- Author
- Persson, H. | Milovancevic, M.
- Title
- FAIRFIRE-Fire Fighting Foams: Small Scale Fire Test Procedure. Improvement of Drainage and Expansion Methodology.
- Coporate
- Swedish National Testing and Research Inst., Boras, Sweden
- Report
- SP Report 1996:28, 1996, 25 p.
- Contract
- PROJECT-MAT1-CT94-0041-1
- Keywords
- foam extinguishing systems | fire fighting | small scale fire tests | test methods | standards | expansion | test equipment
- Identifiers
- drainage equipment; foam properties
- Abstract
- Expansion and drainage are two very important parameters when characterising a fire fighting foam. In the provisional CEN standard for fire fighting from, prEN 1568-3, this characterisation is of great importance as it is a part of the pass/fail criteria for considering the influence of temperature conditioning of the concentrate. A full series of expansion and drainage tests, including sea water tests, would add up to 18 separate tests. Additional tests might then be conducted in connection with the fire tests. The test equipment presently used requires manual operation during the test. Thus a considerable influence of the operator is possible. This report describes an alternative test equipment in order to simplify the method and to establish a good repeatability. The main modification is that the tap on the outlet of the drainage vessel is replaced with a filter paper inside the vessel to prevent passage of foam. By use of a scale connected to a data logging system, the equipment records the drainage time/weight loss automatically and no supervision is required. The report describes the test equipment and presents test data including a comparison with the existing equipment.