Server rooms being the heart of many companies stores a mass of information. Fire could cause alot of irreversible consequences including losing money, losing customers, company reputations and in worst case scenarios closure of such companies. Damage caused by fire in a server room must be kept to a bear minimum. As such fire protection system in a server room must be efficient in alerting the server management of any likelihood of fire no matter how small
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| Burn`t Down Server Room |
What might cause fire in server room?
- Over heating - this is usually as a result of failure of cooling systems
- Malfunction of wiring - When there is a short circuit in a wiring system there is a likely hood fire will break out.
- Fire Break out in other parts of the building which might spread up to the server room.
What Are The Fire Protection Systems Used In A Server Room?
For starters, the fire protection system in a server room should never be water or powder based as this would lead to more damage to the equipment as opposed to putting out the fire. What should you use then?
(a) CO2 Fire Extinguishers
They suppress the fires by limiting the levels of oxygen in a space. This suffocates the fire of the much needed oxygen thus extinguishing it. This portable fire extinguishers have their own limitations as they can only be used only when someone is occupying the server room,the fire might re-ignite and the person handling the fire might suffocate as well
(b) Automatic Suppression System
These are integrated into the server room racks. Once the smoke detectors sense fire, they are turned on filling the racks with inert gas thus putting off the fires. The efficiency of these systems depends on how enclosed the racks are and they might also be affected by extraction systems in the server rooms.
(c) FM200
This is a water less protection which discharges into a fire risk completely extinguishing the fire. It is a chemical fire suppression that works by eliminating the heat elements in a fire triangle including Oxygen, heat and fuel. This is the safest and one of the most efficient ways to protect your servers from any
The following guidelines should also be used to minimise the risk of fire in a server room;
- The server rooms should always be accessed by authorised personnel only
- The server room should be built in such a way that it is a separate fire zone and as such there should be no risk of fire emanating from adjacent buildings
- The room should be properly air conditioned to standards and to equipment requirement
- The central systems should be connected to an emergency power supply.
Relemech Services LTD, we are in a position to analyse your space, server rooms included, and design a system that will ensure your equipment and personnel are protected against the risk of fire. call us +254735691990 or email us: info@relemech.co.ke.
