Data Centers Breathe Easier With Less Oxygen 392
PC World is reporting that some companies are looking at a new method of fire protection in their server closets, oxygen-deprivation systems.""Wood stops burning when the oxygen content falls to 17 percent and plastic cables between 16 to 17 percent, said Frank Eickhorn, product manager for fire detection at Wagner Alarm and Security Systems GmbH in Hanover, Germany. Wagner makes electric compressors that use a special membrane to remove some of the oxygen from the outside air, a system the company calls OxyReduct. The excess oxygen is exhausted, and the remaining nitrogen-rich air is pumped inside the data center."
Safe to work (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Mechanical Halon? (Score:2, Interesting)
This whole idea doesn't seem that great. So what if something shorts out and sits there glowing red and no one notices? You sure as hell notice when something starts burning but something could be slowing frying multiple components before anyone notices because there would be no signs.
Re:Safe to work (Score:2, Interesting)
But, that must be making some assumption about the actual elevation of the datacenter. If the datacenter really is at 6000 ft. (it would be close to that, for example, in Denver, CO), then what is the effect of the reduced O2 concentration? At what point do you have to pressurize your datacenter to make the reduced O2 concentration safe?
Optimal (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I call bullshit (Score:5, Interesting)
Something will burn with the lower concentration of oxygen, but would be much less likely to ignite into open flame. It'd smolder slowly, and give you much more time to react to it.
It's a confusing analogy to explain a simple technical concept, because tech writers assume everybody is beneath their intelligence. Like putting too much air in a balloon.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Mechanical Halon? (Score:3, Interesting)
This was great for non-smokers on a submarine. (Score:5, Interesting)
It isn't just the oxygen partial pressure. (Score:5, Interesting)
It isn't just the partial pressure of oxygen that's important for fire. It's also the partial pressure of nitrogen. Nitrogen cools the reaction without contributing to it.
So having the partial pressure of oxygen appropriate to 6,000 feet while having even greater than sea-level partial pressure of nitrogen could well keep a fire from burning (at least in some fuels) and make it much harder than usual to get one started even in things (like magnesium) that would be happy to burn in this atmosphere (or even in pure nitrogen).
Meanwhile the human body is mostly interested in the partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Walking into the data center would be like suddenly going from local altitude to 6,000 feet (minus the ear-pops and potential for a case of pressure-related issues). You'd run a little less "brightly" than usual. Live in such conditions 24/7 for a month or so and you'll build up additional hemoglobin in your blood until (like people who live at altitude) you're just fine. (I don't know if you'll get back to "full power" living in them 8/5, though.)
Re:Mechanical Halon? (Score:3, Interesting)
I worked in a USAF sim that had halon under the floors, but no chilled air flow under the floors, and the floor tiles had no vents. One day the fire alarm tech accidentally triggered the halon, and the air pressure under the floor tiles lifted the tiles up and off of their frames. And it blew all the under floor dust up into the room. I think it was $10K to replace the two tanks (1988). The programmer in the room at the time said it sounds more like a bomb than a hiss.
This incident occurred the day after we had a power supply convert itself into a "smoke generator", around midnight at shift change. It filled the sim with smoke. We ran in from the maintenance shop (through the sim was the way out too) the boss pulled the halon dump handle, and nothing happened. That's "Oh Shit" night, followed by a "Oh Shit" day. I think the fire alarm guys had a "Holy Fucking Shit" week.
They won't pass out- they'll die. (Score:2, Interesting)
Among other things, a Kodak safety lecture discussed an employee that modified his Bullard Hood hose connection. He accidently hooked it up to a Nitrogen line. Three breaths later, he was unconscious, and he was dead before anyone could resuscitate him.
They'd better make damn sure NO ONE can defeat the safeties to get into that room. You'll never know what hits you.
Re:Not limited to low-oxygen... (Score:1, Interesting)
The whole foods diet you recommend will kill most diabetics - far too many simple starches and sugars. My dad was getting worse on things like that until he dropped the American Diabetes diet, dropped the Whole Foods diet, kept walking and doing pushups and crunches, and then did Atkins exactly by the numbers. Lost 60 pounds, got his HDL LDL and Triglycerides all into normal range and even reversed the insulin sensitivity problems he was having (probably more a result of the loss of fat than the diet). Its not just the anectdotal either, the latest studies I recall hearing about put the 1 year weight loss for Atkins above all the other "name" diets. Pops is now on South Beach, which is like Atkins but has more fruit and veggies, and is completely off Lipitor, Metformin and Lisinopril.
I dont disagree that processed oods are proably bad - I avoid them too. But Atkins worked and saved my dad's life - so its not "a load of crap".
Re:Mechanical Halon? (Score:3, Interesting)
In a place I worked the computer room had a halon system. One day at shift change one of the operators caught a backpack strap on the mushroom button (even under the plastic mollyguard).. tore the button right off.
His first mistake was trying to put the button back.... whooosh!
halon stinks hours later.
Re:Not limited to low-oxygen... (Score:3, Interesting)
The body does not need carbohydrates. Your body can run fine on ketones. In fact, the brain operates more efficiently on ketones than on glucose.
People have been living on this diet for a lot longer than it's been sold as a weight loss plan. People with certain types of seizures which cannot occur unless brain glucose is over a certain level live on it all their lives as a means of controlling seizures.
In addition, and this is one of the essential arguments in favor of the Atkins diet, this is more or less the diet that several peoples evolved to eat. Not everyone, of course; it depends largely on the domesticable cereals which were present where those peoples lived.
Finally, the Atkins diet does not completely contraindicate carbohydrates. You are expected to keep your intake low during the induction phase, but after you have lost weight you can if you like add in carbs until you begin to gain weight, then dial them back a bit and hold them there. For some people this is hundreds of grams a day, for some people only a couple of dozen. But the simple fact is that the Atkins diet does not prohibit all carbohydrates and your ignorance in this area is substantially telling.
Would you like to state your next objection so I can debunk it as well? I may not get to it today, but I can go on like this for weeks.
Inergen (Score:2, Interesting)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inergen [wikipedia.org]
Re:Mechanical Halon? (Score:1, Interesting)
In fact, Halon is safe enough that the standard Navy safety brief for an accidental Halon discharge spends no time on death by asphixiation (because there's basically no risk of that). Instead, they tell you to stop, duck, and cover - because the Halon's coming out really fast, and you want to keep all the stirred up dust out of your eyes and lungs, and cover your head in case a nozzle comes loose and hits you.
Re:Safe to work (Score:4, Interesting)
Fires, however, do not have gas-exchange membranes like your lungs, making the partial pressure less important, and the concentration more so. 8% oxygen at two bars is less supportive of fires than 100% oxygen at
Re:Not limited to low-oxygen... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not passing out the whole point of this (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This was great for non-smokers on a submarine. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:They won't pass out- they'll die. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:They won't pass out- they'll die. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This was great for non-smokers on a submarine. (Score:3, Interesting)
No kidding! Can you imagine the kind of power it'd take to drive the air scrubbers for something like that? You'd have to plug them directly into a nuclear powerplant or something.
The reasons they'd allow smoking in that environment are that 1) in the scheme of things, the extra cleaning capacity needed to get the smoke out of the air is trivial, and 2) submarines are not exactly conducive to sanity, and the last thing you want to do before locking a smoker in a tiny underwater can for several months straight is to take away his calming influence. Actually, #2 is a far more important consideration than you might initially think.