Fire Suppression Systems

[Digger]

Hi all,

 

Quick question if I may.  We are looking at a building, two stories to house around 40 people, which has two escape routes at either end.  It is of a pre-fabricated structure.  We will have a server room on the ground floor close to one of the escapes off of a main corridor.  The server room will house approximately 5 or 6 tall servers within the room, which is approximately 3m by 5m in size.   

 

I wondered if anyone could provide any thoughts on what should be considered from a fire safety aspect for server rooms.  I am going to consult a fire safety advisor but just interested in the subject of fire safety in server rooms and your (non-legally binding) thoughts. Very much after school boy terms answers, so for example;

 

How do fire suppression systems work?

Is it a legal requirement that you have to have a fire suppression system?

What effect can a fire suppression system have on a building (especially those of a prefabricated structure than a brick and block structure)?

Can it be more dangerous to have a suppression system in this type of structures?

I see you can get fire suppression systems incorporated into racking, does anyone have any experience of these and are these recommended?

Is it recommended that server rooms have direct access out to an external area?

Perhaps a tick list of items to consider.

 

I’d really appreciated your thoughts as there are some great posts on here and I’d value your opinions.

 

Many thanks for your time.

[Tom Sutton]

Not having the full information it is difficult to give a detailed response but the following may help a little.

1. How do fire suppression systems work? 
It is a series of fixed pipes in the room to be protected and if a fire starts it actuates the system releasing the fire extinguishing medium automatically extinguishing the fire.

2. Is it a legal requirement that you have to have a fire suppression system?
Depends on the purpose of the system if it is designed to protect life by securing the means of escape then it is likely to be a legal requirement. If it is for property protection then that is a decision of the management.

3. What effect can a fire suppression system have on a building (especially those of a prefabricated structure than a brick and block structure)?
Depends on the type of extinguishing medium but whichever one is used it is going to be less detrimental than that caused by a fire.

4. Can it be more dangerous to have a suppression system in this type of structures?
Without having a lot more information on the structure and the system, it’s impossible to give an informed reply. 

5. I see you can get fire suppression systems incorporated into racking, does anyone have any experience of these and are these recommended?
These are usually sprinkler systems and are designed for high bay racking warehouses and most probably would not be suitable for your premises but there may be other fire suppression systems that use a similar idea.

6. Is it recommended that server rooms have direct access out to an external area?
I cannot see any reason why to would need direct access out to an external area other than moving large equipment in or out of the room but this would depend on the findings of the Fire Risk Assessment and the consideration of the mamagement.