The Solberg Company, the world’s foremost innovator of firefighting foam concentrates and systems hardware, announced today the company has achieved expanded Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) certification Listings on the company’s RE-HEALING™ foam concentrate.
RE-HEALING RF3, 3% foam concentrate is a high performance fluorine-free foam concentrate for use on Class B hydrocarbon fuel fires. RF3 is also used to prevent re-ignition of exposed fuels and provides vapour suppression. The expanded UL Listing for RE-HEALING RF3 now includes bladder tanks, proportioners, foam chambers, foam makers and fire sprinklers.
The UL Listing with multiple standard automatic sprinklers includes RELIABLE F-1 upright and pendent style (5.6 and 8.0 K-Factors), RELIABLE Model G upright and pendent style (5.6 and 8.0 K-Factors), and the RELIABLE upright G XLO (11.2 K-Factor).
Noteworthy of the expanded product certification for RE-HEALING RF3 foam concentrate with these fire sprinklers is the minimum UL Listed sprinkler pressure of 7.0 psi (0.5 bar). The same minimum pressure used for Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) concentrates.
Skeptics in the foam industry have stated that fluorine-free foams would not be capable of achieving a UL Listing with standard sprinklers at equal system pressures to AFFF. While this may be true of other marginal fluorine-free foams, or those which contain fluoropolymer and are not fluorine-free, this is not the case with SOLBERG RE-HEALING foam. Equal system performance has been achieved with a completely fluorine-free concentrate that also happens to be a high performance firefighting foam.
“AFFF was introduced in the early 1960’s, at a time when vacuum tubes, and black-and-white television was considered advanced technology and John F. Kennedy was President. This time period is considered the last innovation in firefighting foam. Through the hard work and dedication of our employees around the world, Solberg has redefined the firefighting foam industry. No longer will customers have to settle for old technology, selecting between firefighting performance or environmental responsibility. Only Solberg offers both features to the customer.” stated Dennis Kennedy, Executive Vice President of Amerex Corporation, the parent Company of Solberg.
RE-HEALING RF3 foam concentrate is also UL Listed with the TYCO B-1 and STAR B-1 sprinkler in both upright and pendent styles, at the minimum sprinkler pressure of 30 psi (2.0 bar), the same system pressure as used with AFFF foam concentrates.
In addition to the product certifications issued for RF3, Solberg also expanded UL Listings for fire sprinklers with ARCTIC™ 3% AFFF and ARCTIC 3×3 ATC™ (hydrocarbon and polar solvent fuels). ARCTIC foam concentrates are 2015 compliant to the U.S. EPA Stewardship Program on C6 fluorine chemistry.
With obtaining UL Listings for RE-HEALING RF3, 3% foam concentrate, customers can now use the world’s finest firefighting foam, with a complete range of hardware Listings, backed up by the strength
and confidence of the previously announced RE-HEALING Foam Environmental Warranty.
“Solberg has achieved a true milestone in the History of the firefighting foam industry. Innovation in the foam industry is not replacing one set of long chain fluorinated surfactants with another fluorosurfactant.
True innovation is taking off your blinders, not seeing the problem exactly the same as everyone else, and solving the problem from a completely different direction. Only Solberg saw the real issues regarding existing foam chemistry and decided to take this industry in a completely different direction.” said Steve Hansen, General Manager of Solberg.
Based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with operations in Bergen, Norway and Sydney, Australia, Solberg (an Amerex Corporation company) has been involved with the manufacture of firefighting foams since the mid-1970s. Solberg’s unique technology and foam systems hardware is preferred by customers in the aerospace, aviation, chemical, defense, energy, fire services, marine, mining, oil and gas, petrochemical,
pharmaceutical, pipeline, solvent & coatings and utilities industries.
