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INERGEN® Gas Fire Suppression Systems
INERGEN® is the best known Inert Gas Agent and has been used for more than 20 years. It is used as a reference for both the agent and the hardware. As the best marketed Inert Gas product, it is widely used to describe all Inert Gas Systems, but ultimately an INERGEN® System is a manufacturer-specific product.
Like all Inert Gas Agents INERGEN® is very environmentally friendly as it has an Ozone Depletion Potential of 0 and the Global Warming Potential and Atmospheric Lifetime does not apply as the gases are already in the atmosphere.
What is INERGEN® Inert Gas Suppression Agent?
INERGEN® is a mixture of 3 gases namely Argon, Nitrogen and CO2. The exact mixture of the 3 gases is 52% Nitrogen 40% Argon and finally 8% CO2. CO2 is added in such a low concentration that it has only a small effect on breathing and is there to automatically stimulate breathing in the human body for oxygen to the brain.
The trade term IG541 comes from describing the approx volume by percentage of each gas. It is colourless, odourless and has a similar density to air, although slightly heavier and can be used in class A, B and C fires.
It is held as a gas in the cylinder and when discharged it does not mist, so it is not visually impaired to get out of the protected room. Because of the pressure during discharge it will be both noisy and will make your ears pop.
The standard concentration levels, which are safe for people, are 43%, and at this level the system does not have to be isolated when entering the room. Care must be taken if the concentration levels are higher as the system would need to be isolated before entering.
What Pressure is INERGEN® Available As?
As one of the first Inert Gas Suppression Agents to begin with it was only originally available as 150 bar which meant that the amount of cylinders required to protect a smallish sized room was quite considerable against say FM200 or Halon. Very soon 200 bar and now 300 bar systems became available cutting down on the quantity of cylinders needed to protect data centres and large server rooms. But like all Inert Gas Systems, INERGEN® requires a large storage area in comparison to FM200 and Novec 1230 but ultimately it is a very flexible fire suppression agent.
INERGEN® is available today as 200 bar and 300 bar for new systems from Concept Fire Suppression Ltd and we would be happy to discuss your requirements. Older 150 bar systems are only available under our Service Exchange Program.
Hardware
INERGEN® hardware is not as simple as the fire suppression agent, as there are many different valves in the field and it is crucial that the right valve is identified in particular for 10 years of testing. A lot of the older valves are no longer available as new replacements but there are many older valves available as refurbishments. The identification of the right valve is best performed visually, and any requests for refills or 10 years testing must be provided with images of the valve and cylinder.
For new 200 bar systems there are 4 cylinders sizes available 27ltr, 40ltr, 67ltr and 80ltr and for 300 bar only an 80ltr cylinder. It is unusual to see anything less than an 80ltr cylinder, but they are there, so care must be taken when ordering replacements.
Download Inergen Sales brochure