Nitrogen Generators And Nitrogen Gas On-site

The use of nitrogen gas has become the standard method of preventing corrosion in dry pipe and preaction fire sprinkler systems.

By eliminating the presence of oxygen within the system piping, corrosion and deposit formation are minimized. This helps mitigate the risk of leaks and prevents the formation of obstructive material, thereby ensuring the system will operate as designed in the event of a fire.

While nitrogen cylinders have been used as the source of nitrogen on some small systems, the need to frequently replace cylinders and the risk of false trips due to loss of pressure maintenance gas limits the effectiveness of this approach. Rather, the installation of nitrogen generators as a permanent nitrogen source has become the preferred method, both for new and existing installations.

When it comes to nitrogen generation technology, there are two primary methods of producing nitrogen gas onsite: Nitrogen Separation Membranes and Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA).

While each approach has its pros and cons, several key benefits make ECS’s membrane-based generators the ideal choice for the fire sprinkler industry:

- Do not need air dryers on special inlet feed air filtration
- Lower weight, smaller installed footprint
- Simple Maintenance/Repair
- Provide industry standard 98% nitrogen

To better understand the key differences between the two types of generators, you must first understand how they produce nitrogen. While both types of generators produce high purity nitrogen gas from compressed air, they do so in two distinctly different ways, which has a big effect on how they are designed and maintained.

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