Here's a pic of the type of rack enclosure they should be using, which is portable if they ever need to move:
Posted on 09/28/2013 9:00:13 AM PDT by Alberta's Child
I don’t think the cost of replacing the equipment is the main issue for this user. As I understand it, the loss of business function for this company and its customers may be the biggest financial exposure they have.
Bingo.
Save the equipment at the possible loss of human life?
I have been in areas deprived of oxygen.
It snuffs out life just as well as it snuffs out fire.
Effa bunch of electronics.
Thanks for the update. I learned about Halon while serving in the Navy, 20 years ago.
I are a engineer!
Look into what is called a “Preaction” system as an alternative.
At least they’re required by code where I live...
Then they should have an off-site back-up, rendundant system in another city or country.
And a little water would fry electronics or set up an electrocution hazard if there is a ground fault protection system.
I could dunk my circuits under water, freeze them, thaw them out, lay them in the desert for 30 years and they will still work.
If everything could be put in one room a individual gas system for that room would be quite feasible.
It should lower insurance as well damage from gas systems is minimal as compared to a wet system.
Unfortunately all the laws banning the materials are still in place.
I specified Halon for computer rooms back in the day, but everything switched over to FM-200 about 15-18 years ago if memory serves.
Here's a pic of the type of rack enclosure they should be using, which is portable if they ever need to move:
I was involved in the test of a Halon system in the early 80s. Three of us were in the computer room when the test was run to check the concentration levels and watch the ceiling pads. We all walked out with no effects from breathing the Halon. Depending on whether the ceiling pads are secured you may have some of them get blown around.
Insurance for hardware and regular backups
That doesn’t mean I’d stand around to watch it happen!
Bingo! The problem is that the fire sprinkler piping in only those areas with electronics would have to (expensively) repiped to have a single water supply.
Then you add a preaction valve that is set off by a “cross-zone” detection system. One zone would be rate-of-heat-rise detectors and the other zone could be ionization detectors. Both zones have to activate before the preaction valve dumps.
You can add a “deadman” switch that a person would have to continue to depress after the cross-zone fires to stop the dump.
Halon is a one-shot extinguisher and would also kill anyone in the room. The fire codes don’t allow a mixture of fire suppression systems in buildings.
Here’s a great solution: change out the fire sprinklers to 212 degree heads and put in the above mentioned cross-zone alarm system. That way someone nearby or onsite and the fire department both show up first way before discharge.
Cross-zone is needed for (expensive) false alarms, electronics can fry and set off the ionization detectors but not the rate-of-rise.
Bottom line, if the 212 degree sprinklers are seeing that much heat, you want them to go off. Back up all your data offsite and have good insurance.
The problem with sprinklers is that they almost always ALL turn on, rather than be selective by area. Thus, the fire outside the “computer room” also releases water systems IN the room. Thus, advanced suppression may not work. You need to check the code to deactivate that room of sprinklers while maintaining regulations for that room. Simply call an IT manager of another company and see if they will be forthcoming about how they did it.
The FM-200 system is not allowed as a replacement for required fire sprinklers, only as a first response. The reason is that it is a one shot extinguisher.
Smoldering fires can flare up after the FM-200 dissipates. So, the fire sprinklers have to stay.
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