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A comprehensive guide of fixed

fire fighting foam system
Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on December 12, 2016

Let me narrate you a real story.

A ship was to arrive in a US port after a long sailing. Foam

sample for fixed foam system was sent for testing at last port.
Three days before arrival, the results of the foam sample
analysis were received.
 The test had failed. USCG did not allow the vessel to berth. The
foam sample was redrawn and sent for analysis. Even though the
sample passed, more than one day was lost in this process.

Question is, why did USCG not allow the ship to berth? They must
have felt that it is really dangerous to allow the tanker to berth
with an ineffective foam system.

Do we take our firefighting equipments and system this seriously?

Let us admit it, we don’t !!!

The first step of showing the seriousness is knowing everything

about our equipments.

In this article, I will discuss fixed fire fighting foam system on

board ships.

Let us fire it out !!!

How foam extinguishes the fire

Fire fighting foam used on ships has three elements.

 Foam concentrate

 water

 air
 Foam concentrate is mixed with water in a correct proportion to form a foam
solution. This foam solution when agitated with air produces foam.

Foam extinguishes the fire in three ways

 It forms a blanket and thus removing the supply of oxygen to the fuel, the
effect called smothering.

 The foam blanket does not allow the fuel vapors to generate, thus cutting the
fuel supply to the fire

 Since foam has water, it cools the fuel surface

Main terms used in defining the foam

Now let us get to know few of the terms associated with foam.

Expansion ratio
We all understand how a foam solution is formed. The form concentrate is mixed
with the sea water and air at the foam monitor causes this foam solution to generate
foam.
In other words, foam concentrate that we have in foam room tank expands to
generate foam. Different foam concentrate has different capacity of how much
foam these can generate from a fixed quantity of foam concentrate.

The ratio of the volume of foam generated (finished foam) to the foam concentrate
used in that is called expansion ratio of the foam.
The foam with expansion ratio between 1:2 and 1:20 is called low expansion foam.

Foam with expansion ratio between 1:20 and 1:200 is called medium expansion
foam.

Foam with expansion ratio above 1:200 is called high expansion foam.

Drainage time
Drainage time is the measure of how quickly a foam solution can move over a
surface. Foam solution that has lesser drainage time move faster over a surface.
Drainage time is measured for 25% solution and 50% solution. This is called 25%
drainage time and 50% drainage time.

Proportioning rate
Foam is generated by mixing foam concentrate with water. For the effective
generation of foam that can be effective in firefighting, a correct amount of water
need to be mixed with foam concentrate.

This ratio is called proportioning rate. It is also called mixing ratio or dilution rate.
So 6% foam concentrate means that the ideal foam solution from this foam needs
to have 6 parts of the foam concentrate and 94 parts of water.

Knockdown speed and flow

 Knockdown speed and flow is the ability of the foam to flow on the fuel and
around the obstacles.

Good knockdown speed would mean that the foam is able to flow past the
obstacles on the fuel surface.

Type of Foam solutions used on board ships

Broadly all foams fall under one of these two categories

 Chemical foam

 Mechanical foam

Chemical foam produces the foam by chemical reaction of two chemicals, one
being alkali and second an acid.

Mechanical foam uses physical agitation of the foam concentrate to produce foam.

On board ships, the mechanical foam is mostly used. There are different types of
mechanical foams used on board depending upon the expected source of the fire.
 

Let us discuss few of these.

Aqueous film forming foam concentrate (AFFF)

This is the very common type of foam used on board ship specially on tankers.
 As the name suggests, apart from the foam bubbles, this foam makes an aqueous
film over the surface that spreads across the surface of hydrocarbon to extinguish
the fire.

These type of foam works on the fires generated from burning of hydrocarbons
as it has a mixture of hydrocarbon and fluorinated surface active agents.

Alcohol resistant Aqueous film forming foam

concentrate (AR-AFFF)

As I said foam has water in it. All the solvents like alcohols are miscible in water.
So if we use normal foam on alcohol fires, alcohol will dissolve the water and
foam will break up easily.

So for extinguishing the fires involving solvents like alcohol, normal foam
concentrate will not do.

For fighting the fires involving alcohols and other solvents, Alcohol resistant
foam is required.
On chemical tankers, that have foam as fixed fire fighting system for cargo fires,
alcohol resistant foam is a must. This is because these ships carry alcohols (like
Methanol, ethanol) as cargo.

So next time we check the foam certificate on a chemical tanker, we must look for
the information mentioning the foam to be alcohol resistant.

Foams based upon the expansion ratio

We discussed that there are three types of foams based on the expansion ratio.

 High expansion foams

 Medium expansion foams

 Low expansion foams

But which foam will be used where ?

Would’t it be the fact that high expansion foams will generate more foam from less
foam concentrate and thus be more effective ?

So the high expansion foam is very light and low expansion foam is comparatively
heavier.

If we use high expansion foam for deck fires, the foam will fly with the wind and
will not be able to extinguish the fire.

For this reason, for deck fires low expansion foam is used. On tankers, it will
always be low expansion foam for fires of the cargo area.

High expansion foams are used for compartments such as holds and even
machinery spaces where the space need to be filled with foam for fire fighting.

Functioning of Fixed foam system

Below is the basic line diagram of a typical fixed foam system on ships.
The foam pump takes the foam concentrate from foam tank and injects it in desired
ratio into the water. The proportioner controls the quantity of foam solution to
inject.
 The common type of proportioner is of ejector type. The more the fire line
pressure, more foam it will inject. Ship staff are not supposed to touch the
proportioner.

When the foam solution reaches foam nozzle on deck, the air is injected into the
foam solution to create the fire fighting foam.

The foam so generated creates a layer over the fire and cuts the oxygen supply, the
process called smothering to extinguish the fire.

Maintenance required on fixed foam system

There are many components of the fixed foam system such as

 Foam line

 Foam monitor

 Foam isolation valves

 Fire pumps

 foam concentrate (foam solution)

 Foam pump

 Foam proportioner
Each one of these need to work as desired. We, the ship staff need to make sure
that each one of these are in perfect condition. The only way to ensure that is
by testing of all the elements of the foam system.

i) Testing of foam line, foam monitor and foam

isolation valves
If the foam line is leaking, or the foam monitors cannot be turn around to aim the
foam at the fire, we would not be able to use the foam system.

Every year the foam line need to be pressure tested at least to the maximum

working pressure. We must check the SMS manuals of the ship for any special
testing requirements from the company.

The testing procedure would be

 Close all the valves of the fire line and foam line

 Open the foam monitor on the forward most part of the ship

 Start the fire pump at maximum pressure

 Slowly close the foam-monitor that was kept open

 Check for any leakage

 Apart from checking the foam line leakage, we also need to check if any foam
monitor valve is leaking. For this we just need to check that no foam monitor is
leaking when the foam line is pressurised.

If we spot a leaking foam monitor, we must first check if the foam valve is tightly
shut. If it is still leaking, we should overhaul the foam valve.

Remember, foam system is a critical equipment. And if we plan to remove the

valve for overhaul, we must carry out risk assessment as for the period of the
overhaul, the foam system would not be available for use. The company may also
require the ship to take their approval before proceeding with this work.

We also need to test if the foam isolation valves are holding.

To test the foam isolation valves

 Keep the forward most foam monitor open

 Close the foam isolation valve one by one and check if the water from the
foam monitor stops completely.

ii) Foam pump
We test the foam pump during the fire drill involving fire on deck. The foam pump
is run on recirculation. We must make sure that the part of the foam line involved
during re-circulation is effectively drained and empty after testing.

iii) Fire pump

Fire pump is an important part of the foam system. It delivers the foam solution to
the foam monitors. While testing the fire pumps for foam system, we run the fire
pump at full pressure.
 We then open the two foam monitors and directs the jets overboard. The jets from
these two should be able to cross each other.

iv) Foam concentrate

The main element from which the foam is generated is Foam concentrate stored in
the foam tank. We have to check two things for foam concentrate

 Quantity of the foam concentrate

 Quality of the foam concentrate

For the vessels fitted with inert gas system, there need to sufficient foam
concentrate for running for 20 minutes at maximum flow rate.

For vessels not fitted with inert gas system, there should be sufficent quanitity of
foam concentrate for running for 30 minutes at maximum flow rate of the fire
system.

The required quantity is usually marked on the foam tank gauge. We must ensure
that this quantity is never below the mark.

With regard to quality of the foam, there is only one way we can know.
By analysis of a sample of the foam.
Sample analysis of foam concentrate
SOLAS requires the foam sample to be tested after 3 years from the date it was
placed onboard and there after every year.

Various tests are carried out on the foam sample to ensure that the foam is fit for
the purpose it is supposed to do. The tests include

Sedimentation Test: Sediments should be less than 0.25%

pH value test: The pH of the foam concentrate should not be less than 6 and not
more than 9.5 at 20 Deg C
Drainage time test
Chemical stability test for Alcohol resistant foam: 
The alcohol resistant foams are different from other type of foams. Water content
from normal foam will dissolve in the solvent and so these forms are not suitable
for solvents. Additives in the alcohol resistant foam form a membrane that
separates the solvent and foam which avoids the breaking up of the foam blanket.

Small fire test:

In 2009, IMO revised the foam testing requirements on discovering that for protein
based alcohol resistant Foam concentrate, even after all satisfactory test, with age it
may not extinguish the fire as desired.

Following this discovery, a test called “Small scale fire test” is required for protein
based foam concentrates.
In simple words this test is performed by actually extinguishing a sample of a
small fire with the foam being tested.
 The test is based upon testing or measuring of two parameters

 Extinction time
 Burn back time

Extinction time is the time taken for extinguishing the sample fire with the foam
being tested. The extinction time should not be more than 5 minutes
Burn back time is the time in which the fire reignites if a sample of fire is place in
the center of the foam.

Allowed Burn back time to cover 25% of the sample is 15 minutes.

v) Foam proportioner
Proportioner injects right quantity of the foam into the fire water to form foam
solution. If the the proportioner is not set correctly, it either will inject more foam
or less foam. In both cases, the system will be less effective.

If it injects more foam concentrate, the foam will not run for the time it is supposed
to run. If it injects less foam concentrate, the foam generated may not be effective
in extinguishing the fire.

SOLAS requires that foam proportioner must be tested by external agency once
every five years.

The test is carried out to confirm that the proportioners are able to inject the foam
concentrate in correct proportion.

The allowed variation from the designed value is +30% to -10%.

We should have the certificate for 5 yearly testing of Foam system on board.

Conclusion
Foam system is one of the main fire fighting system on board specially for deck
fire on tankers.
It is important that the foam system is kept in a state of readiness at all times. For
doing so, we must know how we are supposed to maintain these equipment and
what tests we must perform.

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About Capt Rajeev Jassal

Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 19 years mainly on crude oil,
product and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics
degree from London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively
measuring Safety culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he
believes is the most important element for safer shipping.

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4 Comments

Anurag 
Jan 17, 2017
What is frequency of testing for alcohol resistant foam sample??I guess
its annual compared to other protein foam??Also the AFFF used in
portable extinguisher need to be tested at interval of 3 yeras??
Reply

Vetrivel Sundar 
Feb 27, 2017
Sir, Myself Vetrivel E/O sailing in AET. Thank you so much for your
valuable information in simple words. For the first time feels confident
about Foam fire fighting system... Thank u once again sir..
Reply

CHETAN MALHOTRA 
Jun 29, 2017
DEAR CAPT RAJEEV, i am appearing for my phase 1 exams and your
explanation is very handy . thanks alot. keep doing the good work .
appreciate, if you could send me the links of your posts and also if u post
something new to my email.
Reply

Mohammad Asir 
Aug 9, 2017
Thank you very much for your kindness to share your professional
knowledge on the topics that you are discussing. I 've read some of your
blogs, I find it very useful. May God bless you!
Reply

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