sbrack@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> (05/20/91)
David Lemson <lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> writes: > blake@pro-party.cts.com (Blake Farenthold) writes: > > FYI I toured the 911 dispatch center a couple of months ago. > > The whole dispatch station is protected by a halon fire protection > > system ... when the alarm goes off they operators and dispatchers have > > a couple of minutes to evacuate the dispatch area before the > > (apparently deadly) halon is released. > Incidentally, Halon works by sucking up all of the available oxygen, > thus killing the fire -- that's why it's a bad thing to be in the same > room with vast amounts of Halon. I recently toured the offices ans switching center for UNITS, Ohio State's telecom supplier. They're actually a division of the University, but operate almost independently. Their NT SL100 switch is protected by a Halon suppressant system. It turns out that things like foam & water don't mix well with microprocessors and other solid state electronics. 8) So, most heavy-duty telecom and computing installations use Halon or some variant thereof. As an aside, OSU may have to pull out the Halon system and replace it with something more destructive to their switching equipment, like CO2. The reason: Halon 1211 and 1301 (the two most common forms used in fire prevention) have been shown to be bad for the environment. Steven S. Brack | sbrack%bluemoon@nstar.rn.com Jacob E. Taylor Honors Tower | sbrack@bluemoon.uucp The Ohio State University | sbrack@nyx.cs.du.edu 50 Curl Drive. | sbrack@isis.cs.du.edu Columbus, Ohio 43210-1112 USA | brack@ewf.eng.ohio-state.edu +1 (011) 614 293 7383 | Steven.S.Brack@osu.edu
Kurt Freiberger <kurt@photon.tamu.edu> (05/22/91)
In article <telecom11.385.4@eecs.nwu.edu>, nstar!bluemoon!sbrack@ iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Steven S. Brack) writes: > I recently toured the offices ans switching center for UNITS, Ohio > State's telecom supplier. They're actually a division of the > University, but operate almost independently. Their NT SL100 switch > is protected by a Halon suppressant system. It turns out that things > like foam & water don't mix well with microprocessors and other solid > state electronics. 8) So, most heavy-duty telecom and computing > installations use Halon or some variant thereof. > As an aside, OSU may have to pull out the Halon system and replace it > with something more destructive to their switching equipment, like > CO2. The reason: Halon 1211 and 1301 (the two most common forms used > in fire prevention) have been shown to be bad for the environment. And burning electronic equipment, furniture, et al ISN'T???? Something I've always been wondering: PVC insulation makes Cyanogen (cyanide) gas when burned; so they came out with Teflon insulation that burns at a higher temp. But what does Teflon make when it burns? Reportedly, Phosgene gas. I'll take good ol' HCN anyday.... Cheers. Kurt Freiberger, wb5bbw kurt@cs.tamu.edu 409/847-8706 Dept. of Computer Science, Texas A&M University DoD #264 *** Not an official document of Texas A&M University ***