[AusNOG] [AUSNog] : Re Data Centre Fire Suppression Safety

[Aftab Siddiqui]

Inergen gas dump
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F7qyY15_14

I have seen a test (4-5yrs ago) myself by a vendor to prove it's not
dangerous.

On Thu, 13 Dec 2018 at 11:34 Matthew Thompson <matthew at thompsons.id.au>
wrote:

> The NextDC system reminds me of a similar one that is widely used at a
> particular carrier’s exchanges, known as Inergen. I was always taught that
> the Inergen system would lower oxygen concentration but not low enough to
> incapacitate you unless you stayed in the environment for an extended
> period. Basically, if you heard the Inergen deployment alarm go off, you
> had a good few minutes to evacuate safely without asphyxiating.
>
> On Thu, 13 Dec 2018 at 10:23, Christopher Hawker <me at chrishawker.com.au>
> wrote:
>
>> We all will be safe in Equinix DCs, as they don’t use Halon:
>>
>> “We use dry pipe fire suppression, which means there’s no water in the
>> pipes until it’s needed to put out the fire. We think water is superior to
>> using the firefighting chemical compound Halon, because water Is less
>> damaging to technology and Halon can destroy circuit cards.”
>>
>> Source:
>> https://blog.equinix.com/blog/2014/03/26/we-must-protect-this-house-against-disaster/
>>
>> Can’t say the same for NextDC (M1 at the very least:
>>
>> “This is because gas is a mixture of argon and nitrogen that suppresses
>> fire by depleting oxygen in the the data hall.”
>>
>> Source:
>> https://www.nextdc.com/blog/m1-argonite-fire-suppression-gas-cylinders
>>
>> CH
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On 13 Dec 2018, at 10:53 am, Paul Wilkins <paulwilkins369 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>>
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> --
> Kind regards,
> Matthew Thompson
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