KIDDE FM200 FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM

GX-20 systems utilise FM-200, a gaseous extinguishing agent manufactured by Great Lakes Chemical Corpora- tion, which has emerged as the most viable alternative to Halon 1301 on the basis of extensive trials. FM-200 is fast and effective with a low space/weight characteristic which is also environmentally-acceptable and safe for human exposure.

Halon fire extinguishants were regarded for many years as the most effective fire suppressants for a wide range of applications. Amendments to the Montreal Protocol of 1987 focused on the manufacture of Halons, however, and their production has now ceased in recognition of their virulent destruction of the ozonelayer. In addition, Europe- an legislation requires that Halon systems within the EU must have been decommissioned by the end of 2003.

FM-200 has been adopted by the majority of the world’s fire protection companies and is the most widely used clean agent fire suppressant, with tens of thousands of systems installedacross the globe.

What is FM-200?

FM-200 is a colourless, odourless gas containing only carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, thereby lacking the ozone- depleting presence of bromine atoms. Highly penetrative and achieving an homogeneous dispersion in the hazard zone, it acts on fires largely byphysical means, lowering the temperature of the flame and fuel to a point at which combustion reactions cannot be sustained. There is no significant obscuration on discharge and this non-corro- sive and electrically non-conductive agent causes no damage to sensitive equipment with no post-discharge clean-up required.

GX-20 systems are ideally suited to the protection of high value assets from both loss by fire damage and the accompanying catastrophic plant down-time. Applications include:

• Computer suites
• Telecommunications Facilities
• Internet Service Providers
• Control rooms
• Railway signalling centres
• Air traffic control centres
• Stores & Archives
• Heritage sites – art galleries and museums
• Medical and laboratory equipment
• Petrochemical plant
• Offshore oil and gas installations
• Pipeline pumping stations
• Ship’s engine rooms

Benefits

• Fast and effective against a wide range of Class A, B and electrical fires
• Safe for occupied areas
• Non-corrosive and electrically non-conductive
• No post-discharge residue, no clean-up required
• Environmentally acceptable
• 25 bar system
• Engineered and pre-engineered systems available
• Range of system release options
• Low installation and maintenance costs
• Computer design maximises effectiveness of system
• FM Global and LPCB approved components with ULI listed systems available on request
• Marine systems available

Safety to personnel

A significant body of toxicity data has been obtained for FM-200 from over 70 studies. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the UK Halon Alternatives Group accepts the use of FM-200 in occupied spaces up to 9% concentration without mandated egress times and at up to 10.5% with mandated evacuation times. Since the agent does not act by oxygen-depletion in the hazard zone, it poses no human asphyxiation threat.

Both engineered and pre-engineered systems are avail- able. The pre-engineered systems offer a low engineer- ing/design cost option with defined maximum design parameters. Engineered systems offer optimum designs for the defined risks with reduced pipe sizes, unbalanced flows and common room and void protection possible.

The environment

FM-200 has a zero ozone-depletion potential and a short atmospheric lifetime. When used in a fire event, FM-200 mitigates the effects of an uncontrolled fire and at the end of the lifetime of the system, the gas can be readily recov- ered and recycled.

Kidde GX20 systems are designed to conform to NFPA 2001 and ISO 14520 requirements. An em-pirically-verified computer program is used to model two-phase agent flow and ensure that the correct concentration of agent is achieved within 10 seconds throughout the protected zones as required by the NFPA and ISO Standards.

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