Halon was banned at the same time as CFCs in aerosols and refrigerants
because it's an Ozone depleting gas. There should not be any Halon
datacentres anywhere in Australia. Probably not anywhere in the world, tbqh.
Aviation is an exempt use, which is why you saw it on your C-17. You can
buy fixed or portable halon systems intended for deployment in aircraft
even today (for example:
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/h3rhalon.php?clickkey=11303
-- one of the few few ways you can acquire ozone depleting gasses as a
retail customer in 2018!)
CO2 is a hazardous gas, and should be pretty rare for fire suppression.
Possible that there are still some small and/or ancient systems out
there, but risk assessment under OHS&W legislation ought to have seen
them all replaced by now.
Datacentres in Australia will be using FM-200 or Inergen. FM-200 can be
stored in compressed gas or liquid; obviously liquid means the storage
takes up significantly less volume. FM-200 has fallen out of favor
during the last five years because it's a greenhouse gas, which makes me
regret not having a crystal ball when I was putting it in datacentres
ten years ago :-)
Both of them are engineered solutions which take the room volume into
account. The goal is to add enough gas to the room to drop the oxygen
content from 19% to something in the 15%-17% range, which is low enough
to extinguish most fire but high enough to sustain human life. If you're
in the room when it goes off you'll end up uncomfortably short of breath
(and probably very cold!), but you shouldn't suffocate if the system has
been designed properly.
A complete system will generally also include a pre-action dry pipe
deluge sprinkler system which can trigger if the gas fails to extinguish
the fire.
... and a good insurance policy. If any of these systems go off, might
end up with system loss and/or data loss. Hard disks don't like rapid
pressure changes or large quantities of water, so all bets are off once
the VESDA trips out.
- mark
On 12/13/2018 01:13 PM, Nathan Sullivan wrote:
I remember walking onboard a C-17 Globemaster a year or two ago at
Amberley, still had Halon installed with proper masks sitting next to
the buttons. Probably one of those "exempt" / "critical" use cases I'm
sure being military...
On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 12:10 PM Adam Gibson
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
FM200 is still used in a few DC’s in Sydney and Brisbane to my
knowledge. But is costly to replace due to environmental charges.
In Polaris we check all our bottles in accordance to the fire
program (which was approved upon completion with the fire code of
that time) which is every year, bottles are check and every month,
fire tech comes out to inspect gauges release valves and all
control boards. All bottles are to be replaced every 10 years of
less and Co2 bottles to replaced every 3 years.
In my opinion, fire is something that is neglected a lot in DC’s.
AG
Adam Gibson
*Head of Data Centres*
Springfield City Group
t: +61 7 3819 9999
f: +61 7 3819 9900
m: +61 4 00 807 822
e:mailto:[email protected]
*From:*AusNOG <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> *On Behalf Of *Bruce Forster
*Sent:* Thursday, 13 December 2018 10:36 AM
*To:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Cc:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Subject:* Re: [AusNOG] [AUSNog] : Re Data Centre Fire Suppression
Safety
Pretty sure halon is banned, but fm200 is the gas used these days?
https://www.safelife.az/en/index.php/services/firefighting-by-gas.html
Firstly, the most important advantage of the use of chemical gas -
it is safe for people and electronic equipment. During fire
fighting gas is used in a concentration not to be harmful to human
health and life. When using the FM200 gas concentration of oxygen
in the room is reduced by 3%. Along with the fact that such a
composition of the air is not sufficient to continue the fire, it
allows people who are there to breathe.
On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 10:01 AM Chris Ford
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
As a university cadet working for IBM in the late 80s I
remember getting inducted into the Westpac data centres and
getting a long explanation of what to do when the halon system
went off – where the breathing gear was, where the exits were,
to basically just drop everything and run.
Have been inducted into a few DCs in the last 3 years and
can’t remember that being part of the induction at all –
although given I already knew it I may have just glossed over
that part.
--
Chris Ford
Chief Technology Officer
*INABOX GROUP*
*m***0401 988 844 *e***[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*t***02 8275 6871 *w***www.inaboxgroup.com.au
<http://www.inaboxgroup.com.au>
*From:*AusNOG <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> *On Behalf Of *Paul
Wilkins
*Sent:* Thursday, 13 December 2018 10:53 AM
*To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Subject:* [AusNOG] [AUSNog] : Re Data Centre Fire Suppression
Safety
Every data centre has a fire suppression system. We're not
used to thinking of this as a hazardous environment, but
consequent to two techs being found dead working on a fire
suppression system in Antarctica
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/12/antarctica-two-technicians-dead-mcmurdo-station-ross-island>,
I find myself wondering yet again, why there aren't more
stringent controls around the fire suppression systems in data
centres: viz - when you enter a data centre, how confident can
you be you're not going to be quietly asphyxiated?
Kind regards
Paul Wilkins
_______________________________________________
AusNOG mailing list
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
--
Regards,
Bruce
_______________________________________________
AusNOG mailing list
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
_______________________________________________
AusNOG mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
_______________________________________________
AusNOG mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
