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

Thu Dec 13 17:21:22 EST 2018

It's been a while (~2003) since I read the inergen manual that came with the DC I was paid to baby sit, but I recall they add CO2 to the gas mix that is discharged as it forces the Human lung to work harder and cope with the lower oxygen levels. 

> On 13 Dec 2018, at 3:34 pm, Matt Perkins <matt at spectrum.com.au> wrote:
> 
> 
> Halon has been banned in Australia for about 20 years and it’s not that deadly as it’s made out to be I had a halon extinguisher in the cockpit of my plane which would not be ok if it were poison.   Most DC in .au use FM200 or inergen.  
> 
> I’m thinking they used CO2 in the remote station as it requires less gas and is cheaper to transport. Inergen requires massive amounts of gas almost the volume of the protected area which would not be practical in a remote area. Co2 is also often used in high power environments where you can get a burning metal fire. 
> 
> Don’t stir up a fuss here your safe in your DC if you have payed attention to your induction and leave when your told. 
> 
> There is also an interesting suppression system that lowers the oxygen in the room so combustion can not be supported. It’s interesting because humans inhabit the room while the oxygen is lowered. Seems that a fire needs more oxygen then a human! I have seen a demo with people attempting to light matches inside that environement which extinguish almost instantly. 
> 
> 
> Matt
>  
> 
> -- 
> /* Matt Perkins
>        Direct 1300 137 379     Spectrum Networks Ptd. Ltd.
>        Office 1300 133 299     matt at spectrum.com.au <mailto:matt at spectrum.com.au>
>        Fax    1300 133 255     Level 6, 350 George Street Sydney 2000
>       SIP 1300137379 at sip.spectrum.com.au <mailto:1300137379 at sip.spectrum.com.au>
>        Google Talk MattAPerkins at gmail.com <mailto:MattAPerkins at gmail.com>
>        PGP/GNUPG Public Key can be found at  http://pgp.mit.edu <http://pgp.mit.edu/>
> */
> 
> On 13 Dec 2018, at 11:29 am, Paul Wilkins <paulwilkins369 at gmail.com <mailto:paulwilkins369 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>> See I would expect there would be an Australian Standard for Data Centre Fire Suppression
>>  Systems, with regular inspections that were certified and the certificate on display in the data centre.
>> 
>> And as I haven't noticed this, and Chris hasn't noticed this, I would guess it's not a gap in places I've worked, but there's a more widespread lack of governance around inspections.
>> 
>> Furthermore, the fire suppressant, may leak. Halon is poisonous and can impair your judgement. So there ought to be an alarm that detects if Halon is present. It's not good enough to rely on the fire alarm to warn you of the presence of fire suppressant, because you could have a leak without a fire.
>> 
>> One would have to assume the people in Antarctica knew what they were doing, and yet, something went wrong and now they're dead.
>> 
>> Kind regards
>> 
>> Paul Wilkins
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, 13 Dec 2018 at 11:00, Chris Ford <chris.ford at inaboxgroup.com.au <mailto:chris.ford at inaboxgroup.com.au>> 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 chris.ford at inaboxgroup.com.au <mailto:chris.ford at inaboxgroup.com.au>
>> t 02 8275 6871 w www.inaboxgroup.com.au <http://www.inaboxgroup.com.au/>
>>  
>> 
>> From: AusNOG <ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net>> On Behalf Of Paul Wilkins
>> Sent: Thursday, 13 December 2018 10:53 AM
>> To: AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net>
>> 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
>> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net>
>> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog <http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AusNOG mailing list
>> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net <mailto:AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net>
>> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog <http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog>
> _______________________________________________
> AusNOG mailing list
> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ausnog.net/pipermail/ausnog/attachments/20181213/a2d34946/attachment.html>