Highlights from an article response by ECS CEO Jeff Kochelek in the current issue of FPC (Fire Protection Contractor) Magazine:
These are the top FPC Magazine Corrosion Article Response items that we liked.
- “Compatibility studies have not yet been performed or published by any supplier for any treatment chemicals for use in fire sprinkler systems.”
- “Nitrogen gas is routinely used to remove dissolved oxygen from water and many other liquids to prevent oxidation.”
- "The current FM Global data sheets on the subject do not endorse the use of pipe cleaning or water treatment chemicals in fire sprinkler systems.”
- "In a closed, stagnant fire sprinkler system that contains trapped air, the chemistry of oxygen corrosion is fundamentally different… the most severe oxygen corrosion in fire sprinkler piping tends to be very localized and in close proximity to the source of trapped air.”
- “It is this limited solubility issue for oxygen gas in water that is the rate-limiting step within the oxygen corrosion reaction in fire sprinkler systems.”
- “Spending any energy worrying about the dissolved oxygen in fire sprinkler supply water is a waste of time… more than 99% of the oxygen that is available for a corrosion in a filled, closed wet pipe fire sprinkler system is in the trapped air.”
Kochelek, J., O’Leary, T., (2015) Corrosion in Fire Sprinkler Systems. Fire Protection Contractor Magazine. 46-47.
