So we’re building out a facility in Long Beach, Ca. All of our plans got stamped and we started construction not long ago, with a start date of around November.
Now my partners went with Flexmod before I joined the team and we’re getting to some hiccups because the Fire Chief wants us to upgrade our fire suppression system that Flexmod sold to us. It’s difficult since they essentially sell these units as a plug and play ready modular lab, that not being the case I’m curious to see if anyone has gone through a similar situation and what upgrades were made to fix the problem.
The suppression system that came with my Flexmod failed in transit. Flexmod send a replacement system, but I could not find anyone qualified to install it.
I’ve moved on, but hear the lab is close to city sign off at the three year mark. I don’t actually know if they got the fire marshal’s blessing on the box yet.
I would be interested to know which hoops they’re making you jump through. So I can help the guys across town…
Which company did you end up with to install the fire suppression system for your FlexMod?
Our fire chief was saying that the current dry chemical system isn’t enough, he wanted us to instal sprinklers and hard lined water supply at first. But he was also okay with us installing a manual and automated fire suppression system, currently we may go with Hedrick for instal here.
I run a processing facility in Indiana and we bought our C1D1 rooms from CBD Modular. They can build any extraction room or cleanroom any shape or size. They have been awesome to work with and have been building cleanrooms for a really long time. The fire suppression system they used for our extraction room was a Kidde Fire System. It is a dry fire suppression system and it is completely stand alone (no need to hook up any water or electric). Saved me a ton of money compared to if I would have had to hook into the existing building fire suppression system. I have plenty of pictures of the system if you’re interested. Installation is pretty straightforward and easy.
I will look up Kidde Fire System, as the quote we got from Hedrick was $15,500 to install. The FlexMod fire suppression system was about $7,000 and we can’t use it. Hopefully we can get a refund for that and have the system that will work with our fire chief.
Did the FM say why it wasnt good enough? Point to a specific section of code? A lot of these FM have ‘preferences’ that aren’t code mandated. That being said, a happy fire marshal can be your best friend, so tread lightly. Understand what their concerns are, understand what the code mandates, understand what is good practice, and make a decision.
1: It doesn’t have a pull system that can be engaged manually in the event of an emergency.
2. There is no way to tell if your tanks are spend after use.
3. The tanks do not connect in line and cannot connect to the duct suppression system as required by the CFC.
And we are definitely treading lightly, our FM definitely eased down a bit with us about certain things that were completely over the top.
We’ve been in contact with Echo and Hendrick Fire Suppression and the cheapest quote we’ve gotten so far is $15,500; the duct system and nozzles alone are $13,000.
Here is the system we have. It can automatically turn on via a fusible link that will break when a certain temperature is hit. Also there is a manual pull in the control room that the technician can pull if he sees a problem. More than happy to send more pics etc. Can also put you in direct contact with the owner of CBD Modular.
I will look up the price I paid and get back to you. Yes it is UL listed. Zoom in on picture of the red tank, it has the UL certification. It worked out great for me in Indiana.
Fire Marshall honestly told me it was overkill since the container (entire extraction/control room is in 40’ shipping container)is placed inside of a building with an automatic fire suppression system. I just wanted to make sure I was keeping all my guys as safe as possible.
True we paid today for the system from Hendrick and are moving forward with that, I was just curious if anybody else also had a similar problem with their FlexMod fire suppression system.
I work for HAL Extraction in Colorado. We can provide you with a UL certified booth that will meet all codes and standards. We can handle fire suppression in each unique situation. Thank You.
