Most anti freeze additives on the market appear to contain ethylene glycol which (when I last looked) is certainly combustible. Whether it is flammable depends on how you define 'flammable'. It has a fairly high flashpoint > 110ºC so is not 'easy' to ignite with a match or a spark but it certainly burns well.
As a matter of info there are problems with definitions in common use. Eg 'combustible' is defined in the UK as all materials which are not non-combustible according to BS 476 Part 1 - not very helpful. Flammable and inflammable used to be used interchangeably but some time in the 60's the UK dropped 'inflammable' for flammable, Flammable liquids can be defined as any liquid with a flashpoint below 60ºC while a combustible liquid is any liquid with a flashpoint above 60ºC Hope that helps ! Stewart On 21 Apr 2009, at 11:44, Todd Williams wrote: > There have been some rumors floating around about antifreeze > solutions and I would like to know what is fact and what is fantasy. > NFPA 13 (2007) references "The potential effectiveness of antifreeze > and water mixtures controlling a fire has come into question.....". I > have on FM Global rep (whose middle initials are BS) tell me that > antifreeze solutions are flammable (not combustible, but flammable). > What is the real poop? I am getting several calls from people wanting > to convert wet systems to either dry or antifreeze in vacant > spaces/buildings so they don't have to heat them. > > Todd G. Williams, PE > Fire Protection Design/Consulting > Stonington, Connecticut > www.fpdc.com > 860.535.2080 > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum > For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > > To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] > (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
