12 Reasons Why 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid Has No Equivalent

When you specify 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid, you can be assured that the agent will provide the reliability, quality, performance and safety that you have come to expect from 3M. Here’s why Novec 1230 fluid is unique among clean agents:

1. No other known manufacturer of any clean agent compares with 3M’s available resources, brand promise and commitment to support our OEMs and customers with our global technical, sales and marketing professionals. In addition, our industry leading educational webinars, lunch and learn programs, and 3M Fire Academy are a valuable resource for end users, specifiers, and architects around the world.

2. 3M offers the first-of-its-kind 20-year 3M™ Blue Sky℠ Warranty as part of the 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid brand. The Warranty protects owners of fire suppression systems containing 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid from certain regulatory actions related to its Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) or Global Warming Potential (GWP). No other known fire suppression agent manufacturer offers a similar warranty backed by a recognized and trusted brand and a company with a 119-year history.

3. The quality and reliability of the OEM system is an important consideration when specifying a clean agent fire suppression system. When purchasing a fire suppression system using 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid and manufactured by a 3M authorized OEM, end users and facility managers gain the confidence that comes from 3M’s 20 years of experience in providing a safe, reliable and high-quality clean agent, combined with a fire suppression system from a 3M authorized and approved OEM.

4. Novec 1230 fluid is manufactured at an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 registered facility. ISO 9001 and 14001 are marks of high quality and consistency in the manufacturing industry.

5. The new 2022 edition of the NFPA 2001 standard, published in October 2021, includes an update on impurity thresholds that must be met for all clean agents. 3M originally established our own internal manufacturing standards 20 years ago, some even more stringent than currently required by the revised NFPA 2001 version. Each shipment of 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid includes a Certificate of Analysis showing our quality assurance test results, validating that every order shipped meets the updated NFPA 2001 standard as well as the high standards to which we have held ourselves for over 20 years.

In addition, the ISO 14520 standards committee is in the process of reviewing its standard to consider including impurity thresholds similar to those covered in the latest NFPA 2001 standard.

6. Underwriters Laboratory (UL) does not publish design concentrations in its published listings. When comparing clean agent performance, it should not be assumed that 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid and alternatively manufactured FK-5-1-12 agents with UL approval have identical extinguishing performance across all classes of fires. Please review published design concentration data to directly compare the clean agents.

7. 3M has a longstanding UL component recognition for 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid, including UL verified Class A and B extinguishing concentrations published by UL. Not all clean agent manufacturers have invested in the UL verification of their agent’s fire performance as part of their UL component recognition. This feature of the 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid UL approval is clearly indicated on the UL accreditations that are publicly available on the UL website. 3M’s UL component recognition for 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is an advantage for OEMs and the industry because 3M has already completed the Class A and Class B minimum extinguishing concentration testing as described in UL 2166. This is another example of 3M’s leadership in the clean agent industry.

8. UL does not recognize recovered 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid or alternatively sourced FK-5-1-12 as identical to new 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid under the 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid branded component recognition. Therefore, the only way to source UL recognized 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is from 3M or one of our 3M Authorized OEMs.

9. FM Approvals takes a different viewpoint, recognizing recovered 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid as FM Approved but only after the 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is re-certified by 3M to meet the same purity and quality standards as new manufactured product. When purchasing recovered FK-5-1-12, consider the approvals and quality standards that it does or does not meet.

10. Fire extinguishing performance varies in published FM Approvals when comparing different FK-5-1-12 brands. Specifying 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid by brand is the only way to ensure your system will be supplied with 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid, a sustainable clean agent with a proven track record of performance, quality and safety with over 50,000 installations installed in over 90 countries in the past 20 years.

11. Minimum extinguishing concentrations documented by FM Approvals are limited to Class A and Class B values only. The predominant use of halocarbon clean agents is to protect high value electronics, mission critical facilities and data centers – categorized as Class C fires. It’s important to understand the difference between clean agents and fire suppression systems for Class C performance and how the extinguishing concentration is calculated. Specify 3M™ Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid to ensure you are specifying a fire suppression system optimized to protect your most critical assets.

12. Whether FM approved or OEM equipment specified, typical 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid minimum extinguishing concentrations are often less than the alternative FK-5-1-12 agent extinguishing concentrations. Less clean agent required may lead to a cost savings as well as a higher margin of safety – both very important considerations when specifying a clean agent fire suppression system.

Revised February 2022