International. Latin America, like the whole world, has experienced a multitude of fires that have destroyed valuable property, cultural heritage and in the worst cases – it has claimed lives. Notably, a fire at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro in September 2018 consumed 90% of its objects, including collections detailing extinct languages, pre-Columbian artifacts, and millions of items of historical and cultural value. More recently, a fire in the State Treasury building in Monterrey, Mexico in June of this year caused material damage between MXN$10 and 15 million, seriously affecting the establishment and disrupting the daily lives of workers in a dozen nearby buildings.
There is good news for those sites with valuable goods – there is technology in fire systems that protect both property and human lives using environmentally friendly technology. To protect the most sensitive and valuable assets, owners should invest in hybrid fire systems, which combine the use of an inert gas, with a minimum volume of water.
Hybrid fire systems offer material and environmental safety
Most fire suppression systems use exclusively water or dry chemicals in gaseous form, but these can cause damage to valuables and even environmental damage. Hybrid systems, on the other hand, use a haze composed of an inert gas such as nitrogen and a minimum volume of water, both elements 100% friendly to the environment, since they do not contribute to global warming or the loss of ozone layer in the atmosphere. Nitrogen also has the advantage of not reacting with elements in their gaseous state used by these systems, as well as being economical.
The diameter of the water droplets emitted by a hybrid system offers even more advantages for homeowners. For example, the average droplet diameter of conventional automatic sprinkler systems can reach up to 100 microns, and both electronic systems, delicate goods, as well as legal or historical documents, can be damaged by the same fire system. A hybrid system can produce a droplet mist with diameters of an average of 10 microns, which reduces the wetting factor of the haze, but allows for a larger contact area and better energy transfer, while protecting objects.
Another advantage these systems provide includes the ease of doing real tests without damaging valuables or the health of the equipment performing the test. What's more – each stage of the test can be verified in real time thanks to the elements used by the system, inert gas (such as nitrogen) and water. By not requiring tightness in the room where the system is installed, it works in open spaces as well as in closed spaces, and the place that must be protected should not be completely isolated.
Varied and versatile uses
These versatile systems can be used in a variety of applications with sensitive assets to protect, including data centers, control rooms, storages, transformers, paint rooms, mines, hospitals, archives and museums. For each of these applications, there is a unique advantage in favor of hybrid systems. In mining applications, hybrid systems do not require the construction of pump rooms and are lightweight and easy to install, while, in museums or libraries, the same system does not damage what it is intended to protect. Fine mist composed of inert gas (nitrogen) and water mist also prevents damage to sensitive technologies such as those found in control rooms or data centers when there is a fire.
Victaulic Vortex
All the features mentioned so far are part of the ideal solution for these applications, such as the Hybrid Fire Extinguishing System Victaulic Vortex. Developed specifically for sensitive applications, it is the most economical solution in medium areas of 500 to 1,500m2 in the sector. Compared to other fire suppression systems for space hazards, the recharge value of a clean agent system can represent about 60% of the initial investment in contrast to the Victaulic Vortex, where the recharge value can cost around 2%, representing short- and long-term savings due to its 30-year lifespan.
Harmful fires, and even harmful fire suppression systems for what they protect can be avoided with a hybrid system such as the Victaulic Vortex. The need to protect heritage, technology and other assets is undeniable and doing so with an environmentally friendly solution and human health is something that owners and contractors should take into account when installing a fire extinguishing system.
* Note from Luis Bonilla, Fire Protection Specialist at Victaulic.
