Interstate Fire & Safety

-The UL-300 Standard & Wet Chemical Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems - UL-300 Informational Video - The NFPA 96 Standard for Steam Cleaning Frequencies

Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has adopted a new fire-testing standard (UL 300) to improve fire protection in restaurant cooking areas. Certain fire suppression systems currently installed in restaurant cooking areas may not provide adequate fire protection due to changes in commercial cooking methods. The two changes in commercial food preparation techniques that have had the most impact on fire protection in recent years are the use of vegetable cooking oils for frying and the use of energy-efficient appliances. The standard type of oil used to fry foods is now vegetable oil, which burns at a higher temperature than animal fats and creates fires that are more difficult to extinguish. Energy-efficient cooking appliances such as highly insulated fryers help reduce fuel consumption and improve cooking times by maintaining a more consistent temperature. They also help keep cooking oils and metal appliances hotter longer and make fire extinguishment more difficult. The new UL 300 standard now considers cooking appliance design, cooking agent ignition characteristics, and worst-case fire suppression scenarios. Appliances affected by the UL 300 test protocol changes include fryers, griddles, ranges, char broilers (gas radiant, electric, lava rock), and woks. The UL 300 standard did not change plenum, hood, and duct test protocols and did not affect chain broilers, upright broilers, and charcoal or mesquite cooking methods. Only wet chemical fire suppression systems, with their increased supply of extinguishing agent, were effective in extinguishing UL 300 test fires. Dry chemical suppression systems and water spray devices were not effective. Testing by fire equipment manufacturers showed that while dry chemical systems could knock down the UL 300 test fires, the fires would re-flash and continue to burn due to a lack of cooling. No listings, to date, have been obtained for dry chemical systems tested to the UL 300 standard. Some manufacturers have even established dates when repair parts will no longer be available for their older dry chemical systems. Also, testing by the Fire Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) showed that water spray devices took a little over six minutes to extinguish a test fire, versus three seconds for wet chemical fire suppression systems.