4 ms·
At a datacentre I used to visit years ago, part of the site induction was learning that if the fire suppression alarm went off, you had a certain amount of time
by jhugo 6y ago
At a datacentre I used to visit years ago, part of the site induction was learning that if the fire suppression alarm went off, you had a certain amount of time to get out of the room before the argon would deploy, so you should always have a path to the nearest exit in mind. The implication was that it wasn't safe to be in the room once it deployed, but I don't know for sure.
- saagarjha 6y agoPresumably you would have trouble breathing as it displaced the oxygen in the room?
- jhugo 6y agoYeah, that was always my understanding. GP saying "the gas is designed to be used in rooms with people, so that [it] can be triggered any time" made me second-guess that though. Maybe there is a concentration of oxygen that is high enough for humans to survive, yet too low to sustain combustion?
- lol768 6y ago> Maybe there is a concentration of oxygen that is high enough for humans to survive, yet too low to sustain combustion? Yes, supposedly (12% ish?). Can't say I'd be thrilled at the idea of testing it.
- thspimpolds 6y agoThe "gas" is more like a fog of capsules. FM-200 is a common one. Basically it has a Fire suppression agent inside crystals which are blasted into the room by compressed air. These crystals melt when they get over a certain temperature and therefore won't kill you; however, breathing that in isn't really pleasant. Source: I've been in an FM-200 discharge
- Scoundreller 6y agoDoes everyone carry an N95 or equivalent? I guess many of us have gotten good at donning them by now...
- edejong 6y agoI heard that the pressure difference might rupture your ear drums.
- NorwegianDude 6y agoInergen is used to lower oxygen to ~12.5 %, from normal 21 %. Most fires need more than 16 % oxygen. Inergen consists of 52 % nitrogen, 40 % argon and 8 % carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide might sound strange, but it causes the heart to beat faster to compensate for the lowered amounts of oxygen. The whole point of Inergen is to quickly put out fires where water/foam/powder isn't usable and the room might contain people. It's cool stuff, and I was under the impression that basically all datacenters used it.