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Reading a Fire Protection Fluid COA? Don’t Look at Purity Alone

Workers in high-visibility vests and hard hats walk through an industrial workshop, examining a large machine with warning labels while one holds a tablet; an orange coiled cable hangs from the equipment.

A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is the document a supplier issues to show that a specific batch of fire protection fluid meets the quality standards of NFPA 2001: Standard on Clean Agent Fire Extinguishing Systems. The standard requires purity, acidity, water content, and non-volatile residue for all halogenated agents, as well as any impurities that could affect acute toxicity at concentrations below the agent’s NOAEL.

Of the four, purity gets the most attention. It’s a single number, which makes it the easiest figure to compare across suppliers. It also works as a catch-all, since a high figure looks like proof the whole batch is clean. But purity only says how much of the batch is the agent. It says nothing about what the rest contains: acidic impurities, water, and material that stays behind when the fluid evaporates, each with its own limit.

In this guide, we cover three checks that fill in what a purity-only read misses: how the purity figure is stated, whether the other three requirements pass, and whether you can verify the lab behind the results.

1. Read the Purity Figure Correctly

NFPA 2001 sets the minimum purity for fire suppression at 99.0 mole %. A COA that lists “99.2%” with no unit leaves you guessing whether that is mole percent, weight percent, or something else. Mole percent counts molecules and weight percent counts mass, so the same batch can give different numbers. Check that the COA states the unit and that it matches the one NFPA 2001 uses.

2. Check the Other Three NFPA 2001 Requirements

What Each Requirement Measures

Even a correctly stated purity figure covers only one of the four requirements, and a batch meets NFPA 2001 only when every required result is within the specification.

The other three requirements cover what purity can’t see. Acidity and water content show how acidic the batch is and how much water it contains. Non-volatile residue shows how much material stays behind when the fluid evaporates.

The Numbers Behind Each Requirement

NFPA 2001 sets these limits for halogenated agents. The COA should list a measured result for each, not just “pass” or “conforms”:

  • Purity: minimum 99.0 mole %
  • Acidity: maximum 3.0 ppm by weight as HCl equivalent
  • Water content: maximum 0.001% by weight (10 ppm)
  • Non-volatile residue: maximum 0.05 g/100 mL

3. Confirm the Lab Behind the Results

NFPA 2001 requires testing and certification for each batch of fluid. Those results only matter if you can verify the lab that ran them.

The COA should name the lab that ran the test. A self-certified result and an independently tested one can report the same number, but only the independent one has no stake in the batch passing.

Independence alone doesn’t show a lab can test well. ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation means an outside body has evaluated the lab’s testing competence. A2LA and ANAB both maintain public directories of accredited labs, so you can look up a lab’s status yourself.

Questions to Ask a Fire Protection Fluid Supplier

Are you vetting a fire protection fluid supplier? Use these three questions to determine whether a supplier can back up its COA before you place an order.

Can you provide lab results for all four NFPA 2001 requirements? 

The supplier should send measured results for purity, acidity, water content, and non-volatile residue. A COA that lists only purity, or marks the other three “pass” or “conforms,” doesn’t give you the measured numbers.

Which lab ran the test, and can I verify its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation in a public registry? 

The supplier should name the lab and say who accredited it. You can then search the lab in a public directory such as A2LA or ANAB and confirm that its accreditation covers the tests on the COA.

What records do you keep for each batch, and can you pull one if a question comes up?

A COA covers only the batch it was issued for. If a question comes up after the fluid ships, the supplier should be able to say what records it keeps for each batch and how to request them.

Ask for the COA Before You Order Fire Protection Fluid

Put those questions to a supplier before you place an order, while a gap is still one request away. If you buy fire protection fluid in volume, the COA is the record you’ll rely on once the fluid ships, so find out how the supplier tests and documents each batch before the first purchase.

For SF 1230™ Fire Protection Fluid, Standard Fluids has an independent lab in the United States test every batch, and each batch ships with its own COA. Standard Fluids also keeps batch records on file, so if a question comes up after shipment, there’s a record to check.

SF 1230 is a drop-in replacement for Novec™ 1230 fluid, produced today by the team that invented and patented the original molecule at 3M™. Evaluating SF 1230 for your next order? Contact the Standard Fluids team for technical documentation and a walk-through of its COA.