Bakery Technical Briefs
NFPA-86
NFPA 86 and TIA Update
As covered in previous newsletters, when the NFPA released the latest edition of Standard 86 (Standard for Ovens and Furnaces, 2019 edition), there was a significant change that affected the use and operation of burners in the baking industry. The NFPA 86 Standard governs the design and installation of the vast majority of the ovens used in United States bakeries. It’sworth noting that this requirement is the standard in bakeries located in many other parts of the world. This change requires that any burner with a flame space exceeding 3' (1m) be equipped with the flame sensing element on each burner be located at the opposite end of the burner from the point of ignition.
Opposite Side Flame Sensing The Latest NFPA 86 Safety Requirements for High Capacity Ovens
As an ASB member, ASB ANSI Z50 Safety & Sanitation Committee Member and NFPA 86 Technical Committee Member Ed was well qualified to speak on the pending changes to NFPA 86. His presentation shared important information on the changes and potential impact of the changes.
NFPA 86-2019 8.10.6 as currently written may have an adverse impact on many bakery organization’s effort to improve the safety of their existing ovens. Some the systems do not have any flame monitoring/supervision/safeguards today. Bakers are in turn working to engineer and fund upgrades to these ovens. The far side sensing requirement reduces the business case for such safety upgrades and increases the likelihood of the “status quo” being maintained.
Far Side Sensing and NFPA 86
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) maintains and updates a number of safety codes and standards, including code 86 (NFPA 86: Standard for Ovens and Furnaces). The most recent edition is 2015 and covers ovens and furnaces used for commercial and industrial processing of materials. For our purposes, this includes large commercial bakery ovens that we are so familiar with.
Far Side Sensing® and NFPA 86 - Update
In February, 2017, we published a newsletter detailing a change to the NFPA 86 code that covers fuel delivery systems on bakery ovens, as well as other types of furnaces and ovens. The specific target of the article was the change in requirement for sensing a burner’s flame on the end of the burner furthest from the ignition source. This would bring the NFPA 86 code, and therefore the United States, more in line with a number of other international standards, including those in Canada.