FSSA Presents Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle Challenges at SFPE

Members of FSSA’s technical committee recently prepared and presented a review of emerging fire protection issues in data centers that employ hot aisle/cold aisle containment techniques.


In response to requests from FSSA installer members, the technical committee set about to itemize the numerous fire protection challenges posed by various methods of containing hot and cold air in a data facility.

Technical committee members Steve Carter, Jeffery Kidd, John Spalding and Paul Rivers developed and presented a review of their findings at the resent Society of Fire Protection Engineers annual meeting held in Portland, Oregon this past October.

Their presentation highlighted five main challenges that hot asile/cold aisle containment system pose to fire protection systems:

• Obstructions
• Inadequate automatic obstruction removal
• Multiple areas of containment
• High temperatures
• High airflow velocities

Additional information and details about FSSA’s continuing awareness on this issue will be presented at FSSA’s upcoming 30th annual meeting in Rancho Mirage, California on February 25 – 28, 2012. For more information visit www.fssa.net.