The Importance of Fire Suppression Equipment for Dust Collector Safety

As a crucial component in facilities, dust collectors are necessary when dealing with combustible materials. However, combustible dust poses a risk in your facility, so it’s important to ensure that you have fire prevention and suppression systems in place to reduce your risk.

Dust collection systems can be a major contributor to fires in facilities, particularly because each of the elements of the fire triangle are present: fuel (such as combustible dust), oxygen (pulled into the dust collector), and heat (which can be produced in the manufacturing process).

Combustible dust may affect several industries, including grain, coffee, flour, cocoa, animal feed, food, furniture, paper, woodworking, and more.

With such high risk in your facility, proactive fire prevention and fire suppression equipment are crucial to dust collector safety so that you can protect your equipment, employees, and property, as well as avoid any disruption to your business. 

How Fire Suppression Equipment Helps 

In addition to protecting employees and your facility, fire suppression equipment has additional benefits, such as lowering your insurance premium and increasing your company’s compliance with industry safety standards and regulations, including the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA).

Finding the Right Fire Suppression Equipment

As enclosed systems, it can be difficult to see when a fire ignites in a dust collector, and because of this, it’s crucial to have an automatic fire suppression system in place. Fire suppression equipment can also provide early detection, which means reduced fire damage.

It’s also important to note that while a handheld extinguisher is important to have in your facility near your dust collector, it will likely not be sufficient for putting out a fire in your dust collection system. 

How to Choose the Best Dust Collector Fire Suppression System

There are three main types of fire protection systems, including, the high-pressure carbon dioxide system, low-pressure clean agent system, low-pressure dry chemical system. The right fire suppression equipment for your dust collector will depend on the type of combustible dust, your facility, and more. A few factors to consider:

• The type and volume of the dust.
• The type of dust collector (cartridge, baghouse, cyclone, electrostatic, wet collection, etc.) and filter media. 
• The location of the collector in your facility. 
• If your facility has an explosive atmosphere or flammable oils and liquids. 
• If there are potential ignition sources, including sparks, heat, or open flames. 

Fire-Retardant and Fire-Resistant Dust Collector Filters

Another component of fire prevention is the use of fire-retardant and fire-resistant dust collector filters. Fire-retardant is defined as synthetic fabrics and chemically treated substances that are not readily susceptible to fire, while fire-resistant means that the filter could self-extinguish within two seconds or less once the flame has been removed. However, while these filters can be beneficial for fire prevention, it’s also essential to have fire suppression equipment.

Boss Fire Suppression Products from AirMax

AirMax offers fast quotes on Boss fire suppression products, quickly providing you with the fire suppression system to maintain dust collector safety in your facility. As a leading provider of fire suppression products, Boss develops NFPA-certified fire and explosion protection systems and equipment for some of the most highly regulated industries in the United States, including grain, coffee, flour, cocoa, animal feed, food, furniture, paper, and woodworking. 

Boss Products offers fire and explosion suppression equipment that is valuable across many industries and creates a safer work environment for employees while protecting your investments and your property. AirMax partners with Boss to offer the following fire suppression equipment.  

1. No Return Valve Combo/Metal – Protects workers and facilities from the damaging effect of a baghouse or filter explosion. The No Return Valve Combo/Metal is designed for use with High-Speed Abort Gates, Fire Break Shutters, Raptor Spark Detection & Extinguishing Systems, and Energy Management Systems.
2. Heavy Duty Barometric Damper EB-BDHD – The EcoBOSS® Heavy Duty Barometric Damper is designed to automatically bleed in air to avoid fan instability and maintain suitable conveying velocities in duct lines.
3. Fire Protection Equipment - The Raptor Spark® Detection and Extinguishing System – An FM Approved safety device that is designed to detect and extinguish sparks and glowing embers that are traveling through a duct system. The hazard is detected by infrared sensors and extinguished with water spray nozzles within milliseconds of detection. The Raptor Spark® detection unit module has the capacity to receive hazard alert signals from multiple components (Dust Probes & Thermal Probes) and monitor multiple duct-zones and vessels. Typical automatic functions include hazard detection, system shut-down, isolation/abort, and extinguish and/or suppression.

Protect Your Facility with Fire Suppression Equipment

If you’re ready to take the next step in protecting your facility with fire suppression equipment, contact AirMax today.