Heinz and Phileas Fogg Protected by Hydramist

Hydramist High Pressure Watermist fire protection systems were chosen by Heinz and Phileas Fogg to protect their deep fat fryers from the risk of fire at their factories in Norfolk and County Durham. Heinz process roast potatoes under the Aunt Bessey brand and Phileas Fogg is a brand of potato crisps.

Within both factories there are several large industrial deep fat fryers which both companies chose to upgrade with Hydramist High Pressure watermist fire protection systems following a number of fires which had not been sucessfully extinguished with CO₂ systems. The Hydramist system has undergone extensive fire testing and research which proved that Hydramist is far more effective in preventing re-ignition of industrial deep fat fryer fires than the CO₂ systems which were prevously installed.

Description of Risk: Hydramist has been tested for large industrial fryers to the satisfaction of Insurers and fire suppression equipment specifiers alike and was the obvious choice for Heinz and Phileas Fogg as they looked for an effective and efficient form of fire suppression to protect their risk. Hydramist systems use only small amounts of water at high pressure to quickly extinguish the fire and prevent re-ignition of the fuel.

Working closely with the teams at Heinz and Phileas Fogg Hydramist were able to design a system to protect the fryers that meets with the approval of both the companies and their insurers.

Description of Solution

The deep fat fryers are contained in the centre of the factory and adjacent to other process machines. Each fryer measured around 8 metres in length and contained nearly 2 tonnes of oil. The Hydramist system had been designed to protect under each fryer canopy, within each exhaust duct, around the in and out feed areas and over each fines box area all connected to a common Hydramist pump unit located in the plant room.

Each fryer had its own dedicated fire detection system controlling the pump unit and a zone valve to direct the water mist to the affected fryer.