[ale] Fire down on Williams street...

[Quentin Schander]

Halon functions as a fire extinguisher by trapping the free radicals that support the chain reaction of combustion in the same way that cadmium control rods can stop a nuclear chain reaction.  Halon does an equally effective job reacting with ozone in the upper atmosphere which is why Halon and all of the Freons which we used to use so freely are no longer being manufactured (at least in the first world, I believe that manufacture and use in third world countries can continue for a limited time).

Halon is not toxic of itself but it can displace oxygen and kill by asphyxiation in the same way that nitrogen can.  Halon will suppress combustion at levels well below the level which would cause asphyxiation.

Quentin R Schander
 
 
>>> "Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney at gmail.com> 05/12/08 9:08 PM >>> 
It was banned for use not because of environmental effects but because it
kills the people _in_ the datacenter when it is used.

Nice idea but bad practice.

"So here is the datacenter. Please put on your air tank, mask and regulator
and wear it at all times. If you see the flashing red light, you have 20
seconds to begin using the tanked air supply before you pass out and die.".

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Sean <kilpatms at speakeasy.net> wrote:

> On Monday 12 May 2008 05:26:29 pm Robert Reese wrote:
> > I hope they have a HALON system!
>
> Halon.
> Wonderful stuff.
> Fill a barrel full of the stuff and drop in a live, armed grenade and it
> goes <pop>  and not <KERPOW!!!!!>.
> Unfortunately it has been illegal to manufacture/use the stuff in the USA
> for probably the last 10 years as the manufacturing process is alleged to
> generate ozone-depleting chemicals.
> There is no other fire-suppressing chemical anywhere near as good as
> Halon.
> It's a gas and won't damage valuable electronics (or any other valuable
> items for that matter.)
>
> Sean
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III