Data Centers Breathe Easier With Less Oxygen

PC World is reporting that some companies are looking at a new method of fire protection in their server closets, oxygen-deprivation systems.""Wood stops burning when the oxygen content falls to 17 percent and plastic cables between 16 to 17 percent, said Frank Eickhorn, product manager for fire detection at Wagner Alarm and Security Systems GmbH in Hanover, Germany. Wagner makes electric compressors that use a special membrane to remove some of the oxygen from the outside air, a system the company calls OxyReduct. The excess oxygen is exhausted, and the remaining nitrogen-rich air is pumped inside the data center."

Comments

It would still smoulder and smoke

[nietsch]

The lower oxigen content just means that fires will not selfsustain. But if you have an external source for energy input, like the short you mentioned, thngs will still get hot and start to smoke. The chances are just a bit better that it does not cause a full-on fire.
You are not supposed to be working all the time in the serverroom anyway, it's much too noisy in there and your 200Watt of heat production would be much better used to warm your office.
In other words: you would have noticed that fire too late anyway if you had to rely on the amount of smoke coming from it.

Poisonous exhaust

[youthoftoday]

We had a similar issue when with the proliferation of large power-stations: water was pumped into cooling towers and then dumped in rivers. The cooling process de-oxygenated the water and this obviously meant the 'poisoning' of rivers (fish unable to breathe etc). We have a similar situation here. Only this time, the facility actually holds on to the oxygen. Why not mix it with the exhaust air (I'm sure it's not completely recirculated?) and avoid the potential for a similar situation. I know TFA says it's beathable, but it's worth considering the option nonetheless. Not all animals are humans. Remember what scale datacentres operate on, and which direection they're going in (they're not getting smaller). Has the potential not to be a significant issue...

Re:But...

[pavon]

That's because your fuel doesn't need higher concentrations of oxygen to ignite. With other materials that is not necessarily the case.

That is definately not the correct explaination, as wood and plastic cables burn just fine at 6000 feet. I grew up at 7000+ feet, and had just as much fun with magnifying glass as any other kid.

AFAIK, the percentage of oxygen is no different at altitude than at sea level, it is just the pressure of atmosphere is lower. So if I had to wager a guess, I would say that combustion is dependant on concentration of O2 per mass, and respiration is dependant on concentration of O2 per volume, which is why a smaller percentage of O2 has a greater effect on combustion then on respiration.

Re:They won't pass out- they'll die.

[purduephotog]

*sigh*

I *realize* they aren't talking about O2 free rooms. Perhaps I should have picked a better article closer to nitrogen asphyxiation then one advocating it's use for the death penalty. My bad.

I was *trying* to point out that you don't want to get too carried away by 'inerting' areas because there are consequences- while you may become sleepy and tired from CO poisoning, or disoriented, hot, and suffocating from CO2 poisoning, people will not experience warning symptoms with N2 poisoning- they'll simply keel over. That's it- zip, nada- I'm all for fire-safing server rooms (GO HALON!). No motive to discredit this technology- and no interest IN discrediting it. Just simple information that your average person might not have known about...

And you'll get into trouble with the N2/O2 becomes about 95%- there's not enough O2 partial pressure (Depending on your lung capacity and general health) without the addition of helium- that N2 has to dissolve somewhere, too...