[Nhcoll-l] Sprinklers in wet collections

Fri May 11 03:50:49 EDT 2012

Hi all,

Brian's comments are very interesting - and basically describes a 
system, installed in the Brussels collection in the early 1920! The 
amazing about this system is, that it was originally designed to work 
completely without any electric devices (and electronic sensors, of 
course), allowing the system still to operate in case of power failure.

The alcohol collections are subdivided in low chambers (approx. 2.20m), 
branching from a central corridor to the left and right. Each of the 
small chambers (approx. 3 qm) are guarded with firedoors, which are 
triggered with a thin fuse wire. Once triggered, strong springs close 
the firedoors and trap a potential fire inside the respective chamber 
and cut the room from air circulation (supplied via the central 
corridor) simultaneously. The fully brazen (!) shelves & perforated 
boards will withstand the heat from emerging fire without collapsing 
(breaking even more glasses fueling the fire). Burning ethanol dropping 
from the shelves escapes via a well designed canal system inside each 
chamber, additional grooves on both sides of the firedoors & canals in 
the central corridor prevent any (burning) ethanol from spreading via 
the central corridor. Each corridor has an emergency exit at its end 
(the collection is a very scenic 20 or something story building above 
ground), allowing trapped staff to escape & climb down at the inside of 
the front of the building.

However, new fire safety regulations (assuming that all glasses will 
burst at once in case of fire) will replace theis ancient concept from 
the early 20ies of the last century because they are ... outdated. Not 
to mention that all electric installations inside the fluid collections 
are originally designed to be explosion safe ... surely outdated, too ...

Think many museums would be happy if they would have such an elaborated 
and well designed system.

Dirk

Am 10.05.2012 23:32, schrieb Brian Sidlauskas:
> Hello Gail, Andy and others,
>
> Very interesting discussion.   With the cooperation of the local fire
> marshal, Oregon State University just moved our ichthyology collection
> to a new facility that seems to be closely in line with Andy's
> suggestions.  Our sprinklers are also water-based, and the room has its
> own HVAC system that replaces the air every two hours.  This system is
> controlled separately from the HVAC in the rest of the building.  The
> metal shelving in the compact shelving units is perforated.
>
> Other features of the room include two-hour firedoors and firewalls,
> placement on an external wall of the building (can be broken down by the
> fire department to gain access in an emergency), and the construction of
> a large reservoir under the building that can accommodate the entire
> fluid volume of the collection, plus two hours of sprinkler output.
> This last has perhaps more to do with earthquake safety than fire
> safety, and was designed to handle the unhappy incidence of every jar
> and tank breaking simultaneously.  Perish the thought.
>
> I hope that this helps.
>
> -- Brian
>
> On 5/10/12 6:45 AM, Bentley, Andrew Charles wrote:
>> Hi Gali
>>
>> I think the issue with water sprinklers spreading a fire are a little
>> overblown personally.  Her at the University of Kansas, Biodiversity
>> Institute we had a new facility for our wet collections built in the
>> mid 90’s and we went with a three pronged solution:
>>
>> 1.Lowered temperature – 65°F – below the flash point of 70% ethanol
>> which is 70°F
>>
>> 2.HVAC system that replaces air every two hours in the facility to
>> prevent vapor buildup, and
>>
>> 3.A sprinkler system and smoke detectors.
>>
>> Personally I think the potential hazard to people of any gas
>> replacement system (CO2 or otherwise) and the additional cost (very
>> expensive initially and to maintain) far outweighs any potential issue
>> with a sprinkler system.  70% ethanol would be diluted so quickly that
>> it would have very little chance to spread dramatically within a
>> facility in the event of a fire.
>>
>> Hope that helps
>>
>> Andy
>>
>>      A  :             A  :             A  :
>>   }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
>>      V                V                V
>>   Andy Bentley
>>   Ichthyology Collection Manager
>>   University of Kansas
>> Biodiversity Institute
>>
>>   Dyche Hall
>>   1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
>>   Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
>>   USA
>>
>> Tel: (785) 864-3863
>> Fax: (785) 864-5335
>>   Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
>>
>> http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
>>
>>                             :                 :
>>      A  :             A  :             A  :
>>   }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
>>      V                V                V
>>
>> *From:*nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu
>> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of *Gali Beiner
>> *Sent:* Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:06 AM
>> *To:* 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!
>>

-- 
Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
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