Your comms room or server room is a vital part of your business function. You have invested in the right vendor for your UPS, racks, servers and air conditioning, what about your fire suppression?
Fire Suppression systems or clean agent systems as they are sometimes referred to are designed to quickly alert you to a fire and extinguish that fire safely even when there is no one on the premises.
What are your options?
We have listed below the most common fire suppression systems we install in the UK & Europe to protect server and comms rooms.
Synthetic Gas Extinguishing Systems
Synthetic gas systems quickly extinguish the fire once activated; they are designed to extinguish the fire in under 10 seconds.
In the 1960's Halon gas was developed and for many years Halon 1301 was the clean agent of choice for fixed extinguishing systems. Halon is anorganic halide which is very damaging to our environment, it is a global warming gas and is one of the family gasses known as halocarbons.
Halon’s were superseded by HFC gases FM-200® (HFC-227EA) and HFC 125 (Ecaro®-25). For many years these gasses were used within the IT industry to extinguish fires in the server room.
In the early 1990’s 3M™ developed Novec™ 1230 FK-5-1-12 (Sapphire®), an environmentally friendly alternative to ozone-depleting FM-200® & Ecaro®-25.
3M™ Novec™ 1230 is not an HFC gas, it is a fluoroketone. It is not subject to the HFC phasedown under the F-Gas Regulation in Europe or any global regulatory body, including the Montreal Protocol.
It is stored as a liquid within the cylinder pressurised by nitrogen and discharged as a gas.
There is a large range of cylinder sizes for storing 3M™ Novec™ 1230, whatever size of IT Comms room you have there will be a 3M™ Novec™ 1230 solution suitable for you.
System Features
- Large choice of cylinder sizes
- Available in 25 Bar, 42 Bar, 50 and 70 Bar system varients
- Small cylinder footprint
- Large safety margin
- Systems can be modular or in a common cylinder bank
- Cylinders can be located outside the room or on another floor – https://solarfiresystems.com/systems/gas-suppression/novec-1230-advanced-delivery
Inert Gas Extinguishing Systems
Inert gas fire systems once activated lower the oxygen level in the room to a point where the fire is extinguished but is safe for you and your employees.
Commonly used inert gasses for server or comms rooms are IG-55 (Argonite®). IG-55 is an inert gas blend of argon and nitrogen, which occur naturally in the environment. With zero ozone depletion potential ODP, zero Global warming potential GWP and zero atmospheric lifetime, it has excellent environmental properties. A typical design concentration of 40% will reduce the oxygen level to 12.5% within 60 seconds.
Another gas is IG-541 (Inergen®). IG-541 is a mixture of 52% Nitrogen, 40% Argon and 8% CO2. However, in the event of a fire, when IG-541 is discharged, it mixes with the air present in the room to create a mixture that comprises of 67.3% Nitrogen, 12.5% Oxygen, 17% Argon and 3.2% Carbon Dioxide. As with IG-55, the mixture of gasses will reduce the oxygen levels down and extinguish the fire and will be safe for people within the room.
System Features
- Small cylinder footprint
- Systems can be modular or in a common (manifolded) cylinder bank
- Can be located outside the room or on another floor
- Suitable for extended discharge systems
- Cylinders are available in 67.5L, 80L and 140L
Conclusion
Whichever gas extinguishing system you choose to protect your business, be it IG-55, IG-541 or 3M™ Novec™ 1230, we have experience of installing all these systems in a variety of both new build server rooms and existing live comms rooms.
For more details on gas suppression systems, or to discuss your individual fire suppression solutions, simply contact our experienced team today.
