3M Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid

Amy McKune <amckune [at] eiteljorg__com> writes

>We are considering replacing our Halon system with a Novec 1230 fire
>suppression system.  All the trade data suggests it is a much
>greener product than Halon, leaving traces in the environment for a
>fraction of the time that Halon does.  I understand that it is
>distributed with the same force as Halon continuing the need to move
>away from storing objects on open shelving.  Does anyone have advice
on whether this is an appropriate solution for collections storage?

One of the museums in Quebec city was asked to phase out its Halon
fire extinguishers in favour of a 'greener and healthier' product.
Halotron was suggested as a replacement; like Novec 1230 it is
marketed as a greener product that leaves no traces behind, and
seems to be geared towards the electronics market (for instance in
server rooms,etc.).

We had our doubts about this product being appropriate in a museum
setting so the museum did a small but effective test: with the help
of a firefighter and in a controlled setting they started small
fires on mock ups of three groups of artifacts (each group contained
a painting, newsprint, books) and extinguished the fires with three
different fire extinguishers, namely an ABC fire extinguisher, a
water mist extinguisher, and the new Halotron extinguisher. Despite
its claims the Halotron left a gummy residue behind that was
impossible to clean on artifacts.  The ABC left powder behind of
course but it was easy to clean up.

The products themselves are different (Halotron is a
2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (HCFC-123) while Novec 1230 is
1,1,1,2,2,4,5,5,5-Nonafluoro-4-(Trifluoromethyl)-3-Pentanone) so I
am not saying that our results apply to Novec 1230 (or that our
tests were very scientific), just that one needs to be careful about
what products to choose and the claims the companies are sometimes
making, and it might be worth making a test yourself before changing
your whole fire suppression system.

Myriam Lavoie,
Object conservator
Centre de Conservation du Quebec
Quebec city


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:5
                  Distributed: Saturday, June 23, 2012
                        Message Id: cdl-26-5-002
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