We know that the supply of fire extinguishers is important in almost every place, for example in buildings, workplaces, transportation, electrical panels or server rooms. Some recent fire cases such as the one that occurred at SMAN 6, reported by Tribun.com. This fire was reportedly caused by a short circuit in the electrical room and there was an explosion in the room.
This indicates the importance of every workplace and even schools must have security equipment to deal with the safety of their employees. Fire extinguishers for electricity and in the server room are also needed in dealing with fires in the place if a fire occurs.
This indicates the importance of every workplace and even schools must have security equipment to deal with the safety of their employees. Fire extinguishers for electricity and in the server room are also needed in dealing with fires in the place if a fire occurs.
What type of extinguisher is suitable for electrical panels and server rooms?
As explained earlier, the use of fire extinguishers in every fire accident is different, because the medium is also different.
“Then, what types of media fire extinguisher are suitable for electrical and server room fires ?”
There are generally 3 fire extinguishers suitable for class C fires or for electricity, including:
1. Clean Agent
Clean Agent is a fire extinguisher that is most suitable for type C fires. In addition to type C fires, APAR Clean Agent can also extinguish fires for several other classes such as B (Fire by liquid)
The Clean Agent is a chemical specifically designed to extinguish fires without leaving residue (or marks) because it is in the form of a gas, and does not damage electronic equipment, documents or other items whose materials are very sensitive to water or chemicals used by other conventional fire extinguishers.
A few examples of the type of Clean Agent used in Fire Extinguisher tubes as media:
Halon
Despite now being banned due to its negative effects on the environment, halon was used extensively before due to its ability to extinguish fires without leaving a residue or damaging electronic equipment.
HFC-236fa (Hydrofluorocarbon-236fa)
This is one of the media for APAR Clean Agent that is modern enough to be used because the media is harmless to humans, non-corrosive, non-conductive, non-residual and has an ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential) level of 0.
NOVEC 1230
The chemical name for Novec 1230 is heptafluoropropane (C3F7H). Just like HFC-236fa, this Clean Agent media can also replace Halon media which is not environmentally friendly and will not conduct electricity.
This type of media also has different forms, such as Fire Tubing, Thermatic, Metronic and ordinary fire extinguisher tubes.
The way it works is also different for each APAR, such as Fire Tubing, thermatic and metronic installed in the electrical panel and can automatically detect sparks, so that it can release the Clean Agent media by itself.
2. Dry Powder
Fire Extinguisher Dry Powder is a type of fire extinguishing media to extinguish various types of fires, including class B fires (those involving flammable liquids such as oils and fuels) and class C fires (those involving connected electrical equipment).
But it turns out that there are disadvantages to using Powder Fire Extinguisher for server Room. "What is it?"
The media turns out to leave residue or scattered traces of use, making it difficult to clean and seem messy.
3. CO2
CO2 is a gas consisting of two oxygen atoms bonded to one carbon atom. In a fire extinguisher tubes, CO2 is stored in liquid form at high pressure and released as a gas when the fire extinguisher is activated.
CO2 is an effective fire extinguishing agent for fighting class C fires (those involving connected electrical equipment) for many reasons:
Removes Oxygen
Leaves No Residue
Does Not Damage Equipment
Fast Action
Not Conductive
Thus the use of extinguishers in various places varies according to the potential for fire.
What you need to know is what potential fires can arise ,from that point, you can determine the type of APAR media that is suitable for you to have.