mr

[Guest Panasonic]

Hello.

Reading about Water Mist Extinguishers and getting a bit overloaded in conflicting forum conversations.

In an office with 1- 6 litre foam and 1- 2kg co2 would 1 water mist be a suitable replacement?

Many thanks

[Safelincs]

Hi, as long as it is a water mist extinguisher with de-ionised water it can replace both the foam and the CO2 and would actually be more appropriate in an office. Please remember: You still have to have certain minimum numbers per floor in accordance with the British Standards.

Benefits:

- It is a very easy to use extinguisher and staff only require training for one type of extinguisher which reduces the risk of confusion

- Water mist extinguishers (with de-ionised water) do not conduct any electricity and are safe even on live electrical equipment (up to 1000V)

- De-ionised water does not leave any residue (foam, on the other hand, is hard to clean up and lightly carcinogenic)

- Water mist actually clears the air of smoke and builds up a heat buffer in front of the user

- The environmental impact is reduced, as de-ionised water is, well, just purest water. There are no chemicals in de-ionised water mist extinguishers

I hope this helps

 

Harry

 

[Guest Panasonic]

Many thanks. I guess the company we use to maintain our extinguishers could clarify minimum numbers per floor. Just planning ahead when new extinguishers are required.

Thanks again.

[Safelincs]

Hi, if you need quantity info you could either message me your plans for our engineers to have a look at or you could post the siteplan in the forum for us to answer the question in the open.

Harry

 

[AnthonyB]

Rough rule of thumb is one 13A rated extinguisher per 200 sq.m. (each extinguisher has a fire rating written on the front).

British Standards (Guidance not law) cite a minimum of 2 A-rated extinguishers regardless of floor size, but that's overkill for the trades benefit and any competent risk assessor would be happy with just one if it's a particularly small office.

As most environments have electrical equipment it's common practice to pair each fire point of water or foam with a CO2

Water Mist replaces the 2 separate extinguishers but not all extinguisher suppliers will stock these as they prefer the income from selling and maintaining (& replacing again every few years) twice as many extinguishers so you are best suited to order via Safelincs (don't forget to add Commissioning).

[Guest Many thanks Anthony.]

Many thanks. I guess the company we use to maintain our extinguishers could clarify minimum numbers per floor. Just planning ahead when new extinguishers are required.

Thanks again.

 

[Guest Panasonic]

Many thanks Harry and Anthony.

I will speak to the powers that be.