Fire suppression

Norman E. Muller <nmuller [at] princeton__edu> writes

>I have heard that the fire suppressant FM200, when burned, emits
>hydrofluoric acid.  Can someone comment on this, please.  We had
>been considering using this here at The Art Museum, Princeton
>University, when reinstalling one of our storage areas, but this
>information is disturbing, if true.

I spoke with a friend of mine who works in the fire
detection/suppression field in California about FM200. He says it
only emits hydrofluoric acid when heated to a temperature of 1500
degrees.  Many (most?) U.S. jurisdictions require sprinkler systems
in addition to chemical suppressant systems, so both systems would
have to fail for a fire to heat the FM200 that much.

I'm sure there are environmental concerns involved with clean up,
but from a collections standpoint, if your storage area reaches 1500
degrees, items in your collection will be so far beyond help that
hydrofluoric acid won't make any difference.


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:5
                  Distributed: Thursday, June 21, 2001
                        Message Id: cdl-15-5-002
                                  ***