Fire Extinguisher System for Server Room

Any recommendations on this? My Budget is $300 and the room is 12x12x12.

Dont know if there is a good portable or a nice suppression system available.

Is this room filled with computer equipment?

For $300, you should be able to get a couple good fire extinguishers. Just make sure you keep an eye on it. If you want an automatic system, you'll need a lot more than $300.
My recommendation is to talk to a professional in your area and get a quote from them. That way you can make sure it is done right.

[Global Moderator]

Is this room filled with computer equipment?

Yeah, you're not going to want something like Water or Foam for a computer. Probably Carbon Dudeoxide Dioxide would be best.

i think a dry chemical fire extinguisher would be best. personally i would have one by the door (hand-held type) and a couple automatic ones. i would have a heat detector in the room whereupon, in the event of a fire, it would set off an alarm that would activate a timer and a horn. the timer, while the horn was blaring warning others to evacuate the room , would count down to about 10 seconds and if the countdown wasnt manually stopped after 10 seconds, the auto fire suppression system would kick in.

Yes the room is filled with two server racks, one enclosed and one open.

I was told to purchase hand held extinguishers, but I dont think that would really solve anything if, for example, the fire is in the enclosed unit. I found a CO2 unit at lowes for about $125. Also if the fire started whoile out of the office.

Let's say I increased the budget to $1K. Any viable system out there that are good for that much?

You can try this link...but you'll need to call them for pricing:  http://www.periphman.com/fire/computer-room-fire-suppression.shtml

The correct budget for a fire suppression system for that room is equal to the value of every piece of equipment in the room + the value of the data + the cost of the time it would take to set up new equipment and restore all of the data.
If your higher ups won't give you that budget then give them an estimate for the numbers I listed above and tell them that's what it will cost if the room catches on fire when no one is around, or if it can't be stopped in time with their 300$ hand held extinguishers.

You need to be using something like this http://www.orrprotection.com/products_caf.asp that will automatically engage and not damage your servers.

You should also have a Disaster Recovery plan that accounts for whatever the acceptable amount of downtime in the event of a catastrophe is. That may mean something like a server held off site that contains virtualized versions of all of your servers that have snapshots updated daily or something of that nature.

Disaster Prevention and Recovery is far more important than a 300$ budget indicates. There is a good chance that a company which has a fire in their server room and no disaster recovery plan will go out of business shortly thereafter.

Edit: I like the link Saviour gave you as well. That's a good system.

[Global Moderator]

Speaking of Disaster Recovery Plan, I hope you're backing up all the data every now and then.

I have been here for one week at this company. No Backups and no DRP. I am working on all of that as we speak. Backups should be in place today, DRP by the end of the week.

I really appreciate all of this advice. I have calls into both companies you guys supplied. I have oredered 1 handheld for now. I believe I can conveince them for an increase in the budget to get what it is we really need.

I believe I can conveince them for an increase in the budget to get what it is we really need.

I sure hope so

I sure hope so
[/quote]
Amen to that

[Moderator]

Attention span short, didnt read all the replies.

Is the server room equipt with ceiling sprinklers that activate from heat? And is the server room cooled by an air conditioner unit? (Why an A/C unit? You dont want a sprinkler or automatic fire extinguisher going off due to high heat caused by the servers themselves)
A sprinkler will damage  a computer, as you can imagine, but, at least the entire building wont catch on fire.

Unless the server room is covered by an actual person 24/7, during the evening, no one will be there to actually put the fire out...

In your server room, there should be a switch that will shut down the servers completely and instantly in the even of an earthquake or in the even that a fire starts or anything like that. If the fire is caused by something inside the server, you can expect that if you put it out with a dry fire extinguisher, its going to eventually start again.

Why an A/C unit? You dont want a sprinkler or automatic fire extinguisher going off due to high heat caused by the servers themselves

the installation of an A/C unit depends upon exactly how high the temperature gets. in smaller server rooms, a few simple exhaust fans can suffice. also, the temperatures would have to be quite high in order to set off a sprinkler head or a heat detector.

[Moderator]

Why an A/C unit? You dont want a sprinkler or automatic fire extinguisher going off due to high heat caused by the servers themselves

the installation of an A/C unit depends upon exactly how high the temperature gets. in smaller server rooms, a few simple exhaust fans can suffice. also, the temperatures would have to be quite high in order to set off a sprinkler head or a heat detector.

*Smacks self*
Your right, it would have to be exceptionally hot.

I lied... but, then again, I'm no expert on the topic. I wanted to take a computer class that covered this type of stuff this summer, but, the class was full.

a little off topic, but what was this class called? im really curious as it is not up to the data guy to keep his server room cool, it is up to the architect and/or the HVAC consultant.

Just to answer the questions asked:

The server room is not seperately AC cooled. The main rack is enclosed and fan blown from the bottom and the heat is sucked out from the top and we had are HVAC put an exhaust out of the room.  These are the list of things all ready in the works.

A heat temp gauge that will email my cell on certain temperatures (from internally).
A web ping, 5min intervals, service to my cell, so if our website goes down, we know (Externally).
I installed a two hour fire/water prrof safe for intenal backups and data.

As for 24/7, heck no. We are out the door at 5 and try not to look back.
We are in Texas, so not really worried about earthquakes, maybe Tornados.

[Moderator]

a little off topic, but what was this class called? im really curious as it is not up to the data guy to keep his server room cool, it is up to the architect and/or the HVAC consultant.

I should stop talking 
I think I will just watch this topic and see if I learn something

The class was called "Computer Technology"
No, it wouldent be about the fire safety or heating unit information, but, it would go over concerns about the operating conditions of the servers themselves, as well as setting them up, configuring, and making sure they keep running.

you might also check out APC's website. They have some products available for cooling in the corporate section.
http://www.apc.com/products/category.cfm?id=9&subid=47

Also you will want a cleanguard fire extinguisher sorry forget the rating number for it but if you talk to the fire extinguisher guy he will know exactlyl what you are asking about.  The problem being that while a fire extinguisher may be rated for electrical fires they are generally not rated for server survival.  The average electrically rated fire extinguisher will leave a powder residue over everything including the inside of your servers and drives and in short order you will lose them.   Hope this helps.

nice bump...

The average electrically rated fire extinguisher will leave a powder residue over everything including the inside of your servers and drives and in short order you will lose them.

im curious, how does powder destroy hard drives?

[Global Moderator]

nice bump...

The average electrically rated fire extinguisher will leave a powder residue over everything including the inside of your servers and drives and in short order you will lose them.

im curious, how does powder destroy hard drives?

Forget that, how does the 'powder' get inside the Hard Drive?