Gaseous Fire Suppression - Application

Application

Broadly speaking, there are two methods for applying an extinguishing agent: total flooding and local application.

Systems working on a total flooding principle apply an extinguishing agent to a three dimensional enclosed space in order to achieve a concentration of the agent (volume percent of the agent in air) adequate to extinguish the fire. These types of systems may be operated automatically by detection and related controls or manually by the operation of a system actuator.

Systems working on a local application principle apply an extinguishing agent directly onto a fire (usually a two dimensional area), or into the three dimensional region immediately surrounding the substance or object on fire. The main difference in local application from total flooding design is the absence of physical barriers enclosing the fire space.

In the context of automatic extinguishing systems, local application normally does not refer to the use of manually operated wheeled or portable fire extinguishers, although the nature of the agent delivery is similar.