire was out in 27 seconds, almost the exact same result as the 3% Sthamex AFFF. A good result all round.

After a quick clean up and congratulations all round we headed for the bar, a converted half fire truck in this case. Thanks again to Jan of the SAEC for allowing the use of his fantastic facility. Below are some photos.