Cleaning rust in a fire fighting system

Company: Kosmas Thomoglou AG, dyeing and textile industry

Description of the problem and its negative consequences

This is a typical case, where the client didn't know the problem from the beginning, or he knows the problem, but there is no reasonable solution for the problem. The firefighting system covers the whole production area. In the system stays all the time water under pressure, that in the case of fire there is immediately enough water to fight the fire. During services where some valves were opened, it could be seen that there was certain corrosion in the pipes. This leads to the risc, that in the case of fire, the solved rust will clog the spray nozzles of the system and not enough water can flow.

Our solution

One 3" Merus^® ring was installed. At the feeding pipe of the firefigthing system, before the regular valve and the pumps. Target of the trail was to remove the existing corrosion and prevent the system from further corrosion, by flushing out the rust.

Direct after the installation a sample was taken at a shut off valve as far as possible away from the inlet. This was done with slow velocity, so the water was mainly clear. Some days later a second sample was taken at the same place and under the same condition. This time the water was dark brown. In the sampling bucket, there was after a short time a thin layer of rusty particles to be seen. The client wouldn't believe, how much rust was in the system and how a aluminium ring several dozen meters away could solve all the rust in this short time. The system was cleaned by flushing water on several points in the system, until it gets clean. This was done four times, until no more brown water was coming.

Nowadays this is a very common application which we have done a lot of times. It has shown that this test is one of the most astonishing and fastest ways to show the client how efficient the Merus® technology is working.