Cooling Tower Fire Protection
Cooling towers are an integral part of operations for many commercial and industrial facilities. If a cooling tower is lost, it will likely have a significant impact on the operation of the facility. Cooling tower fire protection is an important part of managing a large commercial or industrial operation.
Cooling Towers & Materials
Many industrial processes are not possible without the cooling that cooling towers provide. A cooling tower, as many of us know, is to transfer heat from one medium to another. Much like a motor and a radiator in a vehicle an industrial process that produces heat will need to be cooled. Depending on the application you will find all sorts of designs, sizes, and materials used in the fabrication of cooling towers. The largest cooling towers are found in nuclear power plants and are monoliths.
Cooling Tower Fabrication
Cooling towers are made from a number of materials such as metal frames, metal parts, plastic fill, and wood. The cooling tower itself or the fill media that is used to maximize air and water contact can be flammable. Depending on the materials it is possible for the dry areas in a cooling tower to be exceptionally flammable. This might surprise people with the quantity of water cooling towers typically handle.
Mitigating Fire Hazards in Cooling Towers
Clearly there is a risk of fire in a cooling tower so taking proactive preventative steps is important. It is a best practice if the cooling towers can be located a distance from combustible materials or structures. Cooling towers should be designed with fire barriers to help prevent fire from spreading through the tower and into the buildings.
It is critical that there are firefighting appliances like standpipes and fire hydrants be installed close to the cooling tower. Cooling towers also present a potential lightning risk with the metal used in their fabrication and parts. For this reason cooling towers should be provided with lightning protection. For more information refer to NFPA 214 Standard on Water-Cooling Towers.
FRP Cooling Tower Fire Protection
With the emergence and popularity operators and manufacturers of fiber-reinforced plastics cooling towers a segment of the industry has become convinced that these towers don’t need fire suppression. Manufactures believe the materials they fabricate the towers from are noncombustible and have no need of an automatic sprinkler system. Many of today’s FRP cooling tower manufacturers state their fill materials and towers have been evaluated to be within codes such as the ASTM E84, this is no guarantee that they are non-combustible. It’s important to realized that the ASTM E 84 does not classify materials heat release rate or combustibility.
FRP Cooling Tower Fire Testing
The only way to know for sure if a automatic sprinkler system is needed is the Factory Mural Research Approval for the tower. This means that unless the materials and fill are made from masonry, concrete, metal, or tile or have otherwise been proven to be noncombustible they should be treated as combustible. Following that logic all FRP cooling towers made from materials that are no definitively noncombustible will need automatic sprinkler protection to mitigate the risk of fire in the tower.
The Importance of Cooling Tower Fire Protection
Not assessing or ignoring potential fire hazards is an unnecessary risk in any building, whether it be commercial, industrial, or residential. If you have substandard fire protection it is a lose-lose situation. While installing and operating a cheaper cooling tower which doesn’t feature fire mitigation systems might save a few dollar in the short term, it will cost in the long term.
At best the higher insurance premiums will offset any savings from not installing the fire control systems. And worst the lives of your personnel will be at risk, along with the property itself. Replacing, rebuilding, and downtime are enormously costly for just about every industrial or commercial facility. Invest in protecting your cooling tower from fire hazards and have the peace of mind that your cooling tower is not a liability. For help with all your cooling tower maintenance needs in the Phoenix Valley contact All Kote Lining, Inc.