In this lesson,
we're going to discuss fire suppression systems.
Now, in a data center,
we usually have
a built-in fire suppression system that's installed.
This can include wet pipe systems, pre-action systems,
or special suppression systems.
Now, first, we have wet pipe systems.
A wet pipe system
is the most basic type of fire suppression system,
and it involves using a sprinkler system and pipes
that always contain water inside of those pipes.
Whenever a fire alarm goes off,
the valve at the end of the pipes is going to open
and the water will be released.
For example, a traditional office building,
or even in some homes,
you're going to see these wet pipe systems.
Now, if you look around your office tomorrow
and you see a small sprinkler sticking out of the ceiling
with a red glass bulb inside of it,
that is usually going to be a wet pipe system.
Now, the problem is that if that pipe leaks
or that little glass bulb is broken by accident,
water will come rushing out
and it will damage your servers and network gear
that are located inside of the room underneath them.
In general, my advice is to avoid using a wet pipe system
in and around your data centers,
even if you are going to use them
for the rest of your office environment.
Now, if you are going to use a wet pipe system, though,
I recommend that you opt to use
our second type of fire suppression system,
which is known as a pre-action system.
Now, a pre-action system helps to minimize the risk
of accidental releases
if you're going to be using a wet pipe system.
With a pre-action system,
both a detector actuation
like a smoke detector and sprinkler
must both be tripped
prior to the water being released.
And this is almost like two-factor authentication
for your fire system.
Again, though, using water in a data center,
even with a pre-action system,
is not usually going to be the best idea.
So instead, I recommend we look at our third area,
which is known as a special suppression system.
Now, special suppression systems
usually are going to utilize a clean agent
as part of its suppression system.
A clean agent is either a halocarbon agent
or an inert gas.
When the agent or the inert gas is released,
it's going to displace the oxygen in the room
with the agent or inert gas,
and this in turn is going to suffocate the fire
because there's no more oxygen there.
Now, there is a danger
with using a special suppression system like this
because if there's people in your data center,
they're going to be suffocated along with that fire
whenever you release the clean agent.
For this reason, any data center
that's going to use a clean agent-based system
must be equipped with an alarm
that announces whenever the clean agent
is going to be released.
Additionally, that data center
has to have supplemental oxygen available
for use by any personnel
who may be working in the data center,
just in case a clean agent is going to be released
while they're in that room.
So, remember, when it comes to fire suppression,
you need to design your data center
with a clean agent system
to prevent damaging your equipment
with water from a wet pipe or pre-action system.
While we hope that we're never going to have to use
our fire suppression systems,
it's always a good idea to have them installed properly
by a professional
and inspected annually
to ensure that they're ready to be used
in case a fire does break out
in any of our data centers.