FOCUS Suppression options
will affect operations the most and for the longest period. Protecting critical electrical panels that are inside an enclosed room is relatively straightforward using a range of fire suppression gases such as FM-200, Inergen, Novec-1230 and others. Installing ‘total flooding’ systems is a reasonably common practice in switchrooms, motor control centres and IT communications rooms that are deemed critical to the business. It is also possible to install mist based fire
suppression designed for electrical equipment, and new technologies using wetting agents instead of pure water have proved very effective. Also, aerosol fire suppression systems such as Stat-X, FirePro and Pyrogen have become popular due to the relatively low cost of installation and ease of replenishment. For most of the gases it is essential that
the rooms are sealed at all cable and pipe penetrations, and where walls meet floors, roofs and ceilings. This is not so easy to do at initial installation or if new cables are patched in on a regular basis; however, annual room integrity tests by specialist providers should be done to help seek out the leaks and to get them sealed. The room integrity tests will prove whether
a room is sufficiently sealed to contain the fire suppression gas for the required retention period, as specified in the codes. This period is typically seven to 12 minutes for the required suppression density to be maintained to the top of the electrical equipment within the room. Specialists who conduct the room integrity tests should provide
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a ‘falling curve’ report and a certificate to verify a pass or fail each year. As regards electrical equipment that is not in
an enclosed room, the challenge is how to get fire suppression into the cabinets themselves. There are a range of products available for this purpose, and examples include Firetrace and AMFE (automatic mini fire extinguisher) clean agent systems as well as the Stat-X, FirePro and Pyrogen aerosol systems. For most agents, the electrics on the panel should be isolated as soon as excessive heat is detected, as this greatly reduces the ongoing fire risk and electrical hazard to attending personnel. Firetrace is probably the best known product
in the UK for electrical panel fire protection. It uses a pressurised tube looped within the electrical panel both to detect a fire and to deliver the agent. Firetrace set out using dry powder as the primary agent, but its system is now compatible with a wide range of modern clean agents, both wet and dry. AMFE technology developed by 3M uses an engineered wetting agent that dissolves in water but does not behave like water around electrics. Indeed, the wetting agent is electrically non conductive. Helios Systems Ltd is the UK supplier for the AMFE product, and the extinguisher is fitted with a fusible bulb and deflector head, so that when activated, the agent gets sprayed as thoroughly as possible around the cabinet
Adrian Simmonds is a senior risk manager of risk solutions at QBE. For more information, see page five
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