Is There a Danger With Water Spray Inside Heat Exchangers?
Q: We have flue gas heat exchangers for thermal oil, which has around a 400 degree Fahrenheit flash point and a chamber temperature around 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Standard insurance recommendations and NFPA (6-64) call for automatic water spray fire protection inside the heat exchanger. The theory is that the water spray, when discharged, will contact refractory, flashing to steam — aiding the fire control for fires resulting from leaking/damaged HTF piping. However, we have management team members that are so worried about false trip and cold thermal stress to the refractory that systems are kept manual — and may never be actuated, even in a fire situation. Do you know of loss experience data concerning water spray inside heat exchangers that can support use of water spray (or not). We manufacture OSB (oriented strand board) and factories do not have steady supply of steam for fire protection in HEs and HEs are so large that CO2 system costs are prohibitive. A: I am not aware of any
