H 26
CAP. 281] Merchant Shipping (Fire Appliances)
Regulations.
[1969 Ed.
[Subsidiary]
vided with control valves or cocks which shall be so placed that they will be easily accessible and not readily cut off from use by an outbreak of fire.
(3) Such control valves or cocks shall be permanently marked to indicate clearly the compartments to which the pipes are led.
(4) Suitable provision shall be made to prevent inadvertent admission of the gas or steam to any compartment.
(5) Where cargo spaces fitted with a gas or steam smothering system for fire protection are used as passenger spaces, the smothering gas or steam pipe connexion shall be blanked during service as a passenger space.
(6) The piping referred to in paragraph (2) shall be so arranged as to provide effective distribution of fire smothering gas or steam.
(7) Where steam is used in any hold exceeding 60 feet in length, there shall be at least two pipes, one of which shall be fitted in the forward part and one in the after part of the hold.
(8) Except in tankers and ships used for the conveyance of coal, pipes for conveying steam shall be fitted with outlets as low as practicable in the space which they serve and as nearly as possible to the centre line of the space.
(9) In tankers, the piping shall be so arranged that the steam or fire smothering gas will be distributed over the surface of the cargo.
(10) When carbon dioxide is used as the extinguishing medium in cargo spaces, the quantity of gas available shall be sufficient to give a minimum volume of free gas equal to 30 per centum of the gross volume of the largest cargo compartment in the ship which is capable of being sealed.
(11) When carbon dioxide is used as an extinguishing medium for spaces containing boilers or machinery, the quantity of gas carried shall be sufficient to give a minimum quantity of free gas equal to the larger of the following quantities, either-
(a) 40 per centum of the gross volume of the largest space containing boilers or machinery, such volume being measured up to the level at which the horizontal area of the casing is 40 per centum or less of the gross area of such space; or
(b) 35 per centum of the gross volume of the largest space containing boilers or machinery, including the casing:
Provided that the aforesaid percentages may be reduced to 35 per centum and 30 per centum respectively for ships of under