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Environmentally friendly alternative to fire protection

Until the early 1990s, Halon was the most widely used and effective extinguishing agent in fire protection - especially in occupied areas. However, it is now widely recognised that its use destroys the earth's protective ozone layer and so its production has been banned in accordance with the latest revision of the Montreal protocol.

Ginge-Kerr, represented in South Africa by Chubb Integrated Systems (CIS), a division of Chubb Security South Africa, has developed the Argonite system as a viable but environmentally friendly alternative to Halon. Tested and approved by regulatory bodies throughout the world, Argonite is effective against fires in almost all combustible materials and flammable liquids and is particularly suitable for use in areas where the use of water, foam or powder would be unacceptable.

Argonite Fire Protective Systems are ideally suited to the protection of fixed equipment and plant. They are particularly applicable for high value risks where fires can have devastating consequences way beyond the cost of damage and lost production. Applications include chemical and petrochemical plants, the mining industry, computer sites, telecommunications facilities, archives stores and control centres.

In a closed space almost all fires are extinguished in less than 60 seconds when the oxygen concentration falls below 15%. The Argonite fire extinguishing system, based on a mixture of 50% argon and 50% nitrogen, reduces the oxygen concentration to 12,5% - a level acceptable to human exposure over short periods - thus eliminating the fire quickly and effectively without affecting personnel.

Knowing the size and complexity of the area to be protected, the fire hazard present and the requirements of the local approving authority, a dedicated computer program is used to specify the size and geometry of the Argonite system hardware.

Other benefits of the Argonite system include integration into an existing detection and alarm system, the system is safe for occupied areas, there is minimum downtime after a fire, there is no post-fire residue or damage to protected equipment and the installation and maintenance costs are low. In addition, the system is electrically non-conductive or can be automatic or set up for manual release.

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