Fire suppression systems

Laramie Hickey-Friedman <lhickey-friedman [at] menil__org>, on behalf of
Kelly Pike, writes

>    ...  Also, if any museums have already replaced their
>    Halon systems we'd love to hear which system they choose and
>    why.

I would highly recommend that you look into water mist fire
suppression. It uses 10% as much water as normal sprinklers and has
properties similar to a gas in that fine water particles are able
get into small cracks and crevices within a room. In addition, the
piping is flexible and takes up less space than a conventional
sprinkler system.

Gas suppression only works well in very tight, sealed rooms with low
ceilings that do not normally have windows and doors open to other
rooms or to outside spaces. Inergen (a mixture of inert gasses) is
usually preferred by most fire suppression specialists due to its low
toxicity and relatively good fire suppression characteristics.

I recently did a research project on this topic and would recommend
the following resources:

    Alderson, Caroline and Nick Artim. "Fire-Safety Retrofitting:
    Innovative Solutions for Ornamental Building Interiors." APT
    Bulletin, vol. 31, no. 2-3 (2000): 26-32.

    "Alternatives to Halon for Special Fire Hazard Fire Protection."
    HARC News (Halon Alternatives Research Corporation).
    <URL:http://www.harc.org/harcnews.html>

    Artim, Nick. "Cultural Heritage Fire Suppression Systems:
    Alternatives to Halon 1301." WAAC Newsletter, Volume 15, Number
    2 (May 1993): 34-36.
    <URL:http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/waac/
        wn/wn15/wn15-2/wn15-209.html>

        **** Moderator's comments: The above URL has been wrapped
        for email. There should be no newline.

    -------. "An Introduction to Fire Detection, Alarm, and
    Automatic Fire Sprinklers." Northeast Document Conservation
    Center Technical Leaflet: Emergency Management, section 3,
    leaflet 2. <URL:http://www.nedcc.org/plam3/tleaf32.htm>

    NFPA 909: Code for the Protection of Cultural Resources. Quincy,
    MA: National Fire Protection Association, 2001.

    NFPA 914: Recommended Practice for Fire Protection in Historic
    Structures. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection Association,
    1994.

    Mawhinney, Jack and Christian Dubay. "Water Mist: What Is It?"
    NFPA Journal (Jul/Aug 1999): 26-30.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:42
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