Fire code specifies that sprinklers must be installed, so there will be a dry pipe system for that.
In a new, mission critical UPS/switchgear/battery room configuration, is FM-200 overkill, or reasonable? These are systems to support both a data center and a high-rise building.
My understanding is that having EPO (emergency power off), like you find in a data center, is not practical or possible.
My take on it is that a switchgear/UPS/battery fire is not very likely, BUT if there were a fire that triggered the sprinklers, there would be downtime, as dumping 28 GPM of water from a sprinkler over energized switchgear, UPS, and batteries would make the room unsafe to enter and possibly do bad things to the UPS, switchgear, battery chargers, etc.
Any published best-practices?
NEC, NFPA, and local codes basically say you have to have sprinklers.
BTW, I don’t sell FM-200 for a living! 🙂
