Inert gas fire suppression in server rooms

Water puts out a fire but destroys the electronics it reaches, so server rooms often rely on gas suppression, which fills the sealed volume in about sixty seconds and lowers the oxygen level to around 12 to 15 percent, enough to smother combustion while remaining breathable for a few minutes. Inert gases, blends of nitrogen, argon and sometimes carbon dioxide, replaced halons, which were banned for their effect on the ozone layer. The system requires a sealed room, very high-pressure cylinders and a brief, massive discharge, and that is where its lesser-known limit lies: the blast and noise from the nozzles can vibrate hard drives enough to knock their read heads off track, hence the use of silent nozzles. High-pressure water mist is the other route: it cools with very little water, but it does wet. For the insurer, suppression reduces the size of the loss but creates a peril of its own, to be assessed just like the fire.