On 03/23/2012 04:47 PM, Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.) wrote:
In
<cafo-8tqy1ea0pispweiwomxpnajxzs2+rvadkzbd-2kva8q...@mail.gmail.com>,
on 03/22/2012
at 01:33 PM, zMan<[email protected]> said:
Who else has stories to share?
EDS, at a government facility. Halon dumps, everybody ordered out. One
operator decides to be a hero and to shut down the equipment in an
orderly fashion, which he did. It turns out that "non-toxic" is a
relative term; he did require medical care. I don't know whether he
got a commendation or a reprimand.
There are a couple of other list members who were there at the time;
[perhaps they recall the details.
Halon had a minimum concentration of 5% to be effective and a maximum
concentration of 7%, over which it starts to have toxic effects on the
nervous system.
When ozone-depletion concerns caused discontinuation of use of Halon,
one of the replacement suppression agents was FM200, or
heptafluoropropane. FM200 has a slightly broader band of useful-safe
concentration, 6.25% to 9%. But, above 9% it is described as causing
"cardiac senstivity", which doesn't sound like a good thing for
long-term exposure either.
With both of these suppression systems, if through design error the
dispersal system is over-sized for the area, or if the agent isn't
distributed uniformly, personnel remaining in the area could be at risk
from overexposure.
The recommendations for maximum exposure to both of these agents is
based on the assumption you are not in a room with an active fire.
These compounds break down while doing their suppression job in the
presence of fire and other compounds could be released that are much
more toxic -- not to mention that the typical by products of the type of
electrical fire one might expect in a computer room would by themselves
be toxic in a closed area.
That's why one should always assume the worse in the event of a
discharge and exit.
--
Joel C. Ewing, Bentonville, AR [email protected]
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