User Manual

Siemens Switzerland Ltd 29
Building Technologies Division
4.5. Extinguishing in data centers
A data center is a complex building with diverse demands on the extinguishing infrastructure to be provided.
What is installed will be largely determined by:
• Local building codes
• Insurance guidelines
• Official fire protection reports
• Size of the property
4.5.1. General recommendations
Gas extinguishing systems Siemens recommends the following extinguishing systems appropriate for data
centers:
• Chemical agent systems
• Inert gas systems
For mission-critical applications like data center rooms, a waterless fire
extinguishing system is a must. Not even the newest water-combined
technologies using limited water amounts are recommended due to the
sensitivity of the infrastructure in data centers. Here the potential damage of the
extinguishant is a factor that strongly defines towards dry agent and residue-free
technologies. The only exception is the protection of the diesel generators,
where water-combined solutions are appropriate.
Also the use of sprinklers in the buildings or rooms hosting data centers, with the
aim to bring a second level of protection, is strongly discouraged. The risk of
having a false discharge in the sprinkler system is too high a price to pay, only for
the potential scenario that the automated dry extinguishing would not work.
Such cases can be considered if the sprinkler in use is type pre-action or even
better pre-action dry pipe systems.