Global are one of Europe's largest and most experienced Kitchen fire suppression installers and have twice won the prestigious
Ansul "Distributor of the Year" award.
What are fire suppression systems?
Commercial kitchen fires are highly destructive. The potential loss to both property and life can be disastrous.
Conventional means of tackling kitchen fires include portable extinguishers and fire blankets.
Both these methods require:
- Operatives to be present – Someone has to physically be in the kitchen to apply the fire blanket or discharge the fire extinguisher. If the fire breaks out in a period of down time or when the kitchen is closed, fire can rapidly take hold if not tackled.
- Operatives to be trained – To avoid injury and to attempt to extinguish the fire, operatives need to be trained on the correct selection and correct use of various types of portable fire extinguishers.
- Operatives to put themselves at risk – Operatives will physically need to approach fires to tackle them. In the case of the fire blanket, the operative will need to be directly above cooking appliances that are in flame. Without the correct protective clothing this is highly dangerous.
Crucially, portable fire extinguishers and fire blankets cannot takle flames that may have spread into kitchen canopies extract duct work. Once fire spreads into extract systems a surface coating of grease can quickly spread fire throughout a building and potentially through sleeping accommodation.
Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems (
Ansul Systems) offer a robust solution to this problem.
Ansul Fire Suppression systems consist of a liquid wet chemical agent stored in stainless steel tanks and enclosures mounted adjacent to the kitchen extract canopy.
Fixed pipe work extends from the tanks into the extraction plenum areas and above the risk cooking appliances. Specific discharge nozzles are installed above each hazard appliance, behind the grease filters and up into the extract ductwork.
In the event of fire, the wet chemical agent is automatically discharged from all nozzles. The system can also be manually activated. The wet chemical agent attacks the fire by rapidly knocking down the flame and reacting with the heat and cooking grease to produce a soap like foam layer starving the fire of oxygen and preventing a fire re-flash.
The low pH agent remains liquid where it comes into contact with appliances that are not on fire. The wet chemical agent is confined to the kitchen canopy and the appliances beneath it and can be easily and safely removed following activation.
Following a fire, kitchens can be cleaned, the
Ansul system can be recharged and trade can continue. Global’s national service team have a proven response time of 4 hours from call out.