Hi,
At my former employer, we had a fire in one of the chambers. We think that a section of cones came loose from the ceiling and came into contact with a flood light. The flood light was on an extension pole to get it past the cones. The cones just slid down the pole till it came into contact with the flood light. When the cones contacted the flood light they started to smolder. Since we did not have a smoke sensor on the ceiling vent, it smolder for a long time. We were running radiated immunity tests, so the door to the chamber was closed. Eventually, it got hot enough for the sprinklers in the chamber operated. When they turned on, the water spray forced the smoke out the bottom vent. That was the first we knew of the "fire". Did you know that standard sprinkler heads are designed to spray out and down, but not up. Because the sprinkler heads were also on extensions to get them past the cones, they did not spray the cones above the heads. The fire department came and had to pull down the ceiling cones to put out the "fire". So, to answer your questions. 1. From past experience, once the panels get soaked, they are trashed. The steel rusts and the wood swells. We had to completely replace the chamber. We did manage to salvage a few sections, but most of it was trashed. 2. The fire protection method used depends on what is burning. If it is the cone, I think only a lot of water would put it out. If it was the EUT, CO2 or halon would be the best. But, I think then you run into OSHA problems with these systems. Something about people in enclosed spaces in a toxic atmosphere :-) Lesson No. 1, don't use just adhesive to secure cones. Lesson No. 2, flood lights get very hot! Use incandescent bulbs. Lesson No. 3, put a smoke detector at the top vent for the chamber Lesson No. 4, use 360 Deg. sprinkler heads in the chamber. Lesson No. 5, Murphy was an optimist. Ned Devine Entela, Inc. Program Manager III Toll Free: 1 800 888 3787 Ext. 671 Direct: 1 616 248 9671 Fax: 1 616 248 0591 e-mail: [email protected] > ---------- > From: WOODS, RICHARD[SMTP:[email protected]] > Reply To: WOODS, RICHARD > Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 1:38 PM > To: 'emc-pstc' > Subject: Water Damage to Chambers > > As part of our hurricane preparedness, we have to consider what would > happen > to our EMC chambers if they get wet. > > 1) Can anyone provide some real life guidance on the ability of the > laminated walls (steel and wood) to withstand a good soaking? > > 2) Also, what is the most advisable fire protection method for inside > of > chambers: water, CO2, other? > > > Richard Woods > Sensormatic Electronics > [email protected] > Views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of > Sensormatic. > > --------- > This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. > To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] > with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the > quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], > [email protected], or [email protected] (the list > administrators). > --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
