Viking Fluorine free foam sprinkler systems

Due to environmental concerns and regulatory changes our industry is reducing the use of PFAS based foam concentrates such as AFFF in fixed fire protection systems. One of the reasons relates to its ability to biodegrade and its persistence in the environment. Fluorine free foams offer a more environmentally responsible alternative.

This change is proving challenging from a fire performance perspective. Users, AHJ’s and designers should be aware of the need to use products tested for their intended purpose. One such application is foam-sprinkler systems.

Fluorine free foam sprinkler system applications

Sprinkler applications are especially challenging for any foam due to the very low operating pressure and expansion. Applying foam through a sprinkler head is a very forceful application method and requires foam that can handle direct application and partial submersion into the fuel without losing its fire performance and burn-back resistance.

Foams that shall be regarded as suitable for sprinkler applications shall also be able to withstand a limited time of water deluge directly onto the foam blanket without losing its burn-back properties.

The European foam concentrate standard for use in low expansion applications is EN1568 Part 3 & Part 4. This standard does not take into account the real life discharge devices used in fixed systems. Experience tells us that foams, working with different discharge devices at different discharge parameters will give differing results. This was also confirmed in recent testing conducted by the NFPA Research Foundation (Evaluation of the fire protection effectiveness of fluorine free firefighting foams).

Independent third party approvals bodies such as FM and UL have robust test standards (FM5130 and UL162) that test a specific foam with specific discharge devices in a manufacturer-defined range of operation. This means that a system designer or AHJ has a clear guide on what has been proven to work in the real world.

Viking is pleased to introduce the first FM Approved fluorine free fixed foam system for Hydrocarbon and Polar Solvent applications. This system approval is initially focused at non-aspirated sprinkler discharge devices for use in closed or open head installations such as warehouses, chemical manufacturing areas, loading racks or aircraft hangars for example.

Fomtec Fluorine free

Fluorine free foams, often referred to as SFFF (Synthetic Fluorine Free Foam),  foams are predominantly synthetic-based foams based on surfactant blends and in many cases the use of polysaccharides. Fomtec offers a large range of both synthetic-based and protein-based fluorine free foam concentrates.

Minimax for special risks

Dur­ing a fire, foam ex­tin­guish­ing sys­tems dis­trib­ute large-scale foam blankets via foam mon­it­ors, sprink­lers or nozzles. The foam is ap­plied to the burn­ing ma­ter­ial, ex­tin­guishes the fire and serves as a de­terrent against re­igni­tion. Foam ex­tin­guish­ing sys­tems are suit­able for pro­tect­ing high-risk areas, e.g. due to flam­mable li­quids or plastics. The ad­justable low to ex­tremely high foam­ing op­tion of­fers an op­timum ex­tin­guish­ing ef­fect for every type of risk.

Flex­ible com­pon­ents for our foam ex­tin­guish­ing sys­tems

With a ver­sat­ile foam­ing agent range, Minimax of­fers safe and flex­ible ap­plic­a­tion. Per­fectly aligned com­pon­ents are sup­plied in line with the in­di­vidual needs of cli­ents and ac­cord­ing to re­spect­ive fire pro­tec­tion re­quire­ments.

  • Foam sprink­lers and nozzles: Minimax spe­cial­ises in stain­less steel nozzles for low ex­pan­sion foam ex­tin­guish­ing sys­tems. As an ex­clus­ive man­u­fac­turer, Minimax sup­plies sprink­lers for the pro­duc­tion of low ex­pan­sion foam. Sprink­lers are gen­er­ally used in stor­age areas. Nozzles are best suited for the pro­tec­tion of filling sta­tions and filling tank vehicles or for pro­tect­ing ob­jects, as with hy­draulic units or as in­door pro­tec­tion in drum stores.
  • Foam maker/foam cham­ber/foam pourer: These three co­ordin­ated com­pon­ents com­prise the spe­cially de­signed “Tank­Foam RTK” kit for pro­tect­ing flam­mable li­quids in fixed roof tanks. It is used to gen­er­ate low ex­pan­sion foam, for which all com­mon foam­ing agent con­cen­trates can be used
  • Foam mon­itor: The foam mon­itor is for ex­ternal use, to fight fires from a safe dis­tance and to pre­vent­at­ively cool ob­jects at risk of catch­ing fire. De­pend­ing on the ver­sion the mon­itor can be aligned with the tar­get manu­ally, elec­tric­ally or hy­draul­ic­ally by re­mote con­trol.
  • High ex­pan­sion foam gen­er­ator: Gen­er­at­ors pro­duce high ex­pan­sion foam, which is used to pro­tect stor­age areas. Foam floods the en­tire room and de­prives the fire of oxy­gen by dis­pla­cing air some­what like a car­bon di­ox­ide ex­tin­guish­ing sys­tems.
  • Dir­ectAlarm foam: These com­pon­ents make alarm test­ing easy. Weekly tests are car­ried out with water from the pump dis­trib­utor be­fore the pro­por­tioner. A foam/water mix does not have to be dis­charged and dis­posed of.
  • Foam­ing agent con­cen­trate: The foam­ing agent range in­cludes a large num­ber of pro­tein and syn­thetic foam­ing agents. Foam­ing agents are avail­able for all solid, li­quid and al­co­hol/ solvent fires.


Our trained designers are ready to work with you to determine the best possible fixed foam system including foam concentrate, foam storage tanks, foam proportioning device and foam discharge device.