Kidde Fire Protection has issued a Product Management Bulletin 171b in which it is recalling the hardware replacement of cylinders used in its HFC227 and NOVEC 1230 fire extinguishing systems. All ECS 2-inch Cylinder-Valve assemblies complete with Clean Agent that were shipped for marine applications during the period 16 January 2015 until 31 December 2016 are to be replaced.
The 2-inch valve used on the Kidde Chemical Agent Cylinder-Valve assemblies has four retainer screws in its piston design. Kidde Fire Protection realized that some valves, with one or more of these retainer screws not tightened to the required torque specification, may have escaped the production and inspection process into shipping.
The 2-inch valve operates on a differential pressure design and the loss of any of the screws from its set position could result in equalizing of pressure between the cylinder and the top chamber of the valve. Such pressure equilibrium could prevent the valve from fully opening and the suppression agent from being discharged into the affected space if activated in response to a fire event.
In order to completely eliminate the possibility of non-operation of any installed system, Kidde decided to replace all ECS 2-inch Cylinder-Valve assemblies complete with Clean Agent that were shipped for marine applications during the period Jan 16, 2015 until December 31, 2016.
Currently, replacement is restricted to marine applications since the vibrating environment on a marine vessel could cause the loss of any improperly tightened screw from its set position.
Cylinders sold to marine applications with 2” (50mm) valves fall under the scope of this bulletin, as well.
Read the product recall pdf in full: Kidde-Fire-Protection-Safety-Bulletin