[Nhcoll-l] Sprinklers in wet collections

Thu May 10 22:51:52 EDT 2012

Hi Gali,
At the Australian Museum, the new zoological collection and research building (completed in 2008) has no sprinklers in the collection storage areas. The fire suppressant system is Inergen gas, which is a combination of nitrogen, CO2 and argon triggered by flash and smoke detectors.  This is safe for humans and doesn't have the environmental impact of the old Halon systems. I don't think we would be permitted to have pure CO2 these days in NSW due to the risk of asphyxiation if an electrical storm triggered the system without warning.

http://www.wormald.com.au/systems/gaseous-agents/inergen-gaseous-system

The temperature is managed at 18°C and the air flushed regularly. Vapour detector alarms are triggered if the ethanol vapour levels rise too high in any space.

We are happy to share our experiences of various systems over the past 20 years if you want to contact me off-list. But as Robert suggested, the constraints of local regulations will be a major factor in the choice of a system.

Regards,
Colin Macgregor
colin.macgregor at austmus.gov.au
Manager Materials Conservation
Australian Museum, SYDNEY

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Andrew Stewart
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2012 6:47 AM
To: Gali Beiner; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Sprinklers in wet collections

Hi Gail,

We moved our wet collections into a new facility four years ago which also included an up-graded fire suppressant system. This involves creating a high density foam which is pumped into the room, filling it in around 2 minutes. The detergent concentrate is Jet-X Type C high expansion for use on hydrocarbons, which is mixed with waster in the pipe and squirted past a high-speed fan and grill into the room. It is triggered once two of the fire sensors in the roof have been tripped. The shelving is open mesh metal to allow the foam to penetrate.Once the fire alarm sounds anyone in the room has about a minute to vacate before the foam pumping starts.

It was tested in a small room prior to it being kitted out and observed by the local fire department as part of the sign off. The results were impressive to watch and extremely fast; but the biggest problem was the clean-up after. Still better than loosing the collection.
cheers
Andrew

Andrew Stewart
Collection Manager: Fishes
Museum of New Zealand
DDI (04) 381-7314
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
><<<))O>

________________________________
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Gali Beiner
Sent: Thursday, 10 May 2012 6:06 p.m.
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Sprinklers in wet collections
Dear Colleagues,

We are currently dealing with a proposal to install water sprinklers in our wet collection storage facilities as part of the general fire hazard measures. It will be very helpful to know what kind of fire-extinguishing measures have been installed in other facilities holding jars and containers with alcohol / formalin / other preservative fluids. Were there any particular considerations your institute took into accound, given that preservation fluids tend to be so flammable?

Many thanks for your thoughts on this subject,

Gali Beiner (ACR)
Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6584741
galib at savion.huji.ac.il<mailto:galib at savion.huji.ac.il>

Look into our National Natural History Collections <http://nnhc.huji.ac.il/default.asp?PageID=8> Website!
________________________________

Visit the Te Papa website http://www.tepapa.govt.nz
The email message together with the accompanying attachments may be CONFIDENTIAL. If you have received this message in error, please notify mail at tepapa.govt.nz<mailto:mail at tepapa.govt.nz> immediately and delete the original message. The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be views of Te Papa.  Te Papa employs strict virus checking measures and accepts no liability for any loss caused either directly or indirectly by a virus arising from the use of this message or any attached file.

________________________________

Deep Ocean
Do sea monsters really exist?
Exhibition 16 June 14 October 2012
www.deepoceans.com.au

The Australian Museum.

The views in this email are those of the user and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Museum. The information contained in this email message and any accompanying files is or may be confidential and is for the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, dissemination, reliance, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any attached files is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. The Australian Museum does not guarantee the accuracy of any information contained in this e-mail or attached files. As Internet communications are not secure, the Australian Museum does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message or attached files.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses and Content and cleared 
by MailMarshal
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20120511/f77e22d0/attachment.html 