High expansion foam devices; minimum capacity.

(a) On unattended underground equipment the amount of water delivered as high expansion foam for a period of approximately 20 minutes shall be not less than 0.06 gallon per minute per square foot of surface area of the equipment protected; however, the minimum total rate for any system shall be not less than 3 gallons per minute.

(b) On attended underground equipment, foam may be delivered by internal injection, inundation, or combination-type systems. Each system shall deliver water as foam for a minimum of 10 minutes. For internal injection, the rate of water application as high expansion foam shall be not less than 0.5 gallon per minute per hazardous location; however, the minimum total rate shall be not less than 2 gallons per minute. For inundation, the rate of water application as high expansion foam shall be not less than 0.05 gallon per minute per square foot of top surface area of the equipment protected; however, the minimum total rate shall be not less than 5 gallons of water per minute.

(c) In combined internal injection and inundation systems the rate of water applied as foam shall not be less than 0.035 gallon per minute per square foot of top surface area of the equipment protected; however, the minimum total rate shall not be less than 3.5 gallons of water per minute.

(d) Where internal injection is employed, the amount of water discharged as high expansion foam into the cable reel compartments of underground equipment regularly operated by a miner shall be approximately 25 percent of the total amount required to be discharged by the system; however, the quantity of water discharged as foam into the cable reel compartment need not exceed 1.5 gallons.

[37 FR 15303, July 29, 1972]