Fire Protection Research Foundation report: "Oven, Furnace and Dryer Explosion Incidents" (PDF, 1 MB)
Author: Sreenivasan Ranganathan & Sean Gillis, Fire Protection Research Foundation
Date of issue: April 2016
Introduction
NFPA 86, Standard for Ovens and Furnaces, provides standardized methods to minimize fire and explosion hazards of ovens and furnaces used for commercial and industrial processing of materials. Within NFPA 86 are requirements for proper explosion ventilation methods that should be applied to new ovens and furnaces. In order to thoroughly review the NFPA 86 explosion ventilation requirements for the next revision cycle, the Technical Committee on Ovens and Furnaces sought information on real world incidents where NFPA 86 ventilation requirements would be involved.
The purpose of this project, which is documented in this report, was to gather information regarding explosion incidents in which an oven, furnace, or dryer was involved. This information was then sorted and a basic analysis was conducted in order to provide useful information to the Technical Committee on Ovens and Furnaces.