Mission Critical Fire Protection

Fire Control and The Types of Fire Classifications

lkaiser@orrprotection.com (Lee Kaiser) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 21:00:00 GMT

Do you know the difference between fire control and fire suppression? How about the different types of fires (and their classifications) that are possible in your facility? In the video below, ORR VP of Engineering Lee Kaiser explains what fire control is, how it differs from fire suppression, and the different types of fire classifications to be aware

Video Transcript

Lee: "Let's dive in and start talking about suppression systems, and to get everybody on the same page, we're going to do a little vocabulary review with regards to suppression. By a show of hands, when I say a suppression system, who thinks that means sprinklers? Raise your hands. A couple people think that.

Suppression is sort of a bucket list term. With suppression, there are different levels of performance and performance expectations that we should have for a suppression system, and it breaks it down to this. Fire suppression is one of those.

Fire Control

Fire control is one performance expectation where we limit the size of the fire within the compartment that it started in to decrease the heat release and pre‑wet adjacent combustibles, so that's what sprinklers do. They limit the ceiling gas temperatures, and they pre-wet things that haven't burnt yet so they don't burn. We expect that with a system that has fire control there should be, or could be, some manual firefighting that needs to occur to completely extinguish that fire that's occurred.

Fire Suppression

The next level is fire suppression, where we've got a sharp reduction of the heat release rate, lowering it just to glowing combustion. If we've got a solid material that's burnt for a little while, we release the suppression system, and we expect suppression. There will be some manual firefighting that needs to occur just to stop that glowing combustion. A lot of times the expectation for a suppression system is extinguishment.

That's where we completely extinguish any combustion mixture, that there's no combustion that needs to happen, no manual firefighting, just a little investigation. Is it put out after the system is discharged? So as we talk about specific suppression systems this morning, the different applications can have a different performance expectation, so it's important to define those.

Fire Classifications

The fire classifications and different things that can burn. This is going to be a review for a lot of people, but it's important for those of us that aren't familiar.

Class A fires are ordinary combustibles: wood, paper, plastic, those types of things we expect normally to be combustible and burn.

Class B fires are now flammable and combustible liquids and flammable gases, and so some suppression systems work to extinguish Class B type fires. We see a lot of Class B hazards in manufacturing and industrial, not normal types of spaces where we'd see Class A fires.

Class C fires can occur in a lot of different places, usually around electrical equipment. A Class C fire is a fire that's electrically enhanced, or sometimes I say an electrically commutated fire. There's an arc, some sort of short or arc due to a malfunction in some electrical equipment, but that's a sustained arc. That arc is an ignition source, so any combustible materials around it have that sustained ignition source, and therefore Class C fires are typically harder to extinguish.

Even though we can put out the fire, there's that continued electrical arc to keep things going. One of the traditional ways to help control a Class C fire is to shut off the power to that electrical equipment causing the arc, and then once that arc is removed a lot of Class C fires become Class A fires and are much easier to extinguish.

Class D fires are something that we don't talk about a lot. They're not that common. Class D fires are fires that occur in combustible metals. Let's see our list here: magnesium, sodium, potassium. How about aluminum, titanium? Those metals, when they're in a fine form, like chips or powdered form, are combustible, and they're really hard to put out, because water won't put that type of fire out. In fact, water makes it worse. As we talk about suppression systems, for a long time we haven't had many options, but we do have some options today that are just being developed. We'll spend a little time talking about those when we talk about clean agents

Class K fires is the last one, so cooking oils and fats. Every restaurant you go into probably has a wet chemical hood system in there to extinguish a fire at the fryer or the grill, and are fairly common."

MCFP Virtual Conference Series: Linear Heat Detection | ORR Protection

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 14:52:04 GMT

Protectowire's, Gary Paul breaks down linear heat detectors, their applications, accessories, & their uses in detecting heat or a sudden rise in temperature.

Video Transcript:

Hello, and welcome to today's presentation. I want to thank you for taking time out and being here with us.
My name is Gary Paul, and I'm the regional sales manager for the US and Canadian markets here at Protectowire. I'm also a member of the national fire protection association and the society of fire protection engineers. Today, I'm going to be speaking to you about Protectowire series of linear heat detectors, their apps, their application, and some of the common accessories associated to help provide a better understanding of the products available and their effective uses. Let's start with a quick introduction, Protectowire linear heat detectors are a series of fixed temperature devices. Their unique design enable their use in several challenging applications where conventional detectors simply cannot reach, except for fiber-optic Protectowire linear heat detectors are categorized as a digital device, which is simply to say the condition of the device is either on or off. The first linear heat detector was invented back in 1938 by Gerald Holmes, the founder and original owner of Protectowire and has been listed with both UL and FM.

Since the 1940s, linear heat detection can be best described as continuous chain of spot heat detectors. With the ability to sense heat or sudden increase in temperature anywhere along its length. A common misconception is linear heat detection comes only in one form. I'd like to take a quick moment to introduce the family of linear heat detection that has been developed over the years to meet a variety of challenges. To start, there is the PHSC series detector, which stands for Protectowire Heat Sensitive Cable. This is the product most widely used, and the detector that most relate to when they hear the name. Comprised of two steel conductors, the PHSC series can be integrated into any conventional or addressable system. However, there are limitations when considering equipment, which we'll get into an a few moments. Next is the PLR series, which stands for Protectowire low resistance, same construction as PHSC, PLR series adds copper coated conductors to reduce the cable's overall resistance value from 0.185 ohms per foot, which is the standard resistance values value of steel, to .058 ohms per foot. That's roughly a two thirds reduction in resistance value. Lower resistance equals longer runs. The most recent development in linear heat detection is CTI, which stands for Confirmed Temperature Initiation. Replacing the steel core conductors of our standard PHSE series with copper and constantan creates a type T thermocouple providing us the ability measure physical temperatures at the location of the fault. Through the required CTM five 30 interface module, we can now probably initiation temperature and compare it to the temperature of the fault. Through this process, we can discriminate between a mechanical failure and an actual true heat event. And lastly, we have fiber optic, which is widely viewed as the next generation and linear heat detection standard digital linear heat detection detection is considered a passive device, meaning that it sits in a ready state waiting for the fixed temperature to be achieved before activating fiber technology.

On the other hand is an active system that reports real-time temperature profiles, anywhere along its length, up to 10 kilometers. That's a little over 32,000 linear feet off a single fiber, and then can be further segmented or zoned into 256 unique partitions anywhere along its length, which is all done through software. As a reference in the previous slide, integrating linear heat onto other manufacturer's control equipment can become something of a challenge, depending on some of the electrical values of the equipment we're connecting to. Standard linear heat detection is capable of being supported through any initiating device circuit or IDC, regardless of manufacturer. Where the challenge lies is the output value of the IDC and how much linear heat can actually be supported. As I mentioned, steel has an inherent resistance value of 0.185 ohms per foot. And adding copper reduces this value to 0.058 ohms per foot.

This slide provides a good illustration of exactly how much these IDCs can directly impact the zone coverage capabilities connect and direct to the modules. In this example, we show two different addressable modules the first with output capabilities of a hundred ohms and the second with 440 ohms by dividing the IDCs output value by the resistance value of the detector, we get some surprising numbers. With a hundred own IDC example. Our calculations show, we're able to support up to 500 linear feet of PHSc and almost 1700 feet of PLR. That's a good example of how that resistance value can exactly extend out your zones. We see the similar limits in the 440 home IDC, but our lengths are longer due to the electrical properties of the module. Now take into consideration that coming off of one of Protectowire's conventional panels, we can support it from 5,000 to 10,000 linear feet.

And you begin to see the challenges with presenting a viable solution with the variety of addressable modules and the requirements in larger applications to address this issue. The Penn 530 interface module was introduced depending on the manufacturer. The addressable IDCs can range anywhere from 25 ohms up to 1500 ohms output. This output value directly impacts the total linear footage that can be supported through the Penn 530 interface module. We can now tie into anyone's control equipment, conventional or addressable, and support up to 6,500 linear feet of standard linear heat detection or our PHSc series. Other features include class a or class B monitoring, integrated alarm point location, communication to the main panel through form C status relays or four to 20 million amp outputs. And we've also included the 64 event history file, as well as mod bus serial communication, like the Penn five 30, the CTM 530 is specific to our CTI detector and a required component with every installation.

The CTM five 30 acts as the brain of the CTI system, providing the false alarm discrimination by comparing the pre-programmed initiation temperature with the physical temperature at the location of the fault. If the temperature at the fault location does not meet the initiation criteria, the system remains in a fault condition. In a class, a configuration, you maintain continuous coverage throughout the zone. In a class B set up, you lose only the section beyond the fault, everything up to and including the fault remains active. As the leader in linear heat technology, we're constantly looking at areas to expand product capabilities. Two recent introductions of the perfect bookends to that endeavor with the recent introduction of both our highest and lowest activating detectors to date the PLR 500 CR and the CTI one 35 XLT, both products address very specific needs within the marketplace. The PLR 500 was developed to focus on applications that are constantly exposed to extreme high temperatures, furnace, work, kitchen applications, things of that nature. The CTI one 35 XLT along with its sister in our PHSC series was brought about to address the extreme conditions of industrial freezers and the ability to provide a pre action system that will react before the sprinkler heads.Couple this with CTI technology, and you now had the perfect solution for industrial freezers of all shapes and sizes.

This brings us to applications within the special hazards community. Linear heat detection is a niche element providing protection primarily in industrial settings and is commonly installed to provide open area protection within UL and FM guidelines, it's listed in the same category as spot heat detectors with similar open area listed spacing, typically 50 feet per UL and 25 to 30 feet per FM, given its unique construction, linear heat can also be woven in close proximity or in direct contact with the atom or apparatus being protected. This is typically referred to as proximity detection and where linear heat really shows its versatility. What you're seeing here as some of the more common industries where linear heat is applied, of course, within these industries lie a broad array of individual applications that are ideal for this technology. Through the remainder of the presentation, I'll explore some of these areas as well as common accessories and installation nuances associated with each. Within the power industry alone.

We can point to nearly a dozen different areas where linear heat is actively used. In cable trays, which can be applied in just about every commercial or industrial facility, we see linear heat providing early detection for overloading of primary cables. These are typically large gauge, heavy copper conductors, carrying extreme electrical loads, overheating and fire are both very real concerns. And the example they need to heat is reversed above. And in some cases direct contact with the potential hazard, the event of a fire or overheating having detection capabilities this close to the hazard enhances your early warning system. Because of the unique shape and design, we can bring the linear heat detection as close to the areas being protected as needed or even wanted. I also want to note the manner in which the detector is installed due to the nature and construction of linear heat. You must maintain a minimum bend rate as of two and a half inches. Bends tighter than this run. The risk of compromising the integrity of the heat sensitive polymers in the construction. In this example, we see sweeping arcs traverse in the cable tray, which can be installed in either vertical or horizontal runs.

It's required to support the linear heat detector every five feet. The protector our company offers an assortment of approved fasteners and splicing devices to facilitate installation for both standard and special applications. Approved fasteners that generally designed to lightly clamp the detector, which enables a tension to be applied progressively. This method is better than arrangements, which apply a high tensile load at the end of each run or clamp and compress the sensor so tightly that the inner insulation becomes damaged. To ensure a trouble-free installation only factory approved fasteners should be used use of non-approved fasteners may physically damage the detector thereby causing false alarms, or in some cases void the detectors warranty. Shown here are some examples of common accessories used when mountain to cable trays, each clip is designed or chosen to accommodate a different material thickness in a wide range of applications, such as cable trays, storage racks, and even ceiling joists.

In our next slide, we see here, a great example of the HPC two clip being utilized on a steel. Another common application within the power gen market is conveyors and coal fired power plants. Conveyors are used extensively. Some of the common issues seen here are bearing failures and belt slippage, both of which could cause overheating and potential sparking in the presence of coal dust. Designated as a classified hazard, the potential for fire is obviously much greater. Again, we're looking at proximity detection because we want to be as close as possible to these areas to detect and react as quickly as possible.

In some cases the conveyors are covered with a metal hood in these areas, we can provide detection not only below the areas of the bearings and belts, but also above the materials being moved. In these areas, however, access to connection points to support the linear heat are limited to accommodate long spans like this. You had the option of having the linear heat detector coupled with a messenger wire. Installing the messenger detector requires anchor bolts and turnbuckles to maintain the tension of the support cable and eyeballs to provide additional stability. As opposed to supporting the detector every five feet, you can now spread the supports every 25 feet instructions on the proper equipment and installation are readily available. And here we see an example of the versatility, again, of linear heat detection, in confined areas, electrical compartments can become very cramped and very crowded and heat up very quickly.

With the unique design and capabilities of linear heat detection, we can fish the cable in and around the apparatus and provide early proximity detection in the event of an overheat or fire. In transformer applications, we see linear heat being installed directly to the deluge system. In most cases, the linear heat detection will act as a pre action or pre alarm to initiate the alarm sequence. This is considered an integral aspect of the sprinkler operation and should be located as close to the sprinkler heads as possible. In addition, or in place of installation on the deluge pipes, millennia heat detector can be applied directly to the transformer for early detection of overheating. Here, we illustrate the proper techniques to properly apply the detector. As you'll notice, not want to make any penetrations or complete circle around the transformer. Rather we work with the appropriate cable time mounds that can be adhered directly to the surface of the transformer with an industrial adhesive.

We recommend sicoflex 291 cooling towers can be a soupy and murky mess when an operation, these wooden structures withstand years of exposure when they shut down from maintenance is when the concerns are the highest one dried. These structures quickly turn into a potential hazard. And in most cases we see linear heat detection being applied in several areas, including around the fan motor, the gearbox and down into the structure itself. Again, the primary objective is proximity detection to the primary equipment and due to environmental challenges in these areas, we recommend that there be no splices anywhere in these applications. As you can see from these images, the environmental challenges, these structures posts our XDR jacket is a teflon derivative as well suited for a wide range of environments, including chemicals, oils, and even solvents. We also recommend stainless steel hardware be used throughout these facilities. And here's an illustration of some of these installation accessories. Here we have our OHS clip coupled with an RMC three L bracket, both made from stainless steel, which will ensure reliable support without the concern of corrosion

Fixed and floating roof tanks are another common application and one that we've seen significant growth in recent years, both domestically and internationally. Fixed roof storage facilities as depicted here are fairly direct. These are considered classified hazards and need to be installed in accordance with proper guidelines. The use of intrinsic safety barriers and appropriately rated components is crucial. Once these guidelines are met, the rest of the installation is relatively straightforward. As you can see from the illustrations linear heat detection is applied around the perimeter of the storage tank and around the relief valve. The end of line resistor shown at the top of the tank can also be positioned to make annual tests more convenient. The beauty aspect of linear is it simplicity in commissioning and annual testing per NFPA guidelines. Linear heat detection is classified as a non-restorable fixed temperature device as such all that is required to commission or test the system is to short the detector at the end line.

As long as the system can register an alarm. When the detector shorts, you know, you have a fully active detection system. With CTI, this test can actually be taken one step further and an actual heat test can be performed without damaging the detector. This is done through the available test probe, which will short out the detector and register the ambient conditions on the interface module. Heat can then be applied to the test probe to induce an actual heat event, which will run the module as an alarm condition and initiate the alarm sequence. Word of warning though, please be sure to disengage any relays tied to the suppression system to avoid any costly messes.
In addition to fixed roof tanks, we also see a lot of floating roof tanks, as well as fixed floating roof tanks. In a floating roof tank, the roof forms the seal around the inner wall will rise and lower with the level of the material that contains the linear detector is installed in much the same way as a fixed roof with a few exceptions. As you can see here, the detector is positioned just above the rim seal and around the perimeter of the floating roof. Like the cooling tower application, it's recommended to use support hardware that will withstand the expected environments, whether it be the cold and snow of the North or the heat and intense UV in the desert. Connections from the feet cable to the detection zone are achieved through a specially designed retractable cable that can accommodate both PHSC and CTI detectors and extend up to 99 feet. We've been through a few iterations of this design and finally arrived at the MS-3091T you see here, this is an extremely durable and resilient cable well-suited for some of the harshest conditions. The design was also enhanced to accommodate both PHSC and CTI detectors, which simplifies your options. Please consult the factory for additional details.

One of the most popular applications for linear heat are warehouse storage and industrial freezers. In these facilities. Linear heat is typically a component of the pre action system. In freezers, it's the primary releasing mechanism for filling a dry pipe system. When installing Farine rack detection, the detector should be positioned in the flu space at the same level or alternating levels with the sprinkler pipe. Typically, and as I've mentioned before, it would be recommended that the detector be fixed directly to the sprinkler if possible and permitted in your jurisdiction. However, in a manually operated and active store storage facility, the interact sprinklers take an incredible amount of abuse. This is the one area we recommend keeping the detector off to sprinkler pipes and as far out of harm's way as possible with this level of exposure, it's not a matter of if, but when the detector will be compromised. Again, as a digital contact device, the PHSC series does not have the ability to distinguish between heat and physical damage, which is why CTI should be considered in these types of applications. Providing the ability to know the temperature at the spot of the fault will avoid costly alarms.

Of course, this is specific to interact detection. At the ceiling level, the opportunity for damage is greatly reduced. In this area it would be advisable to follow the sprinkler pipes and attached directly if at all possible and permitted. To do so we recommend double loop pipe straps as shown here. These provide your installers, the ability to cinch the cable tie directly to the pipe securely without compromising the detector. The first loop serves as your primary anchor to the pipe. Whereas the second loop provides a taught but loose support to the detector to avoid any damage. For interact we have a variety of clips available to accommodate the installation, including our WAW nylon clip, OHS stainless steel clip and our newly introduced JD-1 clip.

We recently introduced the JD-1 clip to provide install is an easier method of supporting and installing linear heat. Most, if not, all of the supports offered are currently closed loop format. These have been effective accessories for a great many years, but sometimes problematic when making repairs. To do so requires removal of the clip and then the detector then reinstalling. The JD one design resembles a J slot with an open top and a slightly narrowed opening. The open top allows for quick installation and removal of the detector without the need to remove or replace the clips, saving you both time and money.
Another great application of linear heat detection is aircraft hangers and well suited for any of the detection devices offered, including fiber-optic. Due to the volatile nature of these facilities and the various fuels and chemicals present a foam suppression system is required. At the ceiling level linear heat provides the pre action to initiate the foam delivery and is a more economical offering when commissioning and testing are considered. Imagine the number of spot heat detectors required in a hanger that can accommodate several commercial or passenger aircraft based on listed spacing and ceiling heights numbers grow into the thousands. Now consider the process needed to maintain these individual detectors on an annual basis, great work, if you can get it. But if you're looking for a quicker, more economical solution for both you, your team and your customers, then you need to consider linear heat. As opposed to hundreds, if not thousands of individual detectors, large facility can be zoned and have the end of line resistor brought to a convenient location for testing. What you're seeing here is an image of a regional hanger in Massachusetts with 6,000 linear feet of detection broken into three zones. As you can see, that is required to test this system is a six foot ladder and about 15 minutes. We've even included an optional test button to make things even more convenient. In these facilities, false alarms are a major issue and were false alarm discrimination is a huge benefit, both CTI and fiber optic can provide these features to ensure worry free installation.

We see water curtains being employed throughout airports as well. Passenger terminals are typically designed with an overhang to provide shelter and storage for vehicles and equipment. They're also designed with a lot of glass to provide views out onto the tarmac. Being directly below the passenger boarding area requires safety measures are in place to keep windows in the terminal from imploding during a fire. Water curtains are just one of the life safety measures employed. In these structures, the potential for fire is most prevalent in the area below the overhang. In this image, we see linear heat being applied directly above the area, along the lower ledge at the terminal and utilizing a messenger detector to span the distance and providing a great transition around the corner. Again our two and a half inch bend radius is crucial in maintaining the integrity of the detector. Taking the time to assure a smooth transition around these bends will nsure reliable service. In the event of a fire, the linear heat will act as a pre action to initiate the water curtain located above the glass section, keeping the glass cooled during the event.

Road tunnels are a great application for any of the linear heat technologies we currently offer. Where the detector is typically positioned above the travel lanes, they're high enough up out of the way the false alarms should not be concerned. And it's well-suited for the extended runs we typically see. However, some of the tunnels we see internationally, can be as long as seven miles plus. In a facility this large fiber optic likely presents the most effective and versatile tool available. As we discussed earlier, fiber optic is an active detection system reporting real-time temperature conditions throughout its length. The beauty of having this real time information is invaluable when determining the location and the direction of a fire. Picture if you will, being able to tie the real-time data into your HVAC system or your CCTV system, or both. As ambient conditions begin to rise, decrease traffic, the HVAC system can automatically kick on to open vents and increase circulation. In the case of a fire, the CCTV cameras are programmed to pick up the event, providing operators in the control room, the ability to see what type of event is occurring. Is it a car fire, a truck fire hauling wood, or is it a truck hauling chemicals? Where's the fire located, in what direction is it traveling? With all this vital information that can be then reported to the fire department, they know exactly what to expect and the best direction to take, to address the situation.

We've all read the stories of a construction project or renovation that suddenly caught fire. There are a number of reasons for the causes, hot works improper disposal of cigarette butts, or even cooking lunch in a non-designated area, believe it or not. In many of these cases, an active alarm panel is onsite, but the smoke alarms and sprinkler system are taken offline to avoid false alarms. This leaves the contractors and facility owners with the responsibility to provide 24 hour Firewatch. Here in the Northeast and specifically in the Boston area, linear heat has become the default for a wide range of production projects throughout the region. These include schools, hospitals, parking garages, as well as commercial construction with the unique design of linear heat contractors are able to provide continuous detection without the need for Firewatch. Utilizing CTI avoids false alarms associated with accidentally hitting the detector and will only initiate under heat conditions.
Here we see an image taken from one of the more prominent colleges in the Boston area. They adopted linear heat a few years back as their primary detection method during the renovation of one of their dormitories. They have since gone on to include this in all their renovation projects. The detector is installed down the hallway and in and out of the rooms, providing the coverage they need to safeguard the facility while the other systems have been disengaged. When you look at projects like Notredame and the losses, they incurred both financially and emotionally, considering the importance of the building know that there are solutions that help mitigate these situations. Firewatch is great but it's costly and linear heat works 24 hours, four hours a day and never takes a day off.

Next up, we have solar panels. Solar panels are a great resource of energy. It's clean and activated by the greatest natural resource we have available the sun. However, a couple of facts remain. They can catch fire. We seen reports of this almost daily. And in most cases the only way of knowing you have a fire is if someone driving by happens to report it beyond that they're out of sight, out of mind. We see a growing concern, both from building owners and underwriters on the best methods to address this concern. This point, you can probably guess what I'm going to say. I'm going to say it anyways. Linear heat. Again, we're looking at a great way to explore the versatility of linear heat and some of the more unique applications. By running linear heat at the upper lower sections of these panels, you can provide the early detection to avoid costly and potentially catastrophic situations from occurring.

We employ CTTI on the panels, installed on our roof and have seen a few installations where the system alerted them to a small fire and dial directly to the fire apartment avoiding further damage. This is just a small sampling of some of the more common applications we see. It as a no way representative of the broader scope where it can be deployed. Some of the more unique applications we see include iconic towers up in Canada, railroad Trestles, interstitial spaces, historic covered bridges, which we just did a profile story on if you're on LinkedIn or Facebook, uh, as well as religious institutions and the list goes on. If there's one takeaway, I'd like you to gain from our time. I may have mentioned this once or twice, it's the unique versatility of this device to address some of the most challenging applications you may encounter. I want to thank you for your participation today. I hope the information we provided was informative. I look forward to any questions you may have. And my name is Gary Paul. It's been my pleasure.

MCFP Virtual Conference Series: Halon System Upgrades | ORR Protection

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 14:51:52 GMT

VP of Sales, Bryan Wilburn discusses the features, benefits, & safety of Halon 1301 as well as its availability and when you should consider replacing your Halon 1301 system.

Video Transcript:

Hello everyone, I'm Brian Wilburn and today I'm going to be sharing with you a little bit about the availability of Halon 1301 and when you should consider replacing your Halon 1301 system. When I first got started in the fire protection business 27 years ago this was a product that was being phased out and a new product was emerging onto the scene to replace Halon 1301 called FM 200. For me, Halon 1301 is what I learned about when I first came to ORR and it became very dear to me because all of our customers had this product. So I have a passion about Halon 1301, because this is where my career began. I enjoy talking about it and I enjoy explaining the benefits that Halon has provided for so many years and continues today. For today's agenda, I'm going to be covering the following topics and questions that will help you plan to potential next steps about your Halon 1301.

So one of the questions that we'll talk about is what is Halon 1301 and what are some of the benefits the business provided. Some of you have not been around long enough when Halon 1301 first emerged onto the scene. And I want to share with you some of the benefits of why it was actually used. I can recall when I first came to ORR 27 years ago, people would always talk about the good old Halon days. I don't know what those days were like, but every time I hear someone say that I recognize that that was a memorable timeframe in their life. And then another thing I want to talk to you today about is the safety concern centered around Halon 1301. I've heard many people say that Halon 1301 will kill you. And I want to go over some misconceptions about that particular topic.

The other thing I want to share with you today is Halon is still being used and is it being used for the right application? If you have a Halon system today and it discharges, how do you handle that particular situation? Is there a mandate to replace your Halon 1301 or not due to the supply and demand? I also want to share with you the current market values for Halon 1301 and make you well aware of some financial scenarios to help you understand what the costs are, if you were to experience a discharge and also to make you understand what the value of your Halon is today. I want to answer the question that if you were to also consider replacing your Halon 1301 system, recognizing that this is protecting probably a mission critical space, you know, will you experience any type of downtime of suppression protection and what alternatives you may have? And lastly, I want to share with you what has replaced Halon 1301 in the marketplace today?

So what is Halon 1301? It's also known as bromotrifluoromethane. NFPA defines a clean agent as an electrically, non conducting volatile or gaseous fire extinguishant that does not leave a upon evaporation. By definition, Halon 1301 meets that requirement. It's a fire suppression gaseous agent that's been used for over 50 years in various applications that's stored as a liquid under dry nitrogen pressure. And upon discharge, it stops the spread of a fire by chemically disrupting the combustion between the fuel source, oxygen, and actually heat. Areas that contained Halon 1301 were typically found in spaces that would consist of computer rooms, museums, telecommunication, switching rooms, including aircraft aviation, and also the military. Generally you typically saw Halon being installed in areas where one did not want to use water as its primary means of fire suppression. So now I want to talk to you about some of the benefits. The reason that this particular agent was so widely used and so accepted because of its ability to penetrate tight spaces upon a discharge. It was released as a gas, it could spread quickly throughout a given volume of a room. It also had the ability to extinguish a fire fast by being discharged within 10 seconds. It was non-conductive. It would not leave any type of residue. And most importantly, it was actually safe for human occupancy. When the system was actually designed at proper design concentration requirements.

So one of the questions I've heard out there in the market space is how safe is Halon 1301? The misconception about the safety of Halon 1301 is that it removed the oxygen from the space. However, the agent, when discharged, it chemically reacted to disrupt the conduction of the fire triangle, oxygen, fuel, and the ignition source. And therefore it does not remove the oxygen from the air, therefore allowing it to be safe, to be occupied in that particular space. There's been extensive toxicity evaluations that have compiled by nationally recognized medical laboratories within the United States and institutions on Halon 1301. And these evaluations have shown that Halon 1301 is one of the safest clean agent extinguishing agents still available today. So one of the questions is why can't we use Halon anymore? Because Halon is a CFC, the production of any new Halon ceased on January 1st of 1994, under the Clean Air Act to follow the Montreal Protocol Act pertaining to substances contributed to the depletion of the ozone layer. This means that all of the Halon available today for purchase is only available in a recycled state. So if you currently have a Halon 1301 fire suppression system in the United States, it is still legal to use that system for protecting your critical spaces but it's also equally important to note that you must have it maintained by a qualified fire protection company in accordance with NFPA 12 guidelines.

So what if my Halon 1301 system discharges, what happens next? So if your Halon system experiences a discharge, whether inadvertently, whether through something malicious, it's still legal to purchase and use recycled Halon 1301 to refill your system. However, due to the age of some of the Halon 1301 systems that are still in operation, there could be a chance that the reconditioning kits, the O-rings to recondition that cylinder may not be available, potentially leaving your space unprotected for an unexpected period of downtime. That's why it's so important that you discuss this with your local fire protection provider, who can advise you if your Halon cylinders are still supported, should you experience a discharge. I will provide my contact information at the end of the presentation for you to send me photos or email me part numbers off your Halon cylinders and I can advise you if those particular cylinders are still supported for reconditioning and refill or not.

And due to the current supply and demand of Halon 1301, the cost to recharge the Halon 1301 system today is at an all time record of cost per pound. So do I have to replace my Halon 1301 system today? Currently there's no law or legislations that you must replace your Halon 1301 system today, but the EPA recommends replacing your Halon 1301 with an environmentally safe alternative agent sooner than later. The challenge is the limited available parts to recharge those older style cylinders, not the ability to get Halon 1301. So as with the cost to replenish your Halon 1301, should you experience a discharge, the buyback value of a Halon 1301 is also at an all time record high. Halon reclaimers are paying top dollar for your Halon 1301, which can be used to help offset the cost to replace and retrofit your current system today. So if you've been putting off upgrading or replacing your Halon 1301 system now is the time to consider replacing your Halon 1301 with an alternative clean agent, such as FM 200, ECARO 25 or Novec 1230, just to name a few.

So let's walk through a specific example here of what a Halon system retrofit potentially may look like. So let's pretend you have a Halon 1301 system that has 500 pounds of gas protecting that volume of space. Essentially you have two options. One you can retrofit to a new clean agent or two, you can leave your Halon in place since it's okay to leave that system in place. If you retrofit to FM 200, let's assume you'll need approximately 750 pounds of FM 200 to protect that same volume. Now let's assume it will cost you approximately $50,000 to outfit that space with FM 200 where we're only upgrading the Halon 1301 gas and cylinders, leaving your detection and control equipment in place. The 500 pounds of Halon 1301 could be used towards the cost of retrofit. Assuming an average of $20 a pound for our example, would equate to $10,000 credit towards the purchase of your retrofit. So now let's look at a second option. Let's look at the option of if I leave my Halon in place. So if you choose to leave your Halon 1301 in place as is, again, depending on the age of your cylinders, you're at risk of the agent leaking or even worse accidentally discharging or having a disgruntled associate maliciously discharge the system by activating a manual release station. When that happens, two things now come into consideration. Number one, you've lost out on the potential value of that gas. In our example, here, $10,000 that could have been used towards the retrofitting of your current system.

Secondly, if you can still support the recharge of your cylinders by getting the reconditioning parts, the cost to refill the 500 pounds of Halon could cost you in excess of $25 - $30,000 or even more. So I can recall a customer of mine that had taken his son to his telecommunication switching facility over a holiday weekend several years ago. His office happened to be next to a gas protected space, totaling about 1200 pounds of agent that happened to have a manual release station in his office. And while in his office, for whatever reason, the dad started bouncing a tennis ball on the floor, bouncing it on the floor, hitting the wall and coming back to him. And he was doing that several times, coming back to him back and forth. It just so happens that the wall that he was bouncing, the tennis ball on was the same wall that the manual pull station was actually located on. Well, guess what happened? Yeah. You guessed it, the ball ricocheted and hit that manual release station and discharged 1200 pounds of gas. He called us in a frenzy and we were able to get his system back online, but I share that story only because accidents happen. And with the value of Halon at an all time high right now, we're strongly urging you to consider replacing your Halon's 1301 system with a new clean agent system and take advantage of the potential buyback value in savings toward a new system. If I choose to replace my Halon 1301 system, will I experience any type of downtime? And I will say, as with any retrofit and depending on the size of your system, there could be a period where you would not have gas suppression protection. However, your system could be configured to where you could have smoke detection as a means of protecting your space during your retrofit. The goal with any retrofit modification or expansion is to minimize downtime and disruption as effortlessly as possible.

So what has replaced Halon 1301 since the early nineties? Agents such as FM 200, ECARO 25, and Novec 1230 are some halocarbons. And FM 200 was the first clean agent gas that emerged onto the scene that was pronounced by the EPA on their snap list, which is this significant new alternatives policy list, as the most accepted proposed agent to replace Halon 1301. Novec 1230 is an agent that's manufactured by 3M. And from an environmental perspective, this agent when discharged only has an atmospheric lifetime of five days, whereas agents like FM 200 and ECARO 25, they will have an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 30 years. These halocarbon clean agents, primarily extinguish fires by heat absorption, and the other agents have options of choice are inert gases, such as Inergen and Proinert, Nitrogen, and Argonite. Those agents extinguish fires also by heat absorption, but also lowering the oxygen concentration within the space.

Now I'm sure many of you have one of these types of fire protection system clean agent systems within your facility. But if you still have a Halon 1301 fire suppression system, I want to encourage you to reach out to your local fire protection company and discuss your options to replace your Halon with one of these Halon alternatives. Your Halon is very valuable today, but we don't know how much longer. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity before it's too late. For additional resources, you can visit any of the following associations, the Fire Suppression Systems Association, the Halon Alternatives Research Corporation, or the National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors. I'd like to thank you for your time and allowing me to share with you a little bit about Halon 1301 today. If you have any questions, I've posted my contact information for you to personally email me or call me (bryan.wilburn@orrprotection.com, 502-773-3832). And remember, if you want to know if your existing Halon 1301 cylinders are discontinued and no longer supported for recharging, you can email me the part numbers or take a photo of that off the cylinder and I'll be happy to let you know if they can still be supported or not. Thank you very much.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast: Low Voltage Systems

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 22:04:55 GMT

In Episode 10 of The Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast, Lee Kaiser sits down with ORR's Jamie Blanchard. Jamie discusses his tenure in the fire suppression industry, his take on engineered fire protection, different types of sprinkler systems, low voltage systems, and they discuss the future of mission critical fire protection. Subscribe on Apple Podcast or Spotify to always have the latest episode on your device, with a new episode available every other week.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast: Heavy Industrial Market

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:13:56 GMT

In Episode 9 of The Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast, Lee Kaiser sits down with ORR's Michelle Wille. Michelle discusses her tenure in the fire suppression industry, her take on engineered fire protection, different types of sprinkler systems, and power generation, and they discuss the future of mission critical fire protection. Subscribe on Apple Podcast or Spotify to always have the latest episode on your device, with a new episode available every other week.

3M Clean Agent Fire Suppression

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:00:00 GMT

Mark Smith, from 3M, talks through clean agent fire extinguishing systems and their safe & effective use in protecting mission critical environments & valuables.

Video Transcript:

Welcome to this module on clean agent fire extinguishment in the power industry from the Electronics Material Solutions Division of 3M. This training covers the national fire protection association, 2001 standard and its agents used for total flooding fire extinguishment. These agents are used in data centers, telecommunications, power generation manufacturing, aerospace lab oil, gas, museum artifact, library, and critical asset markets use of these clean agents are designed to suppress the fire before water-based systems are needed. Thus preventing water from damaging critical assets and affecting business continuity. Audio playing represents an example of a fire test done with 3M Novec 1230 fluid.

First let's talk about the NFPA 2001 standard in order to qualify for the standard products need to be able to extinguish in a B and C type of fire. Be non-corrosive leave no residue after discharge the electrically non-conductive. Establish no observed adverse effect limits or NOAELs, and have an ODP or ozone depletion potential of zero because fires do happen every day. They may not always be reported, but they go on around us all the time. Do you know your risk factors? What will downtime cost you? Can you afford lost customers, lost revenue, negative news coverage. Plus, how can you best provide safety for your employees?

Here? We explore other fire suppression alternatives that may cause harm or downtime. CO2 is lethal design concentration. The NFPA 12 standard for CO2 says that new total flooding system shall not be installed in occupied spaces. When a safer alternative is available and existing systems must have several specific safety upgrades, including lockouts pre-discharge alarms in time. Delays, water mist systems use less water than standard sprinkler systems, but can still be electrically conducted. Water mist systems were developed for class B flammable liquids like gasoline, which produce a big flame front. They can be very effective with a big fire, but still leave residue. In addition, in class a and class C hazards, water mist systems typically release while it is still smoky water mist systems will saturate and damage assets. Heavy cleanup is common. A hybrid system combines water mist and inert gas. Specifiers should note that a new NFPA standard has just been approved hybrid systems, still use water and can leave electrically, conductive moisture and residue to clean up. They are not considered a clean agent and therefore have their own NFPA standard. Aerosol systems are less expensive to install, but they leave a powder residue in their wake significantly increasing downtime cleanup costs. There may be evacuation concerns. Safe egress is severely hindered because the aerosol powder may cause visual obscure mint aerosol systems typically have a 10 year life expectancy.

Let's take a closer look at how a clean agent compares to water. We constructed a working simulation of a data center inside this fire test chamber to compare the ability of water. And Novec 1230 fluid to extinguish a fire inside a typical server cabinet. The chamber has a detection system, water sprinklers, and a discharge system designed for use with Novec 1230 fluid. The test of the Novec fire protection fluid based system is run first to begin the test, a technician ignite sheets of abs plastic inside an empty server cabinet as sensors in the ceiling detect smoke and heat from the fire and alarm is sounded. And the countdown to discharge begins once the agent is released, it quickly fills the room and penetrates the burning enclosure extinguishing the fire in less than 20 seconds. A clean agent fire suppression system is designed to detect a fire at an earlier stage, helping to further reduce possible damage. After the smoke and agent has been evacuated technicians, re-entered the chamber to find that the energized servers are still functioning equipment and facilities show no signs of damage. Now we're ready for the water discharge test in the same fire scenario. As before plastic sheets inside the same server cabinet are ignited and technicians. Leave the room two minutes pass. Then three minutes. The heat of the fire rises to 91.9 degrees and dense black smoke fills the room. Finally, after nearly four minutes, the sprinkler heads discharge.

11 minutes. The room is deluged with water. Even so the fire in the cabinet stubbornly refuses to go out 15 minutes after ignition. A firefighter enters the chamber and puts out the remaining fire with a portable CO2 extinguisher. In the aftermath of the test. The server room is in ruins. Ceiling and walls are coated with black soil, hundreds of gallons of water pool on the floor and the drives and other components inside the cabinets are damaged beyond repair. Imagine the lost time lost revenue and damage to your reputation had such an incident happened inside one of your server rooms.

Take a look at this diagram. It shows a clean agent total flooding system. The mechanical side of the system includes agent storage containers where clean agents are stored in tanks of various sizes that typically have valves on top releasing agent upon detection. Discharge piping carries the agent to a point of where the agent is dispensed. Discharge nozzles are located throughout and at the end of the discharge pipes on the electrical side, fire detectors provide early warning standard smoke and heat detectors depending on the installation requirements, a special hazard control panel control signals for notification appliances reporting trouble to the building fire alarm. It takes a dedicated one 20 volt AC power supply and may provide HVAC shutdown and equipment shutdown room integrity must also be considered during installation. Every room per NFPA, 2001 needs a room integrity test for chemical agents. The rooms need to be airtight.

Most specifiers achieve this goal by putting a fire rating on the room. As this signals to all specifications sections that an airtight room is required. Lastly, a venting requirement calculation is conducted for each installation. Inner caste systems always require venting to help prevent over pressurization of a room and damage to structural elements or two classifications, inner gasses and chemical agents. This is the molecule for 3M. Novec 1230 fire protection fluid. It is very similar to the hydrofluorocarbons of Chemours FM-200 and FE 25. In that it has a backbone of carbon fully bonded and flooring with an oxygen atom. Also on the bond, the oxygen atom differentiates the 3M. Novec 1230 molecule from the hydrofluorocarbons, which have a hydrogen atom on the bond. 3M Novec 1230 fluid configurations provide environmental sustainability advantages. Here's the fire tetrahedron, the four elements that comprise a fire fuel oxygen heat, and a chemical reaction gaseous agents and chemical agents different how the extinguish fires and their gas agents reduce the amount of oxygen from the fire during an approximate two minute discharge chemical agents remove heat during and after an approximate ten second discharge Halon works by inhibiting the combustion chain reaction. The manufacturing of Halon is banned for the Montreal.

Now let's discuss product and safety as a little background, Halen 1301 was a very effective fire protection agent. What was very bad for the environment since it had a very high ozone depletion potential. The Montreal protocol banned its production in 1994, reclaimed Halon is in high demand for uses, including military aviation it's price has gone up in recent years in air gases are clean, but maybe expensive to install and maintain on a semi-annual basis. Venting is required, but not always practical in a room located in the middle of a building inert gas systems, occupy a much greater percentage of real estate compared to other clean agent systems and can be more costly and time consuming to service and recharge. Chemical clean agents can be more efficient to install and maintain over time. But chemicals containing HFCs are hydrofluorocarbons have been targeted for phase down in more than 170 countries because of their high GWP or global warming potential clean agents. Like Novec brand 1230 fire protection fluid from 3M are not HFC products and have all the advantages of a chemical agent, but with a very low GWP of less than one, it is not currently targeted for any global phase down and is backed up by an environmental 20 year warranty from 3M. The agent is easy to transport via any means of transportation, including air and is available globally.

There are many applications for clean agents in the power industry, such as generation stations, substations, high voltage, transformers control rooms, wind turbines, energy storage systems, but still in the archives. Ups rooms, security rooms, data centers, telecommunications rooms, flammable liquid storage rooms and chemical storage rooms. No that brand 1230 fire protection fluid from 3M is safe for electronics. And it's 2.3 times of less conductive than even in a nerve gas like nitrogen. Let's watch a video on 3M. Novec 1230 fluids, dielectric strength.

Chemical clean agents like Novec brand 1230 fire protection fluid from 3M maximize your floor space and generally use less real estate 3M. Novec 1230 fire protection fluid can be shipped unpressurized on a plane or helicopter, so it can be easily transported to an offshore rigger overseas in our hurry for recharge. After a fire what's happening with environmental regulations around the world hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs impact the climate, which makes the sustainability an important factor when designing a fire suppression system, the us environmental protection agency or EPA approves Halon replacements via the EPA snap program, use of non HFC fire protection systems meet environmental protocols, standards, regulations, and codes. Let's move on to compare solutions because of climate change. And the dangers posed by global warming regulators have targeted HFCs for phase down. Ayllon 1301 is no longer manufactured and is included here for reference. HFCs were developed as a first-generation chemical clean agent replacement for Halon 1301 in fire suppression systems.

Novec brand 1230 fire protection fluid from 3M, a floral ketone followed after. Take a look at this chart. These chemical agents have zero ozone depletion potential as does inert gas and CO2 global warming potential or GWP is determined by measuring the amount of infrared radiation. A chemical clean agent will absorb and trap in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is used as a comparative baseline in these calculations, both FM 200 and Ft, 25 have more than 3000 times. The GWP of CO2. This very high G2 WP is compounded by the fact that they remain in the Earth's atmosphere for 38.9 and 28.2 years. Respectively Novec 1230 fluid has a GWP of less than one with an atmospheric lifetime of just seven days when non HFC chemical clean agents like Novec 1230 fluid became a viable alternative regulators initiated the phase down process when specifying a chemical clean agent for a fire suppression. It is necessary to look at the environmental sustainability of the product.

So what agents are being targeted for a global phase down the HFC products highlighted in red in 2016, the EPA ruled agents such as HFC 125 and HFC 278 were unacceptable for use in aerosols. Here's what the phase down looks like in the United States. As a non article five country, the United States will see a reduction in HFC production over time. As you can see in four years, they're targeting a 40% decrease in HFCs and in nine years, a 70% decrease in HFCs. Europe was one of the first to act on HFC phase downs with the passage of their F gas regulations and is already at a phase down rate of around 40% on March 12th, 2014, the European parliament voted to support a European commission proposal to greatly reduce the use of HFCs in a parallel action. Denmark and Switzerland have banned the use of HFCs. The DOD GSA and NASA issued a new procurement rule in 2016, stating that when feasible seek alternatives to high GWP products made up of HFC in summary because of the Kigali agreement to the Montreal protocol, HFCs began phase down globally, starting in 2019.

Many specifying engineers have recommended an environmental warranty to help protect their clients. A solid environmental warranty helps protect owners in the event of an agent being phased down now or in the future, based on its environmental profile. For example, 3M offers an environmental warranty called the blue sky warranty and it lasts for 20 years of all things. Safety may be the most talked about thing when it comes to fire protection, 3M Novec 1230 has the highest safety factor of any clean agent listed in NFPA 2001. Let's look at how we get there. Let's discuss safety margins for total. As they relate to room design for occupied spaces here, we have a typical 20 mile 35 foot room with a floor to ceiling height of 10 feet by the NFPA 2001 standard systems are designed by starting with an empty room.

Let's see what the impact is of adding contents to the room. We find the total cubic volume of the room and may deduct for areas such as permanent obstructions like support columns or concrete pads, if they are significant. The next step is to determine the fire class. In this example, a data center, we are concerned with electronics. So we select class C for the purpose of this example, the volume is 7,000 cubic feet. The NFP 2001 standard terms. What the agent design concentration shouldn't be when the system is triggered, the design concentration is the percentage of gas within the air in the room necessary to quickly extinguish the fire. In the case of 3M, Novec 1230, there would be 4.5% agent and 95.5% air present. After discharge note, this varies by agent selected safety margins are calculated on empty rooms. When items machines are placed in those rooms, the space for agent is decreased.

So the concentration of gas in a given area, it goes up, let's look at the no observable adverse effect level or the NOAEL. Yeah. Where the chemical agents and the no effect level, or NEL for inert gases systems are installed below these levels for occupied spaces. The class seat design concentrations are less than the respect of NOAELs. This provides a measure of safety. The exception is CO2, which is lethal at design concentrations. A margin of safety can be calculated between the noise and the design concentration being used. For example, Novec 1230 fluid is 122% gap between the class C design concentration and the NOAEL. Note 3M Novec 1230 fluid has the highest margin of safety of clean agents.

Now let's summarize what we have learned. Chemical agents are putting out the fire in 10 seconds compared to an gases, which have a longer discharge time of up to two minutes longer. Discharge is mean more time for fires to propagate Ram Novik brand 1230, fire protection fluid as the highest safety margin of any clean agent on the market today is electrically. Non-conductive being 2.3 times less conductive than even in a nerve gas like nitrogen, and is air transportable for fast serviceability, 3M Novec 1230 fire protection. Fluid is globally sustainable offering a 20 year blue sky warranty. Specifiers should always seek an agent with a low global warming potential. Why use a clean agent versus just water? Ask yourself, what is your cost for downtime? Cleanup lost revenue, lost customers. Look for competitive sourcing 3M Novec 1230 fire protection. Fluid is available globally through professional installers.

Here are some of the standards with which clean agents can comply. 3M. Novec 1230 fluid complies with all of these listed standards. And now what's new in the power industry for fire protection. Over the past several years, people in the power industry have been reaching out to 3M for an alternative to using CO2 or water mist in their gas turbine. Enclosures. Many of these enclosures are older and not sealed well, making it typically not feasible to use a clean agent, which normally needs a sealed environment. A power plant in Colorado was looking for alternatives to products like CO2 and water mist that had been previously used or considered in the past.

Here's a few of the key standards for fire suppression and power generation NFPA eight 50 recommended practice for electric generating plants and FPA 37 standard for gas turbines and FPA 2001 standard for clean agent fire extinguishment. We came up with the following objectives for an effective test. The system must protect three zones, meet the NFPA 2001 standard for discharge time and effectiveness conduct, extensive testing to validate predicted results against recording data to consistently maintain a design concentration alignment with NFPA eight 50 meet specific concentration, whole time requirements per NFP, 37, and the customer's request of 60 minutes and be safe for occupancy with a concentration below the NOAEL.

First a door fan test needed to be run to find out the leakage rate and how much extra product would be needed to make up the difference in keeping the extinguishing concentration above 85% per the NFP 2001 standard, which normally uses a whole time of 10 minutes. But in this case needed a whole time of 60 minutes. Everything needed to be documented and concentrations need to be accurately measured in signed in all 12 nozzles were evaluated and tested in a downsized version of one of the hazards to be retrofitted with 3M. Novec 1230 fluid. Here's a sample of some of the graphs using different nozzles and different flow rates, getting different results.

We decided to go with the two tank design using the first for a total flood of the space and the second for a metered flow rate to keep the concentration above the 85% level throughout the 60 minute test, we designed it. So an inline orifice plate on the second tank could be modified or changed as different leakage rates were needed in different areas. After the scale down testing was successfully performed and deemed repeatable. The final testing was moved to the customer's actual for concentration and whole time verification during a full scale discharge test, the results were very positive and concentrations remained above the 85% requirement for over 90 minutes. When we decided the test was a success and stop recording the data, the customer had only asked for a 60 minute hold time. Full-scale testing was performed and verified onsite confirming the test was repeatable and that the system complied with NFPA 2001 37 and eight 50 standards. The company immediately began adopting it for retrofitting other plants within their organization. These are a few of the important notes on the regulations around clean agent products or fire extinguishers, and some ways to get in touch with 3M with any additional questions.

Thank you for your time today.

Components of an ERRCS System

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 15:00:00 GMT

During the MCFP Virtual Conference series, Dal Brazzell, Sales Manager at ORR Protection Systems, discusses Radio (BDA) Systems. Part 3 of 3.

Video Transcript:

And this is a typical example of a, of a system layout, but what you'll notice here. So in this, in this example, the fire department is using UHF, or excuse me, VHF the police departments using UHF. And you'll notice here, we have two donor antennas on the roof in addition to two BDAs in the building. So they share the same dads are distributed antenna system within the building, but you do have to have one amplifier for your UHF and one amplifier for your VHF, or it could be one for UHF and 700 megahertz, but each of those is going to have its own amplifier and its own roof mounted antenna. And that's key to know, because if you're in a jurisdiction where you have multiple bands being used these are high value pieces of equipment. And the cost cost of the project is going to go up dramatically.

If you have to install multiple things. So from a design standpoint, again, they're highly engineered systems. So once the contract is awarded to the sub, the sub is going to go in and take, do initial site surveys to make sure the reading within the building. And again, a cinder block walls are going to filter out more or less, then a solid wall or a sheet rock, and two by four stud wall and, and different types of glass and brick are gonna filter out things. So you have to know the exterior building construction materials, the interior building, construction materials, the total number of walls that the radio frequency has to penetrate. Total, obviously the total square footage of the building. And then we do, what's called an IB wave model of the building. And within this IB wave model of the building, it's going to know based on the outside signal strength that's currently available at the building where the, where the dead spots are.

And then obviously our goal here is to fill in those dead spots with the distributed antenna systems within the building. Normally speaking, you're going to get probably 6,000 to 7,000 square feet of coverage within a typical building out of a distributed antenna out of one single antenna. So if you needed really 100% coverage in a building, you'd normally figure you'd have to have the total square footage divided by six or 7,000 square feet. And that gives you the number of the number of antennas that you're going to need. And obviously that's going to tie back into the, to the BDA, if you have a large building, like a high rise or a horizontal high rise, large manufacturing or industrial facility again, if you have a high number of antennas and a lot of coaxial cable and splitters, you may actually have to have multiple amplifiers in order to get that signal strength at the antenna location.

So we would do this IB wave modeling and that we're going to get that information through the initial site surveys. We have to pull a permit and the permit on the, on the emergency responder radio communication system is going to differ from the permit. We would pull for a fire alarm or fire suppression system. And again, the permit holder has to, has to have an FCC license. We're going to have several points where we're going to need a 120 volt AC power because obviously the amplifier enclosure needs 120 volt in our battery backup. So this system has to have, it has to be battery backed up just like a fire alarm panel. It has to be in a NEMA rated enclosure, a watertight enclosure. It has to be monitored by the fire alarm system. It has to be in a two hour rated space, the, the head end unit.

So there's a lot of survivability requirements. So we would need a 120 volts for that for the actual BDA, 120 volts for the power supply and the battery charger. And then obviously this thing needs to be grounded fairly well because you've got roof mounted antennas, which is going to be a lightening potential lightening rod. So we would normally then have to install the coaxial cable and the coaxial cable is not the standard co-ax that you would get from a home Depot. And Lowe's, this is a half inch corrugated air dielectric co-ax, and it's very similar to half inch corrugated conduit. So it's really stiff. It's got an aluminum outer corrugated jacket, and it's got a solid copper conductor in the center. That's going to be separated with with a silicone washer or a standoff. And you can't obviously have any breaks in the outer aluminum jacket, and you can't have any shorts between the copper and the aluminum.

So you have to be really, really delicate and careful with the with the co-ax when you're pulling that. Now, normally there, there is plenum rated cable available. So if you're in a building that doesn't require a pathway survivability level two or three it is possible to where plenum rated cable is permitted. You can install plenum rated cable without putting the cable and conduit where you have to have pathway survivability level one. You would need to put that coaxial cable within conduit, and because of the size of the con of the co-ax cable, you normally would need two inch conduit and terminal boxes, whenever you have to make a connection. So it can get pretty expensive on the on the electrical side for the folks that are putting in the raceways, then we obviously would install the connectors.

So we would need to install the Yagi antenna on the roof coordinate with the roofing contractor to make sure that that we don't have any issues with penetrating the roof membrane. And normally that would be by others. We would also need to pull up circuit from the BDA head end, the fire alarm command, or the fire command center a remote annunciator, that's going to be an eight conductor cable. We're going to pull our circuit from the BDA to the fire alarm SLC, where we're going to need six monitor modules to monitor the six trouble signals off of the the head end equipment, obviously mountain terminate, the devices handle the core drilling, fire seal, fire stop, and then test and optimize the system. And there's quite a bit of work that needs to be done on the, on the final survey and the the test and start up here.

And again, you know, grounding is, is, is really key here of the system. So final installation is really not all that complex. The, the, the most complex part of this is going to be the, the survey on the front end and the survey on the back end. And you'll notice here that you've got signal strength. In this case, we can see the black dots are all of our inside Daz antennas. And the red coloring is where we've got high signal strength. And as you get further out into the blues and blacks, that's where you've got lower signal strength, but you can see the key here. We keep the signal inside of the building. And that's one of the key items is you really, you can't broadcast signal from inside back outside, or you can end up having isolation issues and oscillation if your outdoor antenna is receiving a signal from its own indoor antenna.

So you've gotta really be careful not to over amplify the system, which has happened in some systems and created issues for citywide, countywide AHJs and taking, actually taking the entire systems down. So lessons learned things that are, you know, we really want to communicate to the architect engineering contracting community is because this is a relatively new system. There's still not a lot of manufacturers out on the market. And you're going to find that there are a lot of opportunistic manufacturers trying to jump in this space because they see, they see the the demand created by, by the code requirements for these systems. And that's, that's really important to know because you can buy a lot of systems that haven't been tested by UL. And you really don't know if you're getting a quality system that's going to survive.

You know, people are literally buying parts and pieces online from Amazon and putting systems in I've seen amplifiers that are installed where the power for the amplifier is literally just a wall wart plugged into the wall socket. So anybody can come and just unplug the thing and take the entire system down that obviously would not pass you well. But we see a lot of manufacturers out there and a lot of specifications out there for non UL listed systems. And there are several manufacturers now that are, that are making UL 25, 24 listed emergency responder radio communication systems specifically for, for life safety use. The other one of the other challenges we really run into here is a lack of two hour rated vertical pathways for the riser and backbone. This is key pathway survivability level two or three definitely has an impact on a fire alarm system when you're having to upgrade from standard fire alarm cable to circuit integrity cable.

But when you upgrade from, for a long time, there was no two hour rated coaxial cable, but now there are some manufacturers in the market that do have ULS two hour rated coaxial cable, but that cable goes from several dollars a foot to over a hundred dollars per year. So there's a drastic increase in the price. If you have to accomplish your, your two hour pathway level two or three through the use of circuit integrity cable. So it makes a lot more sense to have, and particularly a high rise application or an any building where you've got a two hour rating for the building, and you need to meet that pathway level two or three for the, for the emergency responders system to have stack two hour rated electrical rooms or MDF rooms where you can run your circuits and protect the circuits within the two hour rated space and not have to run special cabling.

You know, it's important for us to know as a contractor from the engineer, what those pathways survivability requirements are. A lot of times when we see control construction documents or specifications, we don't see any reference to the pathway survivability requirements. We're not seeing the building fire ratings, or we're not sometimes given that information. We don't know the location of rated walls and rooms within the space. And that's just not given to us in our construction documents. It was key to it, key to provide that. And the probably the most critical element here is to when a specification goes up for a building. We prefer obviously on the engineering side, the engineers coordinate with the local AHJs and ask for their specifications. So most cities and most counties are going to have an individual that's responsible for the county-wide radio system, and they already have specifications available in the market.

Just pick up the phone and make a phone call, and they'll be able to give you a nice spec and I'll tell you exactly what frequencies and what bands you need to amplify and what the performance requirements are in their jurisdiction. So from a contractor standpoint, this is probably the biggest thing that we see is it's a system that's typically overlooked. It's not included in the specifications of the construction documents. And the fire department shows up at the building. They walk in the building, their radius signals die. And obviously they hold up the certificate of occupancy and it becomes a last minute panic by for the general contractor or the electrical contractor. And obviously when you're buying something last minute from a panic standpoint you're, you're not, you're not getting your best price. And the cost of installation after after ceilings are up and walls are up it's a lot harder to rough in a conduit and cabling and and put the system in for the best price.

We also struggle with difficulty coordinating between multiple trades. So again, we're having to interface this into the fire alarm system. We're having to get electrical and here, and we're having to coordinate with the roofing contractor. And from an ownership standpoint emergency respond to radio communication systems. Once they're installed, there are several things you have to be aware of. So it is a life safety system. And as a life safety system, it has to be serviced annually pertinent PA and if jurisdiction changes frequencies from one frequency to another, or one band from another, that system has to be upgraded every year, if, if they upgrade or they change frequency. Yeah. So that they've got a functional radio system within the building. And then every flight five years, you have to do a system recertification or a coverage recertification.

And this is to verify that you still have that minimum amount of coverage and bill and every space of the building to meet code. And even if you don't, if you didn't install an emergency responder radio coverage system at the beginning of the project it's possible that his other buildings you know, may build one building in a Metro environment and then other buildings get built around you. And as those buildings obstruct the signal, you may not where you had signal in the building before you may not have signal later. So every five years the building owner has to hire somebody to come out and do a recertification and tell you if you need a system. And obviously you have to install a system at that point in summary, emergency responder radio communication systems. They do provide additional capabilities over traditional hardware, hardwired systems.

Nobody really prefers the use of a hard wired telephone system anymore. And hard-wired firefighters phones are of no use to the EMS or the police department and those type of emergencies. These systems can be very expensive to install and support particularly if they're not designed properly on the front end or if they're not installed properly on the front end. And you want to make sure that you provide a contractor that at a minimum has access to a UL listed product and obviously has their FCC GRL license and have some experience in the market. Just want to thank you for your time and attention. And if you have any further questions about emergency responder radio communication systems, where you want to dig a little deeper, feel free to reach out to org, and we look forward to working with you. Thanks.

MCFP Virtual Conference | Discussing ERRCS | 2 of 3 | ORR Protection

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

During the MCFP Virtual Conference series, Dal Brazzell, Sales Manager at ORR Protection Systems, discusses Radio (BDA) Systems. Part 2 of 3.

Video Transcript:

So now all of the design and installation requirements were here. The only thing that was really left back in 72 was referenced to pathway survivability and interface into the fire alarm systems. And then again, in 2019 and the current version of code that's out now, there were some further changes that are really driven again through the contract and community, because of the difficulty in meeting pathway survivability level two, or level three in an existing building they've now changed the code. So that only the riser in backbone really needs to be level two or level three. And there's obviously a hard preference for that to be in a two hour rated, protected vertical chase of some sort. But they've backed off of the requirement for pathway survivability so that the pathway survivability only needs to match the building's fire rating.

So if the building only has a one hour fire rating, then the circuit only needs to be protected for one hour, that doesn't make sense to have a two hour protected circuit. So it limits the expenses of the installation and requirement for special cabling and wiring. So the different types of systems that are, that are on the market or the different types of wide area. So these are the countywide citywide systems. There are a lot of different bands available on the market and not everybody uses the same band. So historically you'd see a lot of folks using the UHF bands, the VHF bands UHF is going to be between 450 and 520 megahertz. VHF is going to be between 150 and 174 megahertz. Those worked great and rural environments because of it's long wavelength that travels a long distance. So you, you get a lot of coverage from one tower.

But the problem with UHF VHF historically has been those bands aren't set aside for public safety use. So you've got a lot of nonemergency traffic on the UHF and VHF bands, and that creates a problem because if you've got a lot of band traffic in an emergency situation, you can create problems with the reliability of the in-building system, if you're amplifying non-emergencies. So signals on top of the emergency signal. So you'll see over the last few years has been a big move towards 700 megahertz and 800 megahertz signal. So most cities have started to adopt the 800 megahertz band. And this is going to be the most common, it's a set aside band specifically for emergency use. It can be available as a digital frequency or an analog frequency. It can be trunking system so that you can have, you know, police, fire and EMS all on the same band and the same user sharing the same system.

The problem with an 800 megahertz is it doesn't because it's an, it's a short wave link, short wave links. Don't travel through building materials very well. So concrete steel, low E glass, really creative major problems and filtering out that outside radio signal from coming inside of the building. But again, the benefit of that system is it is set aside 100% for emergency responders. 700 megahertz is also set aside for emergency responders. There's some, a fair amount of adoption on the 700 megahertz band, but you won't see as much there on, on the 800 megahertz, or sometimes you'll see a combo dual band system, whether you 700 and 800 megahertz. And again, the same, same problems here is the 700 megawatts. It doesn't really penetrate a building well. So the key message here is you may have a city where the fire department is using an 800 megahertz system and the police department is still using UHF VHF, or you may have one using UHF and the other using VHF.

So not all emergency responders in any given jurisdiction use the same band. So the definition this system is not just a fire system, it's it's to help all emergency responders in a building. Again, in the case of a school shooting in the case of a fire or any type of issue where you might have the police that also needs to be able to communicate inside the building. So you really have to understand who's going to be using the system, what bands they're going to use, and then you have to select the correct technology to amplify each band. And you may have to have multiple amplifiers if you have multiple bands. So component subcommittee of the wide area public safety radio system, obviously you're going to have your handheld radios to your typical handheld radio has a small amplifier. It's normally gonna transmit that signal anywhere from a two and a half to a five watt signal out of the handheld radio mobile and vehicle radios are obviously going to have more power than a handheld radio, and they're going to go 25 to 50 Watts.

And then your actual tower repeater amplifiers are normally going to be anywhere from 50 to 300 plus Watts per amplifier. And this is important because the code says it's not just important that the people in the building receive the signal, but they also have to be able to transmit the signal. So code requires you have to have less than 95 DBM of loss on your uplink signal and less than 95 DB of signal loss on your downlink signal. So if you're only broadcasting two and a half to five Watts from your handheld radio back to the tower, and you're 10 miles away from the tower, obviously you're going to have more signal loss because you're starting with a smaller power system than you would on your downlink where you're broadcasting may be on a 200, 300 watt amplifier. So again, it is key to understand you've got to have both that uplink and downlink signal strength.

So the way the signal strength is measured again, is what they call a DBM that's decibels per milliwatt of broadcast, again, as the radio signal travels through the air, it travels through objects again, particularly concrete steel and Lowy glass. It's going to filter that signal out and you're going to have loss of strength. So normally if you're outside of a building for a good rule of thumb and you've got better than 82 DBM of loss, you're probably going to be okay without installing a radio system or radio enhancement system within the building. But normally if you've got a, a reading outside of a building, or if you're on a job site before the building's built, and you've got more than 82 DBM of loss, you're almost always going to need an emergency responder radio communication system, just because of modern building materials, all glass now, as low E glass and with lead construction the building materials are really going to filter out the, the radio signal.

So obviously the, the signal loss here is measured as a negative. So a negative 95 is better than a negative 100 on the system. So there's two ways to measure your signal strength. So in the early versions of the code, there was a reference to the performance requirements to have less than 95 DBM of loss on the uplink and downlink signal. But later versions of the IFC and the NFPA have switched over to what they're calling DAQ and DAQ is delivered audio quality. And that's very similar in the fire alarm world to intelligibility. So it's not just how strong is the signal, but it's how well you can understand the signal on the other end. So this is a measurable metric of the signal quality. And basically that's on a, that's on a scale of one to five and all all systems have to provide a system that where speech is easily understandable.

So DAQ of four is going to give you speech that's easily understandable with little noise and distortion four and a half is going to be rarely noise or distortion, and five is going to be perfect as you start to get below four speeches, understandable without permission, but you may have some distortion or noise in the background, and obviously you should drop below two. You really start to struggle to understand that signal. So it's, you don't want to have these levels. So there is there's some carry over and not all jurisdictions use the DAQ measurement and not all jurisdictions use the the DBM measurement. So again, it's important to know on the front end of the project if you're trying to meet the, the 95 DBM requirement or the requirement for the DAQ, so components of the in-building system you know, they're actually fairly simple.

They're, they're difficult to design, but they're, they're, they're fairly simple from a bill of material standpoint. So you normally have what's called the BDA some, some folks and some codes still reference this system as the signal booster, but your BDA is a bi-directional amplifier. So it amplifies the signal in the building and amplifies the signal out of the building. And normally that, that this is an example of what the bi-directional amplifier looks like. Normally that's going to be up on the upper floor of the building. If you've got a multi-store story-building, it's going to have an input and an output. And obviously on the input side, it's going to be connected to what they call a donor antenna and the donor antenna, or a Yagi antenna is normally on the roof or the wall of the building outside. And it's pointed towards the repeater tower for the jurisdiction.

And it's taking the signal off the air from outside as the input to the BDA, then the BDA amplifies that signal and pushes it out through the coaxial output through what they normally call the DAS or the distributed antenna system. And your distributed antenna system is going to be a number of antennas throughout the inside of the building. And each of these antennas are connected back to the BDA through a coaxial cable, and they're connected through splitters what's commonly called splitters or power dividers or couplers and just like any electrical system or a sprinkler system, or an air sampling smoke detection system. As you have additional length of coaxial cable, you lose signal loss for every foot of cable, you lose signal loss through your directional couplers and splitters, and you lose signal loss through your actual connectors on the co-ax and to the antenna.

So it's a calculated and highly engineered system to make sure that you've got the right output strength at the antenna inside the building. So it's, it's, it's critical that the, the, the couplers be installed in the correct location and the co-ax is installed properly in the wire's not kinked. So on and so on. So there, there are several different types of BDA systems on the market, and some jurisdictions have a preference for one over the other. So there's, without going into a lot of detail, there's what they call a class, a BDA and a class B BDA and some, some cities will specify only a class, a and some specify only a class B. So again, it's important to know when you're writing a specification or if you're a contractor and you're doing a checkout on a, on a project for your subcontractor, that if the engineer's asking for a class a, that what you actually got as a class, a, and not a class B or vice versa.

So all of these systems have to be installed by a licensed FCC individual with what they call a R O L or a general radio operator's license. And the system itself actually has to be registered with the FCC when it's installed one again, one key point. Obviously this is going to be an example of, of one of the types of interior antennas. You've got an example of a power divider here, or a directional coupler in addition to, to the bi-directional amplifier, which has to be mounted within a two hour rated space, you also have to have a remote annunciator or remote monitoring panel for the bi-directional amplifier, that's actually installed in the fire command center, or within a certain number of feet of the actual fire alarm control panel. So that when the fire department responds to the fire alarm control panel, they can see the, the status of the, of the BDA.

ORR Protection | Virtual Conference | Discussing ERRCS | 1 of 3

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

During the MCFP Virtual Conference series, Dal Brazzell, Sales Manager at ORR Protection Systems, discusses Radio (BDA) Systems. Part 1 of 3.

Video Transcript:

My name is Dal Brazzell with ORR protection systems. We're going to spend a few minutes today talking about an emergency responder radio communication systems. Thank you for your time. And if you have any questions after this presentation, feel free to reach out to us through the links provided so we can get your answers. So the topic of today's presentation really is to dig into emergency responder radio communication systems, specifically what they are, why we need emergency responder radio communication systems, the market drivers that got us to where we are code adoption and enforcement, the things that we have to meet from a performance standpoint within NFPA and the international fire code, the types of wide area, public safety radio systems, and the wide area, they're going to be our outside systems that support the fire department, police department and EMS, the components of those wide area outside systems.

And then the components of the inside are in-building wireless public safety systems. Again, there's many, many names as we'll get into, but the emergency responder radio communication systems, typical scope of work that's going to be required, not only for the installing contractor like, ORR but also the electrical contractor, the roofing contractor, sometimes the general contractor, and then lessons learned that can help streamline the entire process from the engineer to the general contractor, to the subcontractor and even the building owner. So try to cover a lot of different topics.

So emergency responder radios you'll find that most police departments, fire departments and EMS have been covered, have been communicating with handheld walkie-talkie type push to talk radios for the last 30 years or so for a number of reasons. And that's in lieu of obviously cell phones. But they've also been able to talk inside the building through two way wired emergency communication systems like firefighters funds.

There's a big push to get away from wired communications and firefighters phones. And obviously not to rely on the cell phone signals within to get into buildings because of the mission critical nature of emergency responder communication systems and the type of critical incidents that they're going to respond to, whether or not it's a safety issue, a health issue with an employee or a tenant in the building, obviously a fire issue or a shooter on campus or a shooter in the building. So by going to a handheld system, a handheld radio system, the fire department, and the other emergency responders, they've, they've built a trust and that system and the reason there's a trust in the system is because the towers in the network are hardened. So the, the, what we call repeaters or the actual tower sites that broadcast the county-wide radio frequencies, those are typically going to have battery backup for 24 hours.

They're hardened from attack, like most are bulletproof they're hardened from weather damage and weather emergencies. And in addition to that, they're actually hard wired back to the countywide or citywide 911 emergency operation centers, radios 800 megahertz, 700 megahertz UHF VHF bands are going to broadcast over a much wider area or a larger area than a typical cell phone coverage would be. So, and remote rural areas, you're going to get a lot more coverage through a radio system than you would with a cell phone system. The radios themselves are going to be more ruggedized for use in a police car, you know, and the firetruck on the SCBA equipment that the fire department is carrying the most important things. Here are the ability of the system to communicate to an entire team of firefighters or the fire department and the police department and the EMS, and not only to communicate to that entire team or multiple agencies, but to do that delay free and reliably.

So put yourself into a situation where you're, you know, working for the police department and you're broadcasting over your radio, a don't shoot message. And if the don't shoot message, doesn't come through completely instead of, you know, the, the person on the other end hearing, don't shoot, they hear shoot, obviously that's a major problem or if the message don't shoot, doesn't come through at all, that that could be a problem. If there's a firefighter down or a policemen down, they need to get that message across that's it's key in those critical situations. And they've got trust in these systems over a typical cellular system. So the big driver,

Why we are, where we are with these systems really started after the 911 attacks. So post 911, there were a lot of studies on things that we could do as an emergency response community to improve our response, improve the safety of tenants within a building. And one of the big things that came out of the NIST report I think in 2006, about the world trade center attack was that they recommended in addition to a lot of other things, the installation of what has come to be called emergency responder, radio communication systems, and NIST actually developed two teams. There's a team called the CTL, which is the communications technology laboratory. And under the CTL, there's a group called the public safety communications research division of nest. So they published their report and the report obviously got into the hands of emergency response AHJs across the country. And there was almost immediate adoption and some key cities to go ahead and, and adopt and enforce the installation of emergency responder radio communication systems within the buildings even before it was adopted in NFPA or the international building codes.

So obviously that occurred in the mid two thousands pretty quickly there was adoption, obviously by the AHJs and then later by IVC IFC and NFPA. But as you can imagine, when there's a recommendation for the technology and the technology doesn't exist, the initial technologies that were available from the components of the systems, weren't really built to meet the requirements of a life safety system in terms of survivability of the system and reliability of the system. So early the product probably left a lot to be desired. So it took a while for the product development to catch up with the demands and requirements of the local AHJs police departments and fire departments. So from a code adoption standpoint, we really saw the systems first show up, and NFPA 72 in the 2007 version of the code. And it was a very small reference but basically in the code, there was a reference of what they call it at the time to way in building radio communications enhancement systems.

And there's also another reference in the same code of in-building emergency radio communication systems. So there wasn't really a standardization of the name and in that code, it said that those systems are permitted to be optionally installed, serviced, and monitored by the fire alarm system. But it did not permit the system to take the place of other subsystems that were already required by code, like two-way wired communication systems, similar to a firefighter's phone system. And then from 2007 to 2010, there was actually some adoption in the IBC in the international fire code prior to the updates and the 2010 version of NFPA 72. But we started to really see widespread adoption in a lot of cities in the 2010 version of 72. So here, they kind of adopted what NFPA currently calls these systems, which is a two way radio communications enhancement system.

And that that term has really stuck with NFPA from 2010 until today. And within that code, there are several references. So the first thing is it said it's they covered the performance requirements and in those early performance requirements they required 99% average of the building and critical areas. So elevator lobbies, stairwells fire command centers, sprinkler riser rooms anywhere where the fire department is going to typically respond in an emergency situation. So they, you know, mechanical rooms, elevator equipment rooms, things like that. So 99% coverage in those areas, in addition to 90% coverage throughout general spaces in the building. So everywhere else they also outlined some installation requirements and survivability requirements survivability, frankly, in terms of the ability of the system to function while the building is burning theoretically, or the sprinkler systems are going off.

So there were some early requirements for NEMA rated enclosure so that the system could function. If the sprinkler head was going off in the same room with the, with the head end equipment and survivability of the circuits and pathways, and the early version of the code reference to NF circuits and pathway survivability levels two or three. So this is two hour rated protection for the circuit. And level three is two hour rate protection for the circuit in a sprinkled environment. So that, that showed up. But really at this time, this was only an optional system still, that could be used in lieu of firefighters phones. And the way the code was written is these types of systems could be used instead of firefighters phones with AHJ approval. But really, you know, most jurisdictions were still enforcing the use of firefighters phones.

And obviously keep in mind that the 2010 version of 72, wasn't really referenced in the international building and international fire fire codes that are enforced until several years later. So then in 2012 in the international fire code, the IFC and section five 10, it started to show up here, and obviously they have some different terminology than NFPA. So they're, they're calling these systems emergency responder radio coverage systems. And this is what we really have adopted today because this is what's in the enforceable codes at the state and local levels. So in section five, 10, it said in 2012, that all new buildings and existing building shall have approved coverage of 90% across the entire floor space. And again, normally that was going to be used in existing buildings to replace firefighters phone systems. If a firefighter's phone system had failed or their fire alarm panel was being upgraded, and it didn't make sense to upgrade the firefighters phone system, but in your new buildings, this is all new buildings, regardless of the height of the building.

So not just high rise applications, there's a lot of misunderstanding that these systems are really only to be installed instead of firefighters phones and high rises that the international fire code said high-rise applications and other facilities. So that again, in 2013, the addition of NFPA 72, we kind of moved away from the preference for firefighters phones, with an option to go to emergency responders, radio communication systems to going the other way where the preference was for the emergency responder radio communication systems instead of firefighters phones. So the code changed a little here, and it said that if you wanted to use firefighters phones in lieu of an ERRCS system, that requires approval by the AHJ. Additionally, they actually backed off of some of the survivability requirements for the circuits and pathway. So where prior circuits pathways required level two or level three, they added the option to do a pathway survivability level one in the code.

And that's primarily because the coaxial cables that are used for the systems there is no two-hour rated, or there was not a two hour rated circuit integrity, coaxial cable, and obviously fiber optic cables. There are sometimes used in the systems aren't two hour rated either because they'll melt. So it was extremely difficult to meet that pathway level two or three. So they did add the option to do path a pathway survivability level one, as long as you met level two for the riser where that was, where that was possible. And then they added the requirement for the actual BDA or the bi-directional amplifier, that's the signal booster or the, the head end of the system that had to be mounted within a two hour rated protected space. When we moved from 2013, 72 to 2016, 72 they moved all of the design installation and installation or inspection testing, and maintenance requirements to NFPA 1221 and 1221 is the code for emergency communication systems outside of not just radio, but, but many types of communication systems.

Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast: Power Generation

clebrun@revriv.com (ORR Protection) — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

In Episode 8 of The Mission Critical Fire Protection Podcast, Lee Kaiser sits down with ORR's Rick Reynolds. Rick discusses his tenure in the fire suppression industry, his take on engineered fire protection and power generation, and they discuss the future of mission critical fire protection. Subscribe on Apple Podcast or Spotify to always have the latest episode on your device, with a new episode available every other week.