Fire suppression agents

On November 29, 2006, the N2 fire extinguishing system of the Museum
of Ethnology Vienna went off. Due to a false alarm caused by dust
entering from a construction site in a certain section of the
storage area, three storage rooms were flooded with N2 . As a result
of the enormous pressure of the gas needed for the flooding, a large
number of ethnographic wooden objects was virtually blown off the
open shelves and severely damaged. The storm-like exchange of the
room air dispersed the dust from the shelves and spread it onto the
objects, even on those kept in closed cabinets.

In addition, a marker gas called "Limona MA FCC", an oily substance,
which is added to the odourless N2 produced a tacky film on the
objects. As a result of this incidence, the museum staff is now
discussing possible adaptations of the fire extinguishing system or
other solutions to this very unfortunate situation.

Has anybody encountered a similar situation and if so, how did you
deal with it?

Regarding the marker gas Limona MA FCC, does anybody know what type
of substance that is--and its possible effects on organic and
inorganic objects and on human health? Do you know about an
alternative marker gas without any negative effect?

Christiane Jordan
Objects Conservator
Conservation Department
Museum of Ethnology
1010 Vienna, Austria
+43-1-53430 221
Fax: +43-1-53430 230


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:36
                Distributed: Saturday, January 27, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-36-016
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