Fire Suppression Systems

Currently looking at waterless alternative fire suppression systems for the server room and our records room.

Currently looking at FM-200 systems (chemical agent made by Great Lakes Chemical that acts similarly to Halon but doesn't damage the ozone layer) and FE-25 (chemical agent similar to FM-200 and Halon made by Dupont and Fike).

These systems are pretty cool as they put out the fire much faster than the water based sprinkler systems do and require almost no cleanup. The sprinkler systems put in buildings are pretty much there just to protect the building and occupants. They take way too long to activate to protect against anything else and of course the water is destructive to any electrical equipment and paper files not to mention the cleanup takes a long time.

FM-200 and FE-25 are odorless, colorless gases that are nontoxic to humans so there's no problem if the system discharges while people are in the room, unlike a CO2 system. One condition that has to be met in order to use these chemicals is that the room must be relatively air tight. The agents only work if they are able to stay in the area of a fire. Interestingly enough, even if you put one of these systems in a room you cannot take out the existing sprinkler systems, however the fire detectors used by the replacement systems will discharge in case of a fire in about 1 minute 30 seconds after ignition, whereas it takes the sprinkler systems something like 8-10 minutes before the air surrounding the sprinkler is hot enough to burst the pellet which allows the water to flow out.

Not sure about cost yet, still waiting to get quotes back from vendors.

Comments

[Alex Scoble]

Thanks. :)

One thing that I forgot to mention is that FE-25 is supposed to be cheaper to implement as it uses less agent to cover the same area as FM-200.

[Alex Scoble]

Oh, and there are also handheld extinguisher based agents like Halotron-1 that are liquid based but do not damage equipment. Of course handheld systems are less than ideal since you have to be in the area and have the presence of mind to use them in case of a fire.

One other thing that I should note is that they do have localized delivery systems for the gas based systems. For instance my server room is relatively small, just 2 x 4 post racks, has a false ceiling and would be expensive to retrofit so that it was relatively air tight.

The solution that has been offered in this case is run a plastic tube based delivery system in and around the racks. The tube is filled with the agent and delivery is automatic as the tube is melted by a flame putting the agent exactly where it is needed.

[Chris]

Interesting post and something I've never really come across before in a weblog or even some tech journals I read. Granted, I'm not really involved in that section of IT so...;)

Btw, Window Blinds I'm fairly sure is a spam link. His website is just a commercial link.

[Ben M. Schorr]

We considered replacing our existing Halon system with FM-200, but never got any reasonable quotes. Too much money, so we just repaired our existing system instead.

Nobody around here even suggested FE-25 at the time - I wish they had.

-B-

[Mark Koskela]

New to the market of Fire Suppression is Sapphire. It will be considerably cheaper than FM-200 by Great Lakes Chemical. FE-227ea by Dupont is the same as FM-200 and has been a replacement for Halon 1301. FE-25 or Ecaro is the closest Halon drop-in agent so far but new piping is required in alot of cases. Inergen is the most expensive to install and also takes up the most space, but their is no recharge cost in most cases. Sapphire or Novec 1230 might just be the future gas of preference. It is by far the most environmentally friendly gases to come available. And the will be the most inexpensive to install. The company I work for in Florida distributes all of the above mentioned agents.

[Shaun Rowe]

Hey everyone, I'm currently taking a networkin class in college and our assignment is to build a network (on paper) from the ground up for six buildings.......I was wondering if anyone here can give me a ballpark price on these fire suppression systems? it is quite hard to find quotes unless you actually call the companies, and so far, they are not to helpfull unless you are serious about purchaseing them.

THANKS!!!!

[Alex Scoble]

I would estimate about $20,000 to $60,000 for a medium to large server room.

Our records room is about 20ft x 15ft and the estimates we have received are in the $20k range for the chemical systems and about $23k or so for the Inergen system.

[Tom Schultz]

ECARO-25 is the closest replacement for Halon 1301 that is available today. ECARO-25 (HFC-125) uses +/- 20% less agent at 8%, than FM-200 (HFC-227ea) when it is designed to its normal 7% design. It is safer than FM-200 based on the PBPK exposure information published in the 2004 edition of NFPA 2001. Because of the physical properties of ECARO-25, it requires fewer pounds of agent to reach its 8% design than FM-200 will require to reach its 7% normal design. The flooding factor for FM-200 at 7% is .0342 pounds per cubic foot of room volume compared to .0274 pounds per cubic foot of room volume for ECARO-25. For a 10,000 cubic foot room this would equate to 342 pounds for FM-200 compared to 274 pounds for ECARO-25. Another plus in using ECARO-25 is in its +/- 19% improvement in retention time (agent holding time). This is an extremely important benefit when protecting a smaller hazard. Our experience has been that minimum pipe changes, in any, are needed to retrofit an existing Halon 1301 system with ECARO-25 for a 10 second discharge. Normally just the nozzles and the agent storage container are replaced. The UL listing and FM approval for ECARO-25 do not require a minimum distance be maintained between fittings as do all other clean agents including, FM-200/FE-227, Novec 1230/Sapphire, & Inergen. The pipe sizes used in an ECARO-25 system will also be smaller than a standard FM-200 system protecting the same hazard.

If an estimate is needed to install an ECARO-25 system please let me know, and I’ll will be happy to have someone provide that information.

Thomas J. Schultz
Mid-west regional sales manager
Fike Corporation

[George Church]

I'd beg to differ with your 8-10minute response time comment for sprinklers; pehaps in a very high-ceilinged room with standard sprinklers; but today's quick response srinklers would be half your estimate or less.

[Scott Hawley]

Has anyone had any experience with Aero-K fire suppression systems by Peripheral Manufacturing? I have Halon and FM-200 experience and Peripheral's claims are that they are less expensive, require less agent than Halon-1, FM-200 or the other Halon-1 replacements, and the canisters can be mounted near the ceiling so they do not take up floor space.