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From: ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.legal
Subject: Re: Smoking in public?
Message-ID: <10555@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 9-May-85 17:52:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.10555
Posted: Thu May  9 17:52:26 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 11-May-85 02:09:25 EDT
References: <473@nmtvax.UUCP> <917@trwatf.UUCP>
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
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Xref: watmath net.flame:9821 net.legal:1673


> Install a Halon system in the computer room.  Here at the ATF we have a
> fire-control system

If it is installed in accordance with the NFPA guidelines then...

> that will dump 1000 lbs of Halon at extreme
> pressure should the fire system detect even a whiff of smoke.  The
> Halon smothers the flames by eliminating all of the oxygen in the
> room.

Wrong, it requires two detectors to go off before it will dump the system.
In addition, HALON doesn not work by displacing the oxygen.  As a matter
of fact, they aren't quite sure how it works.  One theory is free radical
displacement, I'm not a chemist so I don't understand all what they are
describing.

> 
> Within 30
> seconds there won't be enough oxygen in the room to support a poodle,
> much less a human being.

Sorry, if the system has been properly installed, there isn't enough Halon
to fully displace the atmosphere in the room.  You can breathe in a Halon
environment, they believe it has no harmful effects, at least for four hours.
A bigger problem is the gases given off by your partially burned computer.

It does however make a mess of your computer room by blowing the ceiling
tiles and every other loose object in the room around.

-Ron