|
Fire Suppression system >> Ansul - USA
>> Fike System Deficiencies
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Whom it may concern
Dear Sirs,
This has reference to your
requirements of Fire Suppression systems for Switching Centers/ Data
centers / Computer suites, and other such installations critical to your
business.
We need not emphasize
again on the importance of the Fire suppression systems for mission
critical areas, and it is very clear that a significant amount of
thought goes in to the purchase of the correct Fire Suppression system
for such applications.
World over, FM-200 from
Great Lakes Chemical Corp, with systems developed and tested by the
System OEMS have been deployed for such applications. We realize that
your organization has also been buying FM-200; however, in the near past
have also bought / thought of buying FE227 systems vended by Fike.
We wish to draw your
urgent attention to the following facts w.r.t to FE 227:-
Throughout India, there
have been several concerns raised by experts on the Fike FE-227 system
which we encapsulate below:-
1) The
Gas: FE-227 is exactly the same physical and chemical composition as
FM-200, and the gas by itself, does have certain approvals.
However, the Fike System, which uses this approved gas, does not have
any of the internationally recognized approvals such as UL / FMRC / LPCB
/ VdS / Vinipo.
The system has certain local approvals in the South East Asian
Market, but that is about it – it does not have any recognized approvals
or listings.
Further, these local approvals that the Fike system has, is applicable
for Welded Containers - whereas in India, a Seamless container is
required. This would mean that even these fringe approvals are not
applicable in India.
2)
The Hardware: Fike has been the pioneer in the world market for
it’s cartridge type rupture disc, and uses the same technology for it’s
FE-227 systems too.
Allow us to give you a insight in to this technology as under:-
The system employs a three-way activation system, and utilizes a
Nitrogen pilot cylinder, per FE227 Cylinder. So, say if
the system comprises of 20 Nos. FE227 cylinders, one would require
installing, use and meticulously maintain 20 Nos High Pressure (1800 psi)
Nitrogen Cylinders for the same!!!
Further more worrisome is the fact that NONE of the pilot cylinders, out
of the battery of the pilot cylinders one will require, has a Pressure
Guage.
It simply means that one would never know if there is sufficient
pressure in the Pilot cylinder to actuate the FE227 system in case of a
Fire Emergency.
Every FE227 Cylinder has a Double Discpack installed on the
cylinder neck.
On Activation of the Nitrogen Cylinder (if the N2 pilot has
sufficient pressure), the Nitrogen Gas enters the Double Discpack, and
breaks open the upper disc pack. Once the Upper Discpack is punctured,
the Lower Discpack opens / punctures, by virtue of the FE-227 pressure
stored in the main Agent Cylinder.
If any of the above operations fail, the system will not function, and
the Area being protected shall be subject to a burnout, in case of a
fire emergency.
Refilling: - On every refill, one has to replace the Dual Disc packs on
every FE227 agent Cylinder, and incur a cost, beyond the cost of the FE
227 agent refill. Further, whether such Disc packs have CCOE India
approvals, is a big question mark.
We draw your attention to the fact that any and all of the other FM-200
OEMs such as HYGOOD, do not employ such round-about techniques for agent
release. All the cylinders work on the Master-slave concept, wherein the
Electric Actuator is on the Main cylinder, and the slave cylinders have
the pneumatic actuators, and there are no pilot cylinders.
Most importantly, none of these systems (HYGOOD) use any replaceable
material which needs to be purchased by the client during a refill.
To surmise, we would say as follows:
Fike
uses FE227 as agent. The system does not have any international
approvals.
The
system uses one Nitrogen pilot cylinder per FE227 cylinder. This implies
a maintenance nightmare, since High-pressure pilots are prone to
leakages.
The
High Pressure Nitrogen Pilot Cylinders do not have CCOE approvals.
The
High Pressure Pilot cylinder does not have a pressure gauge, so you are
not sure, if the pressure is sufficient to discharge the FE227, and
protect your critical assets..
For
every refill, you will require replacement Disc packs, the pricing of
which is the Fike distributors choice. (Availability subject to CCOE
Approvals)
The
system efficiency for any system is a multiplicative product of the
individual component efficiency. The more the No. of Components, the
lesser is the system efficiency – this is one of the basis chapters of
the Six Sigma quality drive.
With
so many system components, and their interdependency, the Fike FE227
system may not be termed to be a very reliable system.
The
calculation software used by Fike in India is actually meant for welded
cylinder and not for seamless cylinder.
Kindly
note that we have come to know of the above deficiencies in the Fike FE
227 system, during a recent competition benchmarking exercise carried
out by us, and we felt it was necessary for us to pass on this
information to you, since we have always known your organization to be a
Quality and Engineering Driven Organisation.
We are
sure that the above information will help you in making a more informed
purchase decision.
| 
