Wow, THAT had to have scared the heck out of some folks, eh ?
Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[
mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cyndi Bradberry
Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 9:23 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: Halon, water, etc.
>> When the alarm goes off -->> LEAVE!
About 5 years ago, we modified the existing water sprinklers in our computer
room and added an Inergen system (Nitrogen, Argon, Carbon DiOxide). Now, the
water pipes are not charged until after the Inergen system discharges and
then the sensors still think there is a fire.
We had a situation where the building fire alarm triggered and we all left.
The fire dept came and requested my manager and sys admin accompany them
back to the computer room. They had not dealt with our type of system
before. The main fire alarms were still going off while manager, fire chief
and fireman entered the computer room to look for the problem. The main fire
panel said the problem was in our computer room, but there was no smoke or
flame. Sysadmin and fireman #2 stayed outside looking thru the windows
(floor to ceiling). Unknown to all, the Inergen system alarm went off. The
regular alarms were so noisy, no one heard. Then the gas discharged. The
windows bulged (engineers had not been sure they would hold) and the doors
sealed for several minutes due to overpressurization of the room. When those
inside were able to leave, none could hear very well, but they all were
breathing.
Turned out nothing was wrong, there was a fault in the system. We brought
all the systems back up with no problems.
Cyndi B.
Boise, ID
midrange.com
