Foam-water systems shall be of which types?

• A. Wet Pipe, Dry Pipe, Deluge, or Preaction Type
• B. Only Wet Pipe Systems
• C. Only Dry Pipe Systems
• D. Only Deluge Systems

Answer: (A)

Foam-water systems are designed to deliver a foam solution and can be implemented in any of the common sprinkler piping configurations. The four types—wet-pipe, dry-pipe, deluge, and preaction—are all compatible with foam-proportioning equipment, so a foam-water system can be installed in any of these configurations. Foam concentrate is stored separately and mixed with water by a foam-maker device, so when a sprinkler is activated, the combined foam-water reaches the heads. This flexibility is why the statement listing all four types is correct. Restricting foam-water systems to a single type isn’t aligned with how NFPA 16 envisions their installation.