A fire fighting spray nozzle is used to discharge water, foam or other fire-retardant materials to suppress or extinguish a fire. They can be categorized as either drenching systems or fog type systems.
Drenching nozzles can be either straight stream or fog type and can also have constant gallonage or automatic settings. Fog nozzles have a wide fog pattern and are ideal for dispersing vapors or for creating a water corridor for escape routes.
Water Suppression
Water fire suppression uses a fire fighting spray nozzle to disperse water in small droplets that cool the area and displace oxygen, which stops the fire’s chemical reaction. These systems are ideal for data centers, generator enclosures, museums and rare book libraries, as they leave no water residue that could damage sensitive equipment or damage occupants.
A short branch nozzle breaks the stream into fine droplets that spread over more surface area, which helps with heat absorption and cooling. This type of nozzle is often used in hazardous areas to create a water corridor, making escape easier.
Constant gallonage nozzles maintain a fixed orifice size, even as the nozzle pattern changes from straight stream to fog, so they always deliver the same amount of water per minute. Automatic, or adjustable, nozzles adjust to increases and decreases in flow rate, maintaining the proper shape and reach of the water stream. They also ensure the correct nozzle pressure for the available gallonage.
Foam Suppression
BETE offers a large selection of industrial fire protection nozzles for foam suppression systems. These include nozzles designed to work with both open-type and water mist fire suppression systems. They are trusted to protect offshore drilling and production platforms, petroleum storage and transfer stations, LNG tanks, refineries and other valuable industrial complexes and equipment. Foam systems differ from traditional wet sprinkler systems in that they store both the water and a fire fighting agent separately before being discharged at the nozzle. The foaming agent is added or ejected into the water at the nozzle just before discharge to expand it and create an immense coverage of foam.
These systems can either drench the area in a flood of fluid or more subtly spray very fine mists that rapidly evaporate displacing oxygen and smothering the fire. These different approaches require very different nozzles, typically specialist spiral nozzles for drenching systems and misting nozzles for fog type applications.
Foam Extinguishing
The foam produced by a fire fighting spray nozzle is used to extinguish flammable liquid fires. When applied to a Class A fuel, the foam creates a blanket of bubbles that soaks and coats the flammable liquid, depriving it of oxygen and stopping its chemical reaction.
Using a foam proportionate system, the fire nozzle injects the appropriate amount of foam concentrate into water at a specified ratio. This allows the firefighter to control the application rate which is critical when applying a Class A foam.
Foam has come a long way over the years. Today’s advanced foams are designed to extinguish hydrocarbon flammable liquid fires, polar solvent/alcohol fuel spills and fires and even Class B vapors. These new AFFF generated foams also have the ability to protect structures from damage and contamination. Just as in structural fire fighting, a fire department should always have enough foam resources readily available to meet the needs of its community.
Foam Curtain
Foam curtain is used to protect personnel and equipment from radiated heat by creating a dense, flat water spray. It also helps to cool structures and prevent damage caused by the fire itself. It can be made using a fog or straight stream nozzle, which differ in how they discharge their water. Fog nozzles produce a cone-shaped stream of small water droplets that are more easily converted into steam, which can take the hot air away from a room.
GW premium quality range of fire fighting spray nozzles include a wide variety of open orifice & closed nozzles for use in water spray fixed systems for fire protection applications. They are available in various models including medium velocity nozzles, tank cooling nozzles, jumbo curtain nozzles and reverse action nozzles. The GW Window Drencher type nozzle is designed to provide effective exposure protection on storage tanks & as a barrier for windows. It is ideal for use in a professionally engineered deluge system in special and high hazard environments.