Air Sampling

Smoke Detection

With VESDA,
you will never
have to worry
about smoke
going unnoticed
in your Datacom
facility
At a large datacom facility, a VESDA system alerted
staff to a problem. A capacitor on an emergency
generator was having electrical problems. They found
the source and prevented a fire.
Scott Lacey, Engineer, Cromwell Architects Engineers, U.S.A

What are the consequences of fire? What are the risks?

The implications of downtime or equipment failure According to the FCC, the most common instigator of
in a data center or telecommunications facility fire events in telecommunication facilities are building
(datacom) are massive. The USA Federal systems, especially the power distribution equipment.
Communications Commission (FCC) estimates that
The trend towards faster, more compact and higher
the cost of downtime in a large datacom facility is
functionality datacom equipment has led to:
upwards of US $2 million per hour.
• increased power consumption, which has led to
A fire in or near a datacom facility can cause:
higher heat density.
• equipment failure or loss.
• more time being spent on server and equipment
• latent equipment failure due to smoke upgrades than on assessing the associated risks.
contamination.
• inadequate heating, ventilation and
• service disruption to businesses, services and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to support new
customers. generation equipment.
• loss of the building or other physical structure. • HVAC systems aiding the spread of incipient
smoke and fire, leading to equipment
In 1999 a fire sparked by a dropped tool burnt contamination.
down a Pacific Bell Telephone Exchange.
The incident took down 110,000 phone lines, “Through rapid alarm notification to our security
airline networks, lottery terminals, emergency console, building management team and via
service communications and security services. wireless paging to our 24 x 7 operations staff,
the VESDA system gives our staff and customers
confidence to place their mission critical
Smoke causes computer cancer telecommunications systems within the worlds
According to the FCC, 95% of all fire damage within most connected facility”
facilities housing electronic equipment is corrosion. John R. Savageau SVP of Operations for CRG West
The fire may do little immediate damage, however,
the chloride and sulfur deposited on delicate Unique detection challenges:
electronic equipment will react with humidity in the
• Air movement from air-conditioning interferes with
air to start the corrosion process.
the normal dispersion of smoke; often drawing it
Redundant systems within the same building may be away from conventional detectors.
contaminated if they share the same air-conditioning
• Smoke dilution occurs in areas of high airflow
system.
and in large open spaces; delaying the time it
takes for conventional point-type detectors to
detect smoke.
• Many HVAC systems employ a filtration system,
which will remove smoke particles from the air,
delaying the time it would take to detect smoke.

VESDA systems are designed to

overcome the difficult challenges
present in datacom facilities. VESDA air
sampling smoke detection is focused
on life safety, asset protection and
business and service continuity.
A VESDA system will ensure In 2006, a fire in a cable tunnel in Manchester, UK,
wiped out voice & data services to 130,000 homes
your Datacom facility is protected and businesses. The cost of the ensuing chaos to the
from fire area’s economy reached a staggering £10m. Litigation
may continue for years to come.

The most effective use of a VESDA system to protect a datacom facility, is to install sampling points near
the most likely sources of electrical fire, and along the path that smoke will be carried by air-conditioning.
The Xtralis Datacom Design Guide should be consulted when designing and specifying VESDA ASD systems.

In small facilities Capillary tubes Sampling across the fresh

one VESDA branch off the main air make-up vent can be
detector can be VESDA sampling used to prevent the
used to protect pipe and into the introduction of external
several areas e.g. equipment cabinet, pollutants, and to prevent
ceiling, return air allowing the earliest internal detectors from
vent and under possible warning of issuing false alarms.
the floor. smoke within the
cabinet.

Smoke in an air- VESDA sampling pipe

conditioned room travels should be installed
with the airflow to the under the restricted
return air vent, rather area of the raised floor
than to the ceiling. and near high-risk
VESDA sampling pipe cabling, this enables
can be installed across early detection of any
the vent to detect smoke smoke in that space.
early.

NB: All designs should be tested to comply with VESDA Design Guide recommendations and local codes and standards.
 – Sensing danger

VESDA buys time. Time to respond to a fire threat, minimizing damage and business downtime. VESDA
systems are highly sensitive, have a wide sensitivity range and can be strategically positioned where smoke
will travel. This enables the very early detection of smoke, and in the unlikely event that a fire cannot be
controlled, a VESDA detector can be used to actuate suppression systems. Unlike conventional point-type
detectors, VESDA systems actively draw air samples to a central detector, they monitor airflow, and a clean air
barrier is used to protect the optics. This ensures that air is reliably and actively sampled for smoke and that
the optics are protected from contamination, thereby, reducing nuisance alarms and maintaining the senstitivity
of the detector over time.

VESDA systems comply with local fire codes and standards

• NFPA - 75 - Standard for the protection of computer EDP/ Clean Agents.
• NFPA - 76 - Standard for the fire protection of telecommunication facilities.
• TIA - 942 - Telecommunications infrastructure standard for data centres.
• FFIEC - The U.S. Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council recommendations.
• BS6266 - 2002 - Code of practice for fire protection for electronic equipment installations.
• BFPSA - British code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of ASD systems.

Companies that have installed VESDA systems

AT&T Verizon AIS (Thailand) BellSouth
Sprint Cable & Wireless TELUS Qwest Communications
Vodafone British Telecom Bank of China Orange Telecom
T-Mobile Cingular Entel Telefonica de Movistar
Charter Communications IDT DELL Lynx
Time Warner Cable Time Warner HSBC Nextel
TeleGlobe MCI IBM Telstra (Australia)
China Mobile China Netcom JP Morgan Bank of England
Korea Telecom SingTel Standard Chartered Bank Telecom New Zealand
AboveNet Optus (Australia) Bank of Scotland Telmex

Approvals
NF
CCCF SE
RVICE

Call the Xtralis office closest to you, to access VESDA Design Guides and other information.

www.xtralis.com
The Americas +1 781 740 2223 Asia +852 2297 2438 Australia and New Zealand +61 3 9936 7000
Continental Europe +41 55 285 99 99 UK and the Middle East +44 1442 242 330

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