BY Brian O’Connor

With all of this expanding infrastructure, it’s important to protect these buildings from fire and its associated hazards. This is done through several different fire and life safety design decisions, most notably the installation of sprinkler systems. NFPA technical staff often receive questions regarding whether sprinkler systems need to be installed in these facilities.

Simply put, sprinkler systems are essential to the protection of life and property from the effects of fire. However, some stakeholders in the data center sector have expressed concerns over the potential of an accidental discharge of a sprinkler or water damage from corroded piping in buildings protected by sprinklers. These concerns are amplified in data centers, where the equipment can have high monetary value and the repercussions of lost data can be severe.

This begs the question of how data centers are required to be protected. Are these buildings required to have sprinkler systems installed, or can we replace them with another type of automatic fire protection system, such as a gaseous or water mist system? Ultimately the answer to this question is found in your local fire or building code as well as other locally adopted codes and standards.

Several factors come into play when determining whether sprinklers are required, including occupancy, construction type, stories in height, and floor area. Looking at the specific standards that would apply, NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, contains requirements on how to install sprinklers systems, while NFPA 75, Standard for the Fire Protection of Information Technology Equipment, contains specific requirements on how to protect buildings and areas containing information technology equipment such as data centers.

The requirements in NFPA 75 state that if the rest of the building has sprinklers installed, then sprinklers need to be installed in the information technology equipment room as well. It goes on to require that if the building is not sprinklered, then some sort of fire suppression system, whether a gaseous or water mist system, still needs to be installed to protect that room and equipment. NFPA 75 also requires a sprinkler system or a gaseous fire protection system to be installed under the raised floor if the area below the raised floor contains certain combustible material.

Even if a sprinkler system is required to be installed throughout the building, there is still a design path that might permit the omission of sprinklers in lieu of another equivalent protection method. This allowance comes from NFPA 75 and states that there is a choice between one of two permitted fire protection approaches. One option is the prescriptive approach, where the area would need to comply with the written requirements of NFPA 75. The other option would be to develop a performance-based design. With this option, a few rules need to be followed, first and foremost that the performance-based design needs to provide equivalent performance to the prescriptive requirements of NFPA 75. This is usually done by developing performance criteria to meet. Additionally, a risk assessment needs to be completed, and the individual conducting the performance-based design needs to be qualified. With performance-based approaches, it is important to have open communication with your authority having jurisdiction—in this case, that can include the insurance agency or the owner and is not limited to the local fire code official—to ensure approval. AHJs can also require a third party to review the design once it is completed.

While water is a great fire suppression agent, it can be damaging to information technology equipment. This is often the motivation behind trying to omit sprinklers from these areas. While it may be difficult to develop a performance-based design that is equivalent to sprinkler protection, there are sprinkler design options in NFPA 13 that will minimize the chances of accidental discharge or leaking pipes. Preaction sprinkler systems, either single- or double-interlock, can be used to limit that potential for water harm due to accidental discharge resulting from a damaged sprinkler. Piping can have increased pitch, additional auxiliary drains can be provided, and thorough inspection, testing, and maintenance programs can be implemented to limit the potential for corrosion issues.

Precautions to reduce the risk of accidental water discharge can also be taken, including locating sprinkler piping above aisles rather than the equipment to limit exposure to leaks, installing cages on exposed sprinklers to reduce the potential for damaged sprinklers, and reducing the number of piping joints in the system to minimize the number of potential leak points. Of course, the installation of another extinguishing system, while perhaps not eliminating the need for sprinklers, can also greatly limit the potential for water discharge in the event of a fire if it is able to effectively suppress or extinguish a fire in its incipient stage before sprinkler activation.

Data centers are an important part of global information infrastructure and need to be protected properly. NFPA 75 and NFPA 13 work together to ensure that appropriate protection systems are installed to ensure not only the property protection for these facilities but the safety of personnel.  

Brian O’Connor is a technical services engineer at NFPA.

 

SOURCE: NFPA