The hospital I used to work for had Halon all through their data center, and one day back in the mid 90's they had an accidental dump. (The cause was never determined.)
I was told that the cost to recharge the system was $50,000, and that it would be the last time they would be able to get halon. It also took a week or so to schedule the work, so they were without fire protection for that period. Their solution was to add a second halon canister to each zone, with a transfer switch. That way, they could be protected in case they had another dump, and recharge was unavailable for a protracted period. Hopefully they've found a better solution by now. > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Ed Finnell > Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 12:31 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [IBM-MAIN] HALON et al > > > > In a message dated 6/22/2005 10:56:15 A.M. Central Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Both Halon (which was bad for the Ozone layer) and a more > environmentally friendly replacement > 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoro-propane > (manufactured under names such as HFC-227ea, FM-200, FE-227) have a > minimum concentration at which they will suppress fires, and > a higher > concentration at which they become toxic. If I remember > correctly, the > size of the effective, nontoxic range is not that large, and > smaller for > Halon than HFC-227ea. IF the fire suppression system is properly > > > > >> > There's a Federal tax of $45/lb on Halon in the US. This is > to encourage alternatives. Before we could get changed out > our Halon provider hit the discharge button instead of the test > button and blew out the ceiling tiles in the print shop. Just > got it cleaned up good and recertified and danged if the welders > down the hall let it all cut loose and the the ventilation system > sucked it in threw an open window(for special forms don't ya know) > and blew it out again. > > The low bid on a replacement was a water mist system and just > couln't get past the water and elctricity don't mix. Still Halon, > although with recycled mix it's down to about $42/lb no tax. > > There was a field replacement of blue for brown(tan really) > bus and tags > that IBM did for upgrades and replacements. The blue > evidently react with Halon > to produce a carcinogen in a real fire. > > Everything went to brown except a couple of 3088s and they > couldn't find any > short browns anywhere.... > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > -------------------------------------------------------- If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. Click here for important additional terms relating to this e-mail. http://www.ml.com/email_terms/ -------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
