The risk of fire is taken exceptionally seriously in data centres due to the large volumes of electronic equipment within the facility and the requirement to minimise damage and disruption in the event of an emergency. Inert gas fire systems are one type of fire protection system that many data centres rely on, as they provide a highly efficient and reliable method for suppressing fires.

Fire requires 3 main ingredients: Oxygen, Heat & Fuel Source. If any of these elements are taken away the fire will quickly extinguish itself, this is called the ‘Fire Triangle’.

The most common way to fight a fire is to use water to reduce the heat of the fuel below the ignition temperature. While effective for some fires, water is unsuitable for electrical fires and incredibly destructive to the sensitive equipment found within Data Centres.

In the event of a fire ‘Inert Gas Systems’ can activate and discharge large quantities of ‘inert’ (non-flammable gas) into a data hall or server room to lower the oxygen level from ~21% down to between 12-15% where it cannot sustain itself. In most cases this leads to the fire extinguishing itself in under a minute and causing minimal amounts of damage.

Traditionally these systems were known as ‘Halon Fire Suppression Systems’ due to them using the ‘Halon’ to displace the oxygen in the room, however due to the gas being discovered to causing damage to the O-Zone layer in the mid 90’s has for the most part been phased out and replaced with other combinations.

Most current ‘inert gas fire systems’ use a gas mixture called Argonite which is a blend of Argon & Nitrogen, this gas combination is colourless, non-conductive, non-toxic, does not harm the environment and leaves no residue on equipment.

Contrary to popular belief these systems do not suck all the oxygen out of the air, if you were in the room while the system was going off it is very unlikely you would be seriously injured as the oxygen content of the room should still be above 12% (survivable). Other than the fright of your life, the only expected symptom you might feel would be feeling breathless as if you were mountain climbing at high altitudes.

Depending on how the fire system is configured, the equipment within the data hall may still remain energised and online throughout the incident and the room able to be re-entered after a couple of hours once it has had a chance to be ventilated.

These characteristics make ‘inert gas’ the ideal fire suppression system for critical applications for Data Centres.