Level 1 Manual

Level 1 Training
for
Fire Enclosure Integrity
Design, Testing, and Witnessing
For complying with

 NFPA 2001 (2012 edition)- Annex C
 NFPA 12A (2009 edition) - Appendix B
 ISO 14520 (2006 edition) – Annex E
o FIA Guidance 2010
rev-2012-03-15
Revision History
Date Person Rev Notes
2011-09 CG Initial edits. Rev copy saved.
Copyright © 2012 Retrotec Inc

All rights reserved.
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Retrotec Energy Innovations Ltd.
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merchantability, quality, or fitness for any particular purpose. The information in this document is subject to
change without notice. Retrotec reserves the right to make revisions to this publication without obligation to
notify any person or entity of any such changes.
CleanAgent 2001 and FanTesticIntegrity are Trademarks of Retrotec inc. Other trademarks or brand names
mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Level 1 Training Manual
Table of Contents
1 Introduction to Peak Pressures and Enclosure Integrity .............................. 6
1.1 Why Clean Agent systems? ........................................................................................... 6
1.2 A brief history of gaseous agents… ................................................................................. 6
2 Peak Pressure facts ........................................................................... 8
2.1 What is Peak Pressure? ................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Peak Pressure theory .................................................................................................. 8
2.2.1 Peak Pressure with Inert agents ........................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Peak Pressure with Halocarbon agents ................................................................. 10
2.3 Leakage to Volume Ratio (LVR) ................................................................................... 11
2.4 Humidity effects on Peak Pressure ............................................................................... 12
2.5 Design elements to sustain Peak Pressure ....................................................................... 12
2.5.1 Enclosure strength ......................................................................................... 12
2.5.2 Determine necessary LVR ................................................................................. 13
2.5.3 Required vent area ........................................................................................ 14
3 Hold Time facts............................................................................... 15
3.1 What is hold time? ................................................................................................... 15
3.2 Agent behavior in the enclosure after discharge ............................................................... 15
3.2.1 Pressures across Holes: How Agent is Lost ............................................................ 16
3.2.2 Dynamic discharge pressures............................................................................. 19
3.2.3 Mixing – Convection and circulating fans .............................................................. 19
3.3 Pressures That Cause Agent Loss .................................................................................. 20
3.4 Descending Interface ................................................................................................ 21
3.4.1 NFPA 2001 – sharp interface ............................................................................. 22
3.4.2 ISO 14520 – wide interface ............................................................................... 23
3.5 Continual Mixing ..................................................................................................... 24
3.6 Comparing Continual Mixing and Descending Interface Hold Times ........................................ 25
3.7 The Door Fan Test ................................................................................................... 25
3.7.1 How a Door Fan “Sees” a Room ......................................................................... 27
3.7.2 Total Enclosure Leakage (or Whole Room) test....................................................... 28
3.7.3 Hold Time requirement for NFPA 2001 (2012 edition) .............................................. 28
3.7.4 The Lower Leaks (or Below Ceiling Leakage Area) Test ............................................. 29
3.8 Predicting the hold time............................................................................................ 31
3.9 Hold Time Dependencies ........................................................................................... 32
3.9.1 Leakage Area (ELA) ........................................................................................ 32
3.9.2 Initial and Final Clean Agent Concentration .......................................................... 32
3.9.3 Equipment Height and Enclosure Height ............................................................... 33
3.10 Measuring Maximum Agent Height ................................................................................ 33
3.11 Measuring Minimum Protected Height ........................................................................... 34
3.12 Other Door Fan Applications ....................................................................................... 35
4 Enclosure & System design - hold time .................................................. 36
4.1 Run walls slab to slab ............................................................................................... 36
4.2 Eliminate T-bar suspended ceilings ............................................................................... 36
4.2.1 Clipping tiles is often used but is ineffective ......................................................... 37
4.2.2 Discharge agent above the false ceiling ............................................................... 37
4.3 Maximize the room height and volume .......................................................................... 37
4.4 Select an appropriate hold time .................................................................................. 38
4.4.1 Specifying a Longer hold time ........................................................................... 38
4.4.2 Specifying a Shorter hold time .......................................................................... 38
4.5 Fit automatic door closers ......................................................................................... 39
4.6 Leakage reduction effect on hold time (Descending Interface) ............................................. 39
4.7 Recurring Design Problems ......................................................................................... 42
4.7.1 Cascading Pressures ....................................................................................... 42
4.7.2 Common Sub-floor ......................................................................................... 43
4.7.3 Pressurized Sub-floor ...................................................................................... 44
4.7.4 Common Above-ceiling Spaces: Discharge will pull smoke in ...................................... 45
4.7.5 Common Above-ceiling Spaces: HVAC Leakage ....................................................... 45
4.7.6 Suspended Ceilings Too Low ............................................................................. 46
5 Optimizing Enclosure design for Peak Pressure and Agent Retention ............. 47
5.1 Leakage Conflict ..................................................................................................... 47
5.2 Options to Pass Both Peak Pressure & hold time requirements ............................................. 47
5.2.1 Install a Relief Vent........................................................................................ 47
5.2.2 Use a Continuous Mixing system ......................................................................... 49
5.2.3 Use an Extended Discharge system ..................................................................... 49
5.2.4 Increase allowable drop .................................................................................. 49
5.2.5 Reducing Lower Leaks only ............................................................................... 50
5.2.6 Lower Agent Concentration for Non-mixing System ................................................. 50
5.3 Good Vent Design Principles ....................................................................................... 54
5.4 Vent Area Measurement test ...................................................................................... 55
5.5 Warnings & Conclusions ............................................................................................. 58
6 Witnessing an Enclosure Integrity Test .................................................. 60
6.1 Technician Training ................................................................................................. 60
6.2 Software Conformance.............................................................................................. 60
6.3 Room Pressure Gauge Calibration Certificate .................................................................. 60
6.4 System calibration ................................................................................................... 61
6.5 Field Calibration check procedure ................................................................................ 61
6.6 Return Path ........................................................................................................... 61
6.7 Room and Equipment Set-up ....................................................................................... 61
6.8 Bias pressure Check ................................................................................................. 62
6.9 Gauge Set-up ......................................................................................................... 62
6.10 Flow and Room Pressures Entered Correctly .................................................................... 62
6.11 Range Selection ...................................................................................................... 62
6.12 Testing in Both Directions .......................................................................................... 63
6.13 Determining the Leakage Split – The BCLA Test ................................................................ 63
6.14 Technical Judgment ................................................................................................. 63
6.15 Yearly Retests ........................................................................................................ 64
6.16 Commonly Needed Inert Gas Clarifications ..................................................................... 64
6.17 Enclosure Integrity Test Verification Form ...................................................................... 64
6.18 Standards and How They Apply.................................................................................... 69
6.19 Small Room hold times.............................................................................................. 69
6.19.1 Selecting an Appropriate hold time ................................................................. 69
6.19.2 Recommended Times for Small Rooms .............................................................. 69
Appendices ............................................................................................... 71
7 Appendix A – Agent Comparison .......................................................... 72
7.1 Standards .............................................................................................................. 72
7.2 Agents .................................................................................................................. 72
7.3 Specific volume and density constants for agents ............................................................. 73
7.4 Concentration Ranges ... from an enclosure leakage perspective .......................................... 74
7.5 Comparing hold times – descending interface case ............................................................ 76
7.6 Comparing hold times ... continual mixing case ............................................................... 77
7.7 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 77
7.8 Agent Comments ..................................................................................................... 79
8 Appendix B – NFPA Standard Excerpts ................................................... 80
8.1 NFPA 2001 Standard (Year 2008 Edition) ........................................................................ 80
8.4 NFPA 12A Halon ...................................................................................................... 89
8.5 NFPA 12 for CO2 ...................................................................................................... 91
9 Appendix C – Sample Enclosure Integrity Test Specification ........................ 92
9.1 General Enclosure Design Guidelines ............................................................................. 92
9.1.1 Slab To Slab Walls or Solid Ceiling ...................................................................... 93
9.1.2 Avoidance of Attached Volumes ......................................................................... 94
9.1.3 Penetration Planning ...................................................................................... 94
9.1.4 Document Passageways ................................................................................... 94
9.1.5 HVAC Dampers .............................................................................................. 95
9.1.6 "Un-closeable" Openings .................................................................................. 95
9.1.7 Location of Dedicated HVAC units ...................................................................... 95
9.1.8 Minimum Protected Height ............................................................................... 95
9.1.9 Summary ..................................................................................................... 97
9.2 Enclosure Integrity Specifications ................................................................................ 97
9.2.1 Enclosure Integrity Performance Specification ....................................................... 97
9.2.2 Enclosure Integrity Prescriptive Specifications ....................................................... 98
9.3 Clean Agent System Specifications ............................................................................... 99
9.4 HVAC Specifications ................................................................................................ 100
9.4.1 Ductwork ................................................................................................... 100
9.5 Approval/Acceptance of Clean Agent System ................................................................. 101
9.6 Approval/Acceptance of Enclosure Integrity .................................................................. 101
9.7 Warranty ............................................................................................................. 104
10 Appendix D – Enclosure Integrity Verification Form ................................ 105
11 Appendix E – Glossary of Terms ......................................................... 109
12 Industry related Acronyms ............................................................... 114
1 Introduction to Peak Pressures and Enclosure Integrity

1.1 Why Clean Agent systems?
Water-based sprinkler systems protect the building but not

the contents. For critical company information systems, data
centers, paper archives, museums and other enclosures
whose contents are susceptible to water damage, sprinkler
systems will indeed protect the building from fire damage,
but at the expense of the contents being protected! It was
due to this necessity to provide sufficient fire protection for
the building and also to mitigate or eliminate damage to the
contents that non-water-based suppression systems were
introduced.
FM200 Discharge
Courtesy of Great Lakes Chemical
1.2 A brief history of gaseous agents…
CO2 was the first total flooding gaseous agent but it

was toxic and therefore restricted to unoccupied
enclosures. Halon, the first non toxic fire
suppressant was developed in the 1960s and was
used effectively for many years. These gaseous
systems presented a new problem to the designer
however; to extinguish a fire and to keep it
suppressed, the gaseous agent would put out the
fire rapidly but needed to be retained in the
enclosure for many minutes to ensure the fire did
not reignite.
Halon was discovered to be one of the world’s most powerful ozone depleting chemicals,
pound for pound, and because of that the EPA discouraged the practice of discharge testing
every system. Enclosures now had to be “tight” enough to retain the gas in sufficient
concentration and for sufficient time to ensure that re-ignition did not occur. The capability
of an enclosure to retain its fire suppressant was assessed by a Discharge Test. Sensors that
detected fire suppressant concentration were installed at various points of interest around
the room and then the fire suppressant system was discharged. During the discharge, these
sensors where monitored, usually with strip-chart recorders. A room would pass or fail the
test by examining the agent concentration at various elevations in the enclosure up to the
top of the highest piece of equipment to be tested. Results were recorded over a time of at
least ten minutes. The room passed the test if sufficient agent concentration was present
after the required hold time at all of the concentration probes. In the event that the room
failed, usually the only recourse was for a sealing job to be undertaken and then, for the
discharge test to be repeated.
Page 6 of 115
In 1984 Colin Genge, with encouragement from Gary Taylor, proposed pretesting enclosures
to ensure they would pass the discharge test in. Hard Fire of Columbus and Suppression
Systems of Chicago were the first pioneers to try out the idea of using Door Fan systems to
pressurize enclosures in order to locate leaks using smoke that might cause agent to be lost.
Air leaks were sealed up which allowed them to successfully pass over 100 Halon discharge
tests.
At this time, there was no thought about discontinuing full discharge tests because
everybody was really excited by them. But, in 1985 EPA threatened to ban the use of Halon
altogether unless the industry stopped performing discharge tests. Since most of the failures
were due to excessive leakage in the enclosures and premature loss of agent, Colin Genge
proposed measuring the enclosure leakage and using an algorithm to predict hold time. Since
there were no other alternatives the NFPA asked Colin Genge to write the
Enclosure Integrity portion of what became the 1988 version of NFPA 12A, the Halon
standard, contained in Appendix B.
Even today, the discharge test is of limited use due

to:
 High Cost: Costs of labor and product to
repeatedly recharge system is high.
 Disruption: Discharge test is very disruptive to
occupied enclosures.
 Failure Identification: In the event of failure,
the discharge test offers no opportunity to
identify leak locations.
 Repeat Testing: Although the Standards
encourage annual retest, the above factors
virtually preclude any retesting
Eventually Halon was eliminated altogether as alternatives were developed to replace it.
These alternative agents were included in a new Standard 2001 that also included the
Enclosure Integrity section that eventually became Annex C. A few years later the British
started work on their own standard with a few minor changes which eventually evolved into
the ISO 14520 standard.
Page 7 of 115
2 Peak Pressure facts
2.1 What is Peak Pressure?
When a clean agent system discharges there is an initial pressure spike in the enclosure that
can be powerful enough to cause significant damage—this pressure is called Peak Pressure. The
basic principle behind Peak Pressure is very simple: if a fixed volume has a large quantity of gas
pumped into it very quickly, the pressure inside that volume will increase. The enclosure must
have sufficient vent area to dissipate any excessive pressures encountered upon discharge.
Clean Agent discharges can produce damaging Peak Pressures
If the enclosure is not tested properly, problems will not be uncovered.

Currently, many designs are doomed to failure before being installed. A quick check of the
design should uncover these problems.
Bad enclosure designs will cause doors to be blown off the hinges, walls to be displaced,
ceilings to be wrecked and walls split open.
2.2 Peak Pressure theory
The magnitude of Peak Pressure depends on many factors:

• Leakage-to-Volume Ratio (LVR)
• Agent concentration
• Agent discharge time
Page 8 of 115
• Humidity (depending on the agent)

• Temperature
• Wall construction
• Valve opening characteristic
These factors all play an important role in determining Peak Pressure, but the most important
is the LVR. This is because the leakage will vary significantly from one enclosure to the next.
2.2.1 Peak Pressure with Inert agents
1200
1000 Argonite
Pressure (Pa)
800
600
400
200
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (sec)
Figure 1 - Peak Pressure of an Inert Gas: Argonite
Inert agents work just like an ideal gas. When a large volume of gas is added to a fixed volume
(the enclosure) there will be a sharp increase in pressure which will then decay as gas escapes
through leakage. For any two systems with the same design, the amount of leakage will dictate
how large the pressure increase is, as well as the rate of decay.
Page 9 of 115
2.2.2 Peak Pressure with Halocarbon agents
HFC-125 Room Pressure Test #2

Conc = 8%; Disch Time = 10.3 s; Av/V =1.62 cm2/m3; R.H. = 38%
200
150
100
Pressure (Pa)
50
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
-50
-100
-150
-200
Time (s)
Figure 2 - Peak Pressure of a Halocarbon: HFC-125
Halocarbon agents are more complicated than inert agents. The agent goes through a phase
change from a liquid in the containers to a gas as it leaves the nozzle. This phase change
causes significant heat absorption in the enclosure, which creates a negative pressure spike.
Once the agent starts to warm back up again, the gas will expand and a positive pressure spike
will occur. Depending on the agent’s thermodynamic properties and the relative humidity,
sometimes the negative Peak Pressure can be far greater than the positive.
Page 10 of 115
2.3 Leakage to Volume Ratio (LVR)
Leakage is any opening in an enclosure boundary that agent can flow out of (vents or
unintentional leaks). The most important factor affecting Peak Pressure is enclosure
leakage; the greater the leakage, the lower the Peak Pressure. Of all the factors that
have an effect on Peak Pressure, leakage is the easiest to control (by air sealing or
adding vents)
Of all the factors that contribute to Peak Pressure, the LVR is the most important for several
reasons:
• The concentrations for each agent are relatively constant; there is not much room for
variation.
• The discharge times are also strictly regulated, so variation will be small from one
system to the next.
• The humidity of the enclosure can be difficult to control, and has a relatively small
impact on the Peak Pressure (no effect on inert agents).
• Leakage from one enclosure to the next can be extremely different, and thus can
cause differences in Peak Pressures by more than an order of magnitude.
• Vents may have to be added.
Page 11 of 115
2.4 Humidity effects on Peak Pressure
Figure 3 - humidity correction factors for halocarbon peak pressures
Halocarbon agents:
Humidity has a dramatic effect on the Peak Pressure of Halocarbons
• lower humidity results in a much larger negative Peak Pressure
• higher humidity results in a much smaller negative Peak Pressure
• Positive pressure: slightly opposite effect
The reason for this effect comes back to thermodynamics again. Since humid air has a much
higher thermal inertia, it will resist the drop in temperature caused by the phase change that
halocarbons undergo upon discharge. This means that very humid air will cause a smaller
temperature drop, therefore a smaller negative pressure. For a very dry enclosure, the
opposite effect can be observed. Dry air will not resist temperature change and there will be a
much larger temperature drop, causing a larger negative peak pressure.
Inert agents:
Humidity has a very small effect on inert agents, so the effect of humidity on Peak Pressure
can be ignored.
2.5 Design elements to sustain Peak Pressure

There are 3 key design elements for Peak Pressure:
• Know the enclosure strength
• Determine the necessary LVR
• Determine the vent size (if needed)
2.5.1 Enclosure strength

The strength of the enclosure must be determined in order to assess how much pressure is
acceptable. Retrotec does not claim to have any expertise in structural engineering;
therefore this topic will not be covered in detail here. Expert advice should be sought if you
are unsure of what an acceptable pressure limit is.
Page 12 of 115
NFPA 2001 (2012 edition) section 5.1.2.2(10) states that working plans must include “an
estimate of the maximum positive pressure and the maximum negative pressure, relative to
ambient pressure, expected to be developed upon the discharge of agent.”
And 5.1.2.2(28) states that working plans must include “pressure relief vent area, or
equivalent leakage area, for the protected enclosure to prevent development, during
system discharge, of a pressure difference across the enclosure boundaries that exceeds a
specified pressure limit”
ISO 14520 (2006 edition) section 7.4.1 states “the enclosure shall have sufficient strength to
contain the agent discharge. Venting shall be provided to prevent excessive pressures.”
Wall Strength from 1997 HOTWC paper
The designer must have some idea of the wall strength required to contain the agent discharge.
This table gives some examples and could be used as a guide. Well-constructed walls will
typically take 500 Pa, (about 10.4 PSF) without a problem, so this could be a good place to
start. Using a very low value will place restrictions on the design as will be seen later.
2.5.2 Determine necessary LVR

There are many different options available for determining the required LVR. Retrotec
recommends using the FSSA Pressure Relief Vent Guide which can be purchased here:
http://www.fssa.net/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=78
The equations in the FSSA guide are based on empirical data, and they do not rely on
assumptions about mass flow rate that have been disproven by experiments.
Page 13 of 115
The minimum allowable vent area is The LVR times the volume, which would be specified by
the designer. The installer would have to measure a vent area greater than this minimum
requirement to give the enclosure a pass.
2.5.3 Required vent area

The vent area is comprised of naturally occurring leakage in the enclosure, as well as any
intentional openings.
It is important to account for natural leakage when calculating peak pressure. Gas can
escape through any hole, and if there is enough natural leakage there may be no need to
install a vent.
Page 14 of 115
3 Hold Time facts
3.1 What is Hold Time?
Hold Time is the amount of time between the establishment of the design concentration
until the concentration drops to 85% of the design concentration at the specified Minimum
Protected Height in the case of a Descending Interface or at any location in the enclosure in
the case where no Interface forms.
NFPA 2001, 2012 Edition, states
“5.6* Duration of Protection. A minimum concentration of 85 percent of the minimum

design concentration shall be held at the highest level of combustibles for a minimum period
of l0 minutes or for a time period to allow for response by trained personnel. It is important
that the agent minimum design concentration not only shall be achieved, but also shall be
maintained for the specified period of time to allow effective emergency action by trained
personnel. This is equally important in all classes of fires, since a persistent ignition source
(e.g. an arc, heat source, oxyacetylene torch, or "deep-seated" fire) can lead to resurgence
of the initial event once the clean agent has dissipated.
Under the NFPA standard, it is up to the designer or AHJ to specify the hold time, and they
should as a minimum, take into consideration the time it will take for trained personnel to
respond to the situation. A remote site may warrant a hold time of significantly more than
the commonly used 10 minutes, while the server room in a fire hall might get away with less
than 10 minutes.”
ISO 14520 Section 4 of Annex E does specify a minimum 10 minute hold time and refers to
the guidelines set out in section 7.8.2 to determine potentially longer hold times.
“7.8.2 It is essential to determine the likely period during which the extinguishing
concentration will be maintained within the protected enclosure. This is known as the hold
time. The predicted hold time shall be determined by the door fan test specified in Annex E,
or a full discharge test based on the following criteria.
a) At the start of the hold time, the concentration throughout the enclosure shall be the design concentration.
b) At the end of the hold time, the extinguishant concentration at 10 %, 50 % and 90 % of the enclosure
height shall be not less than 85 % of the design concentration.
c) The hold time shall be not less than 10 min, unless otherwise specified by the
authority.”
Although ISO states concentration must be held at 90% of enclosure height this is very
controversial and not complied with in most countries where it is generally preferred to hold
concentration typically 0.5 meters above the highest hazard.
3.2 Agent behavior in the enclosure after discharge
Driving forces – gravity

• All agents (except N2) heavier than air
• As agent drains out the bottom, air flows in the top
Page 15 of 115
• Interface forms between agent and air
2. To be
replaced by air
1. Agent/Air
Mixture Leaks Out
Gravity acts on the heavier-than-air clean agent/air mixture within the enclosure and, in the
absence of any other influence, will cause the agent/air mixture to leak out the bottom of the
enclosure. Air is then pulled into through the leaks in the top of the enclosure. A short period
of time after the discharge a well-defined agent-air interface may form, much like the
interface between water and air in a bucket, or the way fresh water flows on top of salt water.
Agents that are significantly denser than air (such as Novec which is 10x the density of air, and
most of the other halocarbons) will be more influenced by gravity than agents that have
densities similar to air (such as Argon and the other inert gases). The more dense agents tend
to merely run out faster than the less dense. For example, 40% CO2 runs out about twice as
fast as 40% Argon.
If there were no leaks in the floor, a pressure would be created at the floor due to the column
of heavier-than-air agent pressing upon the floor. This pressure is referred to as the column
pressure. If floor leaks exist, as they always do, the column pressure is dropped partially across
the floor and partially across the ceiling depending on the ratio of leaks, much like how
voltages are dropped across two resistors. If the holes are the same size, then about half the
column pressure is dropped across the ceiling and half across the floor. A positive value will be
felt at the lowest portions of the enclosure, near zero in the middle of the column and a
negative pressure at the top of the air-to agent interface.
N2, which is actually less dense than air, should theoretically rise to the ceiling, though cooling
due to expansion upon discharge should increase its density beyond that of air.
3.2.1 Pressures across Holes: How Agent is Lost
Consider the case of a bucket; regardless how large an opening at the top, fluid will not leak
out.
Page 16 of 115
The same is true for an enclosure full of agent. Shortly after the discharge, once the agent
settles out, a room with large openings at the ceiling level will contain the agent
indefinitely.
With a hole at the top and a hole at the bottom, water will leak out at a rate dictated by
the ratio of upper and lower leak areas. If the upper leak is reduced enough, water leakage
out the bottom will be reduced. Generally, even if the upper leaks are entirely sealed,
water will still slowly leak out as air bubbles into the bucket.
The same is true in the enclosure full of agent. Sealing the upper leaks will eventually slow
the flow of agent out of the room, but will not stop it. Agent leakage is primarily governed
by the lower leaks.
Given an unlimited capacity for replacement air to enter the bucket, leakage is directly
related to the total area of the lower leaks. Double the size of the holes and the leakage
doubles. Triple the size of the holes and the leakage triples.
Page 17 of 115
2x holes 3x holes
= =
2x leakage 3x leakage
Depending on the density/concentration of the fluid in the bucket; for the same sized hole,
as the concentration increases, so does the flow out of the bucket increase. It is not directly
proportional however; doubling the leakage area only adds 50-60% leakage.
0% Agent 5% Agent 10% Agent
More agent = more leakage
This is of significant importance in enclosures that fail. A very common misconception is to

simply add more agent to increase the Hold Time. This is, in fact, wrong. Adding more agent
increases the concentration and will actually reduce the Hold Time!
Page 18 of 115
3.2.2 Dynamic discharge pressures

In the seconds during and immediately following discharge the agent mixes violently with
the air in the enclosure. Swirls and eddies due to various combinations of warming, cooling
and expansion lead to a homogeneous concentration of agent throughout every corner of the
flooded enclosure.
Pressures created in the first few seconds of discharge (dynamic discharge pressures) are
ignored in the Hold Time prediction model. While these pressures can be very large, they
often swing wildly between positive and negative values, making them difficult to predict. In
addition, their duration is very short making their contribution small when compared to
steady state losses. Nonetheless, a small amount of initial agent loss is assumed to occur and
the equations used to calculate the required concentration per NFPA 2001 and ISO 14502
have a loss factor built in.
What happens next, during the remaining minutes of the Hold Time is virtually impossible to
model. It is useful, however, to understand the mechanisms at work within the enclosure
and how they affect the distribution of the agent.
3.2.3 Mixing – Convection and circulating fans
“Hot air rises” and this is no exception in an enclosure. Even though computer and other
electronic equipment may be shut down at the time of discharge, hundreds or thousands of
watts of heat are still contained in their chassis. This heat will cause localized “plumes” to
form around the equipment, drawing in gases from the floor level, transporting them up the
equipment towers, to be released above the equipment and cycled back to the floor.
Even in the absence of hot equipment, upward convective currents will form along locally
warm walls and downward currents will form along locally cooler walls.
Lighter gases will be more significantly affected by convection than heavier gases.
Page 19 of 115
Circulating fans also cause mixing.
Liebert
Self-contained air conditioning units, circulating fans, HVAC systems, and even equipment
cooling-fans all act to mechanically circulate air around the room. If these fans are running
during discharge and during the Hold Time, they will act to continually churn the agent and
air within the enclosure.
For continual mixing systems a higher than normal initial agent concentration is part of the
design, because the system is usually designed to hold 85% of initial concentration.
3.3 Pressures That Cause Agent Loss

There are a number of influences that will act on the agent/air mixture as the agent enters the
enclosure and during the time it remains within the enclosure. These influences will play a key
role in how agent is lost from the enclosure.
Bias Pressures
Leaky ductwork, HVAC systems with a fresh air supply, and stack effects are just a few of the
things that can cause a higher pressure to exist in the enclosure relative to neighboring rooms
or outside. This higher pressure, not due to the column pressure of the agent itself is called a
Bias Pressure.
Due to conditions beyond the control of the tester, a bias pressure may be present during the
Door Fan Test. By sealing up the blower with a cover or a piece of cardboard, this bias pressure
can be measured and by opening up a small hole in the blower (for example, by removing a
single plug in the low-flow plate) and using the smoke puffer, the direction of the bias pressure
can be observed. A bias pressure that is present during the Door Fan Test is called the Bias
Pressure During Test and must be measured in both magnitude and direction for the test to be
accurate.
A bias pressure within the enclosure during the Hold Time will act to significantly increase the
flow of agent out of the room. In extreme cases, with very leaky HVAC systems or extreme
wind conditions, the agent is literally “blown” out of the room. This Bias pressure During
Retention must also be assessed and entered into the Hold Time calculation.
Wind Pressures
Wind blowing onto the wall of an enclosure can cause huge pressure fluctuations within the
enclosure, which will literally blow the agent out of the enclosure. Add to this the vacuum
Page 20 of 115
effect in the lee side of the building and we get a recipe for rapid failure of enclosures that are
exposed to frequent windy conditions. Neither NFPA nor ISO standards address this issue.
3.4 Descending Interface

In enclosures with little heat-generating equipment and no forced-air circulation (such as
museums and paper archival rooms) the over-riding influence will be gravity. The heavier-than-
air agent-air mixture will settle to the floor of the room and a layer of any displaced air will
migrate to the ceiling.
Due to the column pressure of the mixture, a pressure difference will develop between the
area within the enclosure and the rooms outside the enclosure. This pressure difference will
cause agent to flow outwards through any holes in the enclosure. The greater the pressure
difference, the faster the flow of agent. Agent will flow out of holes at floor level faster than
similar sized holes mid-wall.
As agent flows out of the holes near the bottom of the enclosure, air will rush into the
enclosure at the ceiling level to replace it. As this happens, the agent-air interface will slow
drop. This is called a Descending Interface.
Equipment will be protected so long as the descending interface is above it. Once the
descending interface touches, or drops below the equipment, it is no longer considered to be
protected. This protected equipment height should be specified by the enclosure designer,
physically measured, or sometimes can be taken to be 75% of the room height, as agreed upon
by the AHJ.
The following three graphs depict the results from an actual discharge with a descending
interface. During the test, three probes measuring agent concentration were set up, each at a
different height. Time is given on the horizontal (X) axis and agent concentration is given on
the vertical (Y) axis. In all three cases, the concentration rises rapidly to the approximately
6.5% design concentration.
At the 173” (14.5’) level, concentration is held for about a minute, and then slowly drops as
agent drains from the room. By 4 minutes, the concentration reaches 1% and equipment at that
level would no longer be protected.
Probe at 173" from floor slab

%concenration
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Time (minutes)
Page 21 of 115
At the 146” (12’) level, concentration is held for about 4 minutes, and then rapidly drops over
the next 2 minutes to 1%, at which time equipment at this height is no longer protected.
%concentration
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Time (minutes)
At the 86” (7’) level, the initial concentration is held for almost 12 minutes and then slow
drops to 1% concentration at 17 minutes.
%concentration
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Time (minutes)
3.4.1 NFPA 2001 – sharp interface
The main difference between the NFPA 2001 and ISO 14520 standards is the way each one
models the descending interface. NFPA assumes a “sharp” interface, meaning that the
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interface between agent and air is infinitely thin. Everywhere below the interface the agent
remains at the initial concentration, and everywhere above the interface there is no agent left
at all. This is not exactly a realistic depiction of what would happen in a real discharge, but the
equations are simpler and have been shown to work fairly well. The hold time is defined as the
time that passes before the agent-air interface descends below the minimum protected height.
Below is a pictorial explanation of discharge events according to NFPA which tends to calculate
halocarbons almost perfectly but is about 15% optimistic for inerts.
3.4.2 ISO 14520 – wide interface
Unlike the NFPA sharp interface model, ISO uses what they call a “wide” interface. The wide
interface model defines the agent-air interface as a continuously growing area that starts at
the top of the enclosure, where air rushes in and the agent concentration is 0%, going all the
way down to the height at which the initial concentration still remains. The point of interest
in the interface is the height at which the minimum concentration (often 85% of the initial
concentration) remains. This is called He, or the equivalent sharp interface height. The hold
time is defined as the time that passes before the equivalent sharp interface height
Page 23 of 115
descends below the minimum protected height. The wide interface tends to calculate inerts
almost perfectly or conservative but is about 30% conservative for halocarbons.
The actual interface is about halfway between the NFPA and the ISO predictive models.
Some interface spreading occurs but not as much as ISO predicts and more than NFPA
predicts. Since Halocarbons expand during the retention period, they just so happen to
correspond more closely to NFPA.
3.5 Continual Mixing

In enclosures containing hot and massive equipment, or circulating fans, chillers and HVAC
systems that remain running during the hold time, the agent will be continually circulated. As a
result, there will tend to be a uniform concentration of agent throughout the enclosure for the
duration of the Hold Time. As the mixture leaks out of the enclosure, the concentration at the
floor will decay at the same rate as the concentration near the ceiling. This is called Continual
Mixing.
Liebert
The agent concentration throughout the room will begin at an initial concentration and over
time, decrease. Equipment in the room will be protected so long as the agent concentration is
above 85% of the adjusted minimum design concentration (AMDC) which is called the minimum
concentration (cmin for ISO). The minimum concentration is often confused with adjusted
minimum design concentration and sometimes with the initial concentration. For example, the
AMDC might be 10% but extra agent was supplied and calculations of the Final Design
Concentration (FDC) show the actual initial concentration will be 12% but both standards
Page 24 of 115
require retaining 85% of the AMDC which would be 8.5% in this case. Because extra agent
was added, that does not mean in this example that 85% of 12 % (10.2%) must be held until
the end of the Hold Time which would unfairly penalize the addition of extra agent and
make holding concentration for the Mixing Case extremely difficult.
3.6 Comparing Continual Mixing and Descending Interface Hold Times

In NFPA 2001, 2004 version, the hold time calculation for a given % drop in agent height for
the descending interface case will be exactly the same as the Hold Time for the same % drop
in concentration. For example: an interface drop from 10ft to 7.5 ft. will result in the same
predicted Hold Time as an agent concentration drop from 10% to 7.5%. The later versions of
NFPA2001 and all versions of ISO14520 have a more complex analysis which gives a slightly
longer hold time for the continual mixing case where the drop in concentration is the
criteria.
Systems are seldom designed for continual mixing and they therefore have insufficient
concentration to yield hold times that are long enough. We suggest using 25% more agent
than would normally be specified if continual mixing is desired or possible. Many facilities
have continual mixing even though it was not intended because thermal effects and small
computer circulation fans may be sufficient to provide continual mixing even though the
main air-handlers are shut down.
If the air-handlers will be on during the retention period then the continual mixing
calculation must be made. If they are off which is more typical then the NO mixing
calculation must be made. In general, if there is a greater drop in concentration than in
interface height then continual mixing will give the greatest hold time.
3.7 The Door Fan Test
The Door Fan Test, or Enclosure Integrity Test, measures the size of leakage in the enclosure
using a Door Fan to pressurize the room and measure air leakage. Knowing the pressure
inside the enclosure, the pressures across each wall, and the flow through the Door Fan to
maintain the enclosure pressure, a computer calculates the Hold Time.
Door-fan pressurizes
room
Air flows out through leaks in

floors, walls and ceiling
Page 25 of 115
Page 26 of 115
NFPA 2001, NFPA 12A, and ISO 14520 now require an Enclosure Integrity Test as part of the
acceptance procedure for all clean agent systems, including all halocarbon and inert gas
agents. This comprehensive test and calculation procedure predicts how long the agent will
stay in the room if it were ever discharged. The Enclosure Integrity Test’s primary goal is to
predict the enclosure’s hold time in the event that the Clean Agent Fire Suppression System is
discharged.
Prior to 1986, the discharge test was the only method used to predict agent retention time.
Since the concentration probes were placed in the middle of the enclosure, it typically only
verified agent distribution in one location, usually the most favorable. This led to assuming
that other approval steps for the enclosure could be overlooked. To make matters worse, the
discharge test was never repeated. The room leakage would increase steadily, compromising
the system from day one. Large holes were covered with tape to ensure the discharge test was
passed, but often these holes were never permanently sealed. Enclosures were designed
merely to pass the discharge test. This often left rooms with fire barriers on only 5 sides and
with the top completely open. Frequently only ceiling tiles stood between the protected
enclosure and an adjacent unprotected area! Smoke or fire could readily enter from above.
The Enclosure Integrity Test’s simplicity and accuracy, encourages trouble-shooting of problem
rooms and retesting either periodically or after enclosure modification. This Test is also the
best way to ensure that the enclosure is protected from smoke events occurring OUTSIDE of the
protected room. Now, fire departments, City and national Codes, Fire suppression equipment
manufacturers, FSSA, NFPA and ISO all encourage Door Fan tests on every installation and
require Door Fan tests to be repeated every 12 months, or whenever new holes are made in the
enclosure.
3.7.1 How a Door Fan “Sees” a Room
Each of the four enclosures has 3 units of leakage area. A Door Fan will measure the size of
the leakage area in each room at 3 units. The first one has its three units located at the
ceiling level, the second at the floor level, the third equally split between the ceiling and
floor and the fourth equally split between the floor, ceiling and mid-way up the wall. Each
enclosure, however, has a significantly different Hold Times.
3 units 1.5 units 1 unit
Infinite retention Longest retention Shortest retention Middle retention

time time time time
1 unit
3 units 1.5 units 1 unit
Both the NFPA and ISO standards first make the assumption that a 50-50 split of leakage
between ceiling and floor exists (the third room in the example). This assumption leads to the
Page 27 of 115
most conservative calculation of hold time. This calculation is called the Total Enclosure
Leakage Test or the Whole Room Test, and is always the first step in the enclosure integrity
procedure.
3.7.2 Total Enclosure Leakage (or Whole Room) test

Using a single Door Fan to pressurize the enclosure will
measure the total leakage area of the entire enclosure;
floor, walls, and ceiling. This result is called the Whole
Room or Total Room Leakage. Because this measurement
includes the leakage in upper area of the enclosure, where
the agent would not normally leak out, it often results in
unrealistically large leakage and unrealistically short Hold
Times. An enclosure which passes a Whole Room Test would
most certainly pass a discharge test. An enclosure which
fails the Whole Room Test however, might very-well pass a
discharge test if the majority of leaks were at ceiling level.
When conducting a Total Leaks Test, a single Door Fan is

temporarily installed in a doorway leading from the
protected enclosure to a large open area or outdoors. The
fan speed is adjusted to obtain a pressure difference
between the test enclosure and the volume surrounding the
enclosure. This pressure (usually 10 to 15 Pa) is similar to
the steady state pressure (column pressure) exerted by the agent at floor level immediately
after discharge. The computer converts flow and pressure readings into an Equivalent
Leakage Area (EqLA), the total area of all the cracks, gaps, and holes in the enclosure.
The measurement is done by first blowing air out of the enclosure (depressurization) and
then into the enclosure (pressurization). The two readings are averaged to reduce errors due
to bias pressure.
3.7.3 Hold Time requirement for NFPA 2001 (2012 edition)
Section 5.6:
“A minimum concentration of 85 percent of the design concentration shall be held at
the highest level of combustibles for a minimum period of 10 minutes or for a time
period to allow for response by trained personnel.”
10 minutes is normally satisfactory but consideration must be given in some special
circumstances (see sections 4.4.1 and 4.4.2).
The existing NFPA procedure states in C.1.3.9 :

“the descending interface is assumed to be at the mid-point of a wide interface
zone.”
In other words, NFPA predicts the 50% point in the interface but our empirical data suggests
that it actually defines the point where the concentration drops to 85% of the design
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concentration. By chance, NFPA’s formulae predicts almost exactly what the new NFPA
standard requires: 85%
3.7.4 The Lower Leaks (or Below Ceiling Leakage Area) Test
As stated above, the Total Enclosure Leakage test will produce the most conservative
calculation of Hold Time. If the total leakage of the enclosure is small enough compared to the
volume of the enclosure, it is possible that the enclosure will pass with sufficient Hold Time.
The vast majority of enclosures however have significantly more total leakage than the Hold
Time calculation permits. Enclosures with suspended ceilings are the most problematic, as
the areas above the suspended ceiling are rarely sealed sufficiently to pass the Whole Room
Enclosure Test. In this case, the standards dictate that the leakage distribution must be
measured. This is done by measuring the lower leaks.
The Lower Leaks test is also known as the Below Ceiling Leakage Area (BCLA) test. To
accurately measure the Lower Leaks (those leaks below the ceiling), one of two test
techniques may be employed—The Plastic-on-the-Ceiling-Test or the Flex Duct Test. Both of
these tests attempt to isolate the Above-Ceiling Leaks from the Below-Ceiling Leaks. In
doing so, a more accurate calculation of Hold Time can be made.
Although ISO does not specifically state that these methods can be used, it does imply they
can because it includes a modified method of doing the same thing which is affected by
temporarily covering upper leaks and remeasuring, temporarily covered lower leaks and
remeasuring again and then attributing the remainder to being half upper and half lower
leaks. ISO puts a limit on the ratio of upper leaks to total leaks of 0.85 (F Variable) but NFPA
puts no limit on this ratio, perhaps because it’s being measured. The ISO full committee in
2011 supported the idea of measuring leakage distribution.
If only considering agent retention, rooms with excessive above-ceiling leaks will hold agent
just fine. However, this is a poor design practice as they will not prevent smoke ingress from
adjacent rooms, nor will they prevent external events from triggering the suppression system.
Measuring Lower Leaks

A room that fails the Total Leak Test can easily pass a discharge test if all of its leaks are
located at the ceiling level. In this extreme case, the heavier-than-air agent settles to the floor
and, with nowhere to leak to, remains there indefinitely.
Since the leakage area of the above-ceiling space is generally far greater than the below-
ceiling leakage area (BCLA), measurement of the BCLA can dramatically increase the
calculated Hold Time. The BCLA can be measured separately using a flex-duct or plastic on the
ceiling to neutralize any leaks in the above-ceiling space. These techniques eliminate the
upper leaks for the purpose of measuring the more important lower leaks. Both leakage
measurements are then used to make a more accurate prediction of hold time.
Test Method for Lower Leaks
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The two rooms in the diagrams above are the same. One is tested with one fan that
measures the 159 sq inches of leakage which NFPA will associate with a 2 minute hold time.
The right hand one was tested with two fans so that the lower leak of only 15 square inches
could be measured. NFPA gives this a 10 minute hold time. The moral of the story is that if
the NFPA prediction is made with incomplete data, the results will be too conservative and
may force unnecessary air sealing to be completed that will as we will see later cause Peak
Pressure problems.
A Double fan with Flex Duct predicts accurate hold times when lower leaks are greater than
upper leaks. This is the tool that gives the accurate hold times.
The second fan allows the 22 sq inches of lower leaks in the previous slide to be measured
separately from the much larger 144 sq inch upper leak. Over 90% of all the Door Fans used
to test enclosures in the US are already equipped with a second fan and Flex Duct to
perform this test. Many experienced testers report that they cannot get by without this 2 fan
rig. You can incidentally perform the same test by covering the ceiling with plastic but
anyone who has done it, will appreciate the above method is the best way to go.
 Upper fan, with Flex Duct, neutralizes Ceiling (upper) leaks

 Lower fan measures lower leaks
If lower leaks are smaller than one half the total, the hold time will be increased.
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The lower leak acts like the drain hole

small drain hole = small agent leakage
The Door Fan test procedure in NFPA 2001 Annex C is familiar to most installers of clean
agent systems and provides a good basis for a vent test procedure with a few minor
modifications.
Most clean agent installers already possess the necessary Door Fan test equipment and know
how to use it. Only a small amount of additional training would be required to perform the
vent test procedure.
3.8 Predicting the hold time

After discharge, the heavier-than-air agent creates a small positive pressure within the
enclosure. Flow develops whenever holes have pressure across them. The greater the
pressure and the larger the hole, the greater the amount of agent lost. As the agent leaks
out the bottom, a small negative pressure develops at the top. This pulls air in through the
higher level leaks. Each agent creates a slightly different pressure as indicated by the
densities as shown in NFPA 2001.
The Door Fan test measures the size of the holes within the enclosure. The quantity of agent
and height of the room determine the pressure difference across holes in the enclosure.
Knowing the size of the holes, the pressure difference, and the minimum equipment height
or agent concentration, Retrotec’s FanTestic Integrity software predicts how many minutes
will pass until the equipment is no longer protected. This time, from discharge until the
equipment is no longer protected is called the hold time.
If only a Whole Room Test is performed, the total leakage measured must be assumed to be
distributed 50% at the ceiling level and 50% at the floor level. This equates to the worst-case
leakage scenario. Hold Time based on only a Whole Room Test is calculated based on this
worst-case leakage distribution.
If a Leakage Split/Below Ceiling Leakage Area Test is then performed, the actual leakage
split can be factored into the hold time calculation. Hold Time will be dramatically
improved if the actual measured leakage split is different from the assumed 50%-50% Whole
Room Test leakage split.
Page 31 of 115
3.9 Hold Time Dependencies

There are a number of factors and enclosure characteristics that affect the hold time.
Knowledge of these dependencies up front, before the enclosure is designed can save time,
money and aggravation in the long run.
3.9.1 Leakage Area (ELA)

It may seem obvious, but for the record, leakage area affects hold time. The larger the
leakage area is—the shorter the hold time will be. Reducing the leakage area will increase
the hold time.
If only a Total Enclosure Leakage test is performed so that the ratio of upper to lower leaks
is unknown, the worst case 50% upper leaks—50% lower leaks leakage split must be assumed.
If the upper and lower leaks can be measured separately and the lower leaks are less than
50% of the total then a more accurate and longer hold time is predicted. For example; if the
lower leaks are 20% of the total then the retention prediction is approximate twice as long
as it would be had the 50/50 assumption been made. In cases where suspended ceilings are
in place, lower leaks can be most easily measured by using two fans; one for the above
ceiling and one for below. Another method is to simply cover the suspended ceiling with
plastic and to measure the lower leaks directly.
3.9.2 Initial and Final Clean Agent Concentration
Terms:
Minimum Design Concentration: is typically the flame extinguishing concentration for Class B
fuels times 1.3 (times 1.2 for Class A and C). Greater factors may be required in some cases
Increased Design Concentration, IDC:

Adjusted Design Concentration, ADC:
Over Design Concentration, ODC:
Actual Design Concentration, ADC: is any design concentration that may exceed the Minimum
Design Concentration. For example: the Actual Design Concentration will often be 25% higher
than the Minimum to compensate for concentration reductions that would otherwise occur
due to the mechanical intermixing of air into the agent mixture during the retention period
(usually 10 minutes). In this example, it would be extremely difficult to hold 85% of the
Minimum Design Concentration without the additional agent.
When there is no mixing, a descending interface will form. Below the descending interface,
the agent concentration will remain constant at the original, design concentration. It is
important to understand that, without mixing, increasing the initial agent concentration will
increase the column pressure, increase the speed at which the agent escapes from the
enclosure and hence DECREASE hold time.
Page 32 of 115
A common misconception with a failed room is that adding more agent will fix the problem.
With a descending interface, the opposite will occur.
With a descending interface, adding more agent will decrease the hold time.
When there is mixing, the agent concentration remains homogeneous throughout the
enclosure and slowly decreases, throughout the enclosure, as agent leaks out. The
concentration begins at the initial design concentration and immediately begins to decrease.
The hold time ends when the concentration reaches some specified minimum concentration.
This minimum concentration must be lower than the initial concentration.
A common misconception is that the enclosure fails when the concentration drops below the
initial concentration. This happens almost instantly as agent begins to leak from the room.
1. Hold Time is dependent on the difference between the starting concentration and the
final concentration. The larger the difference, the longer the hold time.
2. With mixing, adding more agent to a failed enclosure will usually increase the hold
time.
3.9.3 Equipment Height and Enclosure Height

When there is no mixing, a descending interface will form. Immediately after discharge, the
interface will be located at the highest flooded point in the room which is usually at the
upper slab, or at the suspended ceiling if present. This is called the Maximum Agent Height.
As agent begins to leak out of the room, the descending interface begins to drop in height,
to be replaced with fresh air from above. When the descending interface reaches the highest
piece of protected equipment, protection is assumed to be lost. When there is no mixing,
hold time is the time from discharge until the descending interface reaches the protected
equipment. When there is no mixing, hold time is dependent on the difference between the
maximum agent height (the height of total flooding) and the minimum protected height
(equipment height).
1. With a descending interface, increasing the ceiling height (increasing the maximum
agent height) will increase the hold time.
2. With a descending interface, decreasing the height of the protected equipment will
increase the hold time.
When there is mixing, hold time does not depend on equipment or enclosure height.
3.10 Measuring Maximum Agent Height

The Maximum Agent Height is measured from the lowest point in the room, to the highest
intentionally flooded spot in the room. When the enclosure has a suspended floor, the
Minimum Protected Height is measured from the lower slab.
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Do not measure above suspended ceilings if there is NO agent discharged there.

Do NOT measure to the bottom of trenches if there is very little leakage there.
Minimum
Protected Minimum Maximum
(Equipment) Protected Protected (Agent)
(Equipment) Height
Height
Height
Maximum Protected
(Agent) Height
3.11 Measuring Minimum Protected Height

The Minimum Protected (Equipment) Height is measured from the lowest point in the room
to the highest piece of equipment being protected. In cases where there is no equipment in
the room, 75% of the overall room height is chosen.
When the enclosure has a suspended floor, the Minimum Protected Height is measured from
the lower slab.
Do NOT measure to the bottom of trenches if there is very little leakage there.
Page 34 of 115
3.12 Other Door Fan Applications

In addition to the Enclosure Integrity Test, the Door Fan equipment can be used for a
number of other applications.
Pressure Relief Vents

Of interest to the clean agent installer is the testing of rooms for adequate pressure relief.
In all cases, if a room is too tight, potentially damaging pressure can develop after agent
discharge. Using Retrotec’s FanTestic Integrity software, the Door Fan test equipment can
be used to predict the maximum expected pressure in the room during discharge and
calculate the amount of venting required.
If pressure-relief vents are installed in the enclosure, the Door Fan test equipment can be
used to pressurize the enclosure and test correct design and functioning of the vents.
Retrotec’s experience, having tested hundreds of enclosures and supported thousands of
testers world-wide, is that pressure relief vents rarely open at the prescribed pressures and
if they do, rarely open fully as required.
The Door Fan equipment can also be used to test for blockages in venting capacity not
apparent to visual inspection. Crushed duct-work, debris in duct-work, blocked weather
covers and malfunctioning dampers are all easily tested using the Door Fan.
Smoke and Contaminant Movement

An emerging industry is the evaluation and prediction smoke and other contaminant
movement through multi-floor building. Conventional predictions have been based on
guessed or “typical” leakage areas in floors, walls and ceiling. The Door Fan test however
can be used to isolate and measure leakage areas of individual walls, ceilings, shafts and
floors.
New techniques have been developed using three specially designed Door Fans that allow
the tester to measure the leakage of each floor slab separately. Floor to elevator shaft and
floor to stairwell leakage can also be measured. Individual shafts can be measured in their
entirety.
The preliminary results of this testing indicates that most buildings leak ten to 100 times
more than they should in order to be safe from smoke moving through the building.
Check the Retrotec website at www.retrotec.com or email support@retrotec.com for the

latest paper on this topic.
Section 04 – Recurring Design Problems

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4 Enclosure & System design - hold time
Consider the case of a 500 ft2 room where $10,000 and two weeks were spent to seal it tight
enough to pass the Enclosure Integrity Test. If money had been spent on agent, and the
ceiling raised several feet, this could have been avoided.
Often the general contractor finds himself rebuilding a room that was not designed to be
tight enough to hold agent. Here are some guidelines that will:
 Ease passing the Door Fan test
 Dramatically improve fire and smoke protection
 Solve 90% of the design problems that have to be solved at the last minute just prior
to occupancy
4.1 Run walls slab to slab

Include construction details that would allow for sealing of the wall to the upper slab.
Extending walls to the upper slab and sealing them airtight is often the only defense from
fire and smoke entering the enclosure from the outside. This sealing is the MOST important
thing that can be done to improve protection in the enclosure. Refer to C-1.2.1 (2) in
NFPA2001 which states “…enclosures absent of any containing barriers above the false
ceiling, are not within the scope of Annex C” meaning the enclosure not be easily tested.
This is the easiest way to get slab to

slab walls sealed. This spray on
flexible rubber is available from 3M
and Grace and it has a fire rating.
Better yet, it is flexible and will not
crack and fall out as many other
treatments will. Loaded floors can
more ½ an inch, but this sealant will
remain flexible over that range. Just
stuff insulation in any size gap and
start building up layers of this
rubber sealant.
4.2 Eliminate T-bar suspended ceilings

The positive view of T-bar
On the negative side
ceilings

Page 36 of 115
T-bar suspended ceilings usually begin to look tattered

T-bar suspended ceilings are low even before the construction job is complete. The tiles
cost, do conceal ductwork and often go flying when the system is discharged. Fire and
wiring, and tiles can be removed smoke events occurring outside the protected zone are far
to gain access. more likely to cause damage in the enclosure than events
that occur within it.
The sheetrock ceiling option
The sheetrock ceiling provides a complete enclosure to protect the contents of the room
from externally generated smoke damage. This increased protection or
compartmentalization shows up when the leakage of the room is measured using the Door
Fan. Instead, install a sheetrock ceiling with access hatches; cover it with plywood, then
sheetrock above so it can be walked on while servicing the equipment above.
Eliminate T-bar suspended ceilings in enclosures where the walls do not go slab to slab. Use a
solid sheetrock ceiling with access hatches and walkways above it. If a T-bar ceiling must be
used, consider the following design tips.
4.2.1 Clipping tiles is often used but is ineffective

Clips are lost almost immediately. As soon as the tiles are opened the clips go flying and the
clips are never replaced. This is an example of a practice that was commonly used to keep tiles
in place during a discharge test but has no practical application for long-term protection. NFPA
states “, it is assumed that the clean agent discharge will not result in displacement of the
ceiling tiles. Increased confidence can be obtained if ceiling tiles are clipped within 4 ft (1.2
m) of the nozzles and all perimeter tiles.” In spite of NFPA’s recommendation, we recommend
the area around nozzles to be constructed in a stable and durable fashion over time and that
clips will generally be displaced in a few months are therefore ineffective for agent retention
and only satisfy a short term discharge test role.
4.2.2 Discharge agent above the false ceiling

Often for a few added pounds of agent, an immense improvement in protection can be gained.
Ceiling tiles will usually go flying during a discharge, causing agent to get lost above the
suspended ceiling. This agent will mix with the above-ceiling air to provide a concentration
that is lower than the initial concentration. Some of this agent may come down to replace
losses below, but at a decreased concentration. Discharging agent above the false ceiling solves
the displaced ceiling-tile problem and in many cases will triple the hold time.
4.3 Maximize the room height and volume

Place the ceiling as high as possible. More clean agent = more protection. In small rooms, run
pipe and supply nozzles to fill the above-suspended-ceiling space.

Page 37 of 115
The greater volume of clean agent in the enclosure, the greater the protection. Merely putting
a higher concentration in the room will only ensure the agent will run out of the room faster
(this is not true in the less common case where the agent is continually mixed after discharge).
4.4 Select an appropriate hold time

NFPA 2001 states “... the design concentration ... shall be maintained for a sufficient period of
time to allow effective emergency action by trained personnel.” The following guidelines are
suggested for small enclosures.
For example, a remote site where re-ignition was possible, and where it would take 30 minutes
for trained personnel to arrive, should be specified as 30 minutes. On the other hand, a small
room with little or no potential for a deep-seated fire and where personnel would respond
within 5 minutes would need a hold time of 5 minutes. NFPA 2001 does not recommend any
specific time. The AHJ must ultimately decide what time is appropriate. ISO however, does
specify 10 minutes.
4.4.1 Specifying a Longer hold time

A longer hold time (greater than 10 minutes) could be specified for:
 Remote sites that are unmanned
 Hazardous areas with continuous ignition or fuel sources
 Deep seated
In some enclosures the AHJ might determine that a 10 minute hold time is not sufficient
protection. For example, at a remote power station there may be a 30 minute response time
and many different fuel sources.
4.4.2 Specifying a Shorter hold time

A shorter hold time (less than 10 minutes) could be specified for:
 Extremely small enclosures
 Emergency response times are less than 10 minutes
 Low risk of re-ignition
All rooms typically have at least one door that will generally leak about 5 to 20 in2. A 350 ft3
room with a 10 minute hold time requires a leakage of 7 in2 or less to pass. Since that is not
really practical, reducing the specified hold time or adding an extended discharge is the only
option.
For room volumes of: 2,500 1,250 625 350 ft3

Minimum achievable leakage area is: 62 42 32 23 in2
Suggesting a hold times for inerts: 10 10 8 6 minutes
And suggesting hold times for halocarbons: 8 6 4 3 minutes
Alternatively, make the room bigger or discharge agent above false ceilings.

Page 38 of 115
4.5 Fit automatic door closers

Doors often get wedged or propped open when the room is in use. This practice must be
discouraged because the clean agent system will not work properly with perimeter doors open.
A better solution is automatic door release mechanisms that will close the doors whenever the
first alarm sounds. Choose a door opener that will close the door when it is de-energized so on
power failure the doors close.
4.6 Leakage reduction effect on hold time (Descending Interface)

Leakage area in an enclosure dictates hold time. If the leakage size is cut in half, the time
taken for agent to fall to any level doubles. In the diagram below, the hold time increases
from 10 to 20 minutes when the hole sizes are reduced from 2 - 22 sq inch holes to 2 - 11
square inch holes.
The following diagram illustrates a 16 foot enclosure where the Minimum protected height is
6 feet. NFPA predicts the agent will drop to the 6 foot level in 6.2 minutes which fails the 10
minute requirement. What should be done?

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Solution: seal the holes. When hole sizes are reduced to half, the time taken to fall to any
level, doubles. In this case, as illustrated below, the hold time increases to 12.4 minutes and
the enclosure passes.
When a suspended ceiling is added to the room reduce the amount of agent used, the
retention at 6 feet goes down to 1.5 minutes.

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Solution: Reduce all holes or lower holes. On the left diagram below, the leakage is reduced
to 21 inches for the upper and lower leaks to achieve a pass of 10.4 minutes. Another
option, shown on the right, is to reduce only the lower leak to 15 sq inches, which can be a
much easier task. Both options yield the same hold time. As we will see later, the second
option has other advantages with respect to Peak Pressure.
Usually, sealing up holes becomes the answer to achieving the required hold times.

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Holes such as this large hole for a small cable, or wall to floor leaks as shown on the left
appear regularly in enclosures. When I ask how much leakage is expected, or allowed for in a
design, I usually get the answer, “none”. We have specified the room to be sealed.
The reality is that they are always full of holes that are not at first visible until they are
measured and traced with smoke testers.
4.7 Recurring Design Problems
At Retrotec, we’ve tested hundreds of enclosures and provided technical support and
consulting on thousands more. We have outlined some of the most common design problems.
Problems we see again and again. Most of these problems have simple fixes that are
inexpensive to implement during the design phase of the enclosure and are typically
expensive and difficult to implant upon discovery during the Door Fan test.
4.7.1 Cascading Pressures
Pressure Pressure Pressure

+25 Pa +10 Pa 0 Pa
Flow Flow
Protection lost in seconds!
Cascading room pressures will create a horizontal flow through the enclosures which will add
to normal agent losses. In the above example, the center room is protected with clean
agent. After the discharge, the agent will effectively “pile up” on the low pressure side of

Page 42 of 115
the room, and be blown out of the room far quicker than predicted. In one case, with a
leaking cable tray, protection would have been lost in seconds!
This room pressurization system must be shut down at discharge to prevent these
uncertainties, or if not possible, the clean agent enclosure must be specifically engineered
to resist these pressures.
4.7.2 Common Sub-floor
Sub-floors always seem to present many opportunities for mistakes. One of the most
significant problems is when the protected zone is connected to an adjacent room by
common sub-floor. This could be due to some (poor) design, or because sections of the
partition wall have been mistakenly uninstalled (a common occurrence under doorways).
Agent is discharged into the protected room and sub-floor but will quickly flow up through
the sub-floor into the next room as if it were water finding its level.
The solution to this problem is that either both rooms need to be discharged at the same
time, or that the walls must be continued to the lower slab.

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This wall rests on a false floor.

We are looking from the
protected zone into the adjacent
unprotected space. Agent will
flow under the wall causing the
protected enclosure to lose
concentration immediately.
Flooding the entire sub-floor is
often used in an attempt to
address the problem. This
All too often we doesn’t work however, because
observe partition walls the agent just forces its way up
that, for some reason,
through the floor from the
do not continue to the
lower slab in the sub-
underside, unintentionally
floor flooding the adjacent room.
4.7.3 Pressurized Sub-floor

Wall cavities that connect the sub-floor space to the above-ceiling space will cause agent to
be forced above the false ceiling if the sub-floor is pressurized during the retention period.
Pressurized sub-floor pushes agent into the above-ceiling space

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4.7.4 Common Above-ceiling Spaces: Discharge will pull smoke in

Common above-ceiling space
Smoke event in Protected Zone

neighbouring
room
Walls that only extend up to the T-bar suspended-ceiling rely on flimsy tiles and clips to hold in
the gas at discharge and to protect the enclosure from fire and smoke events outside the
protected zone. The result is inadequate protection.
Agent can be lost at discharge when the tiles get blown away, reducing agent concentration.
Worse however is that smoke from an external event (smoldering trash bin or neighbouring
event) can cause the clean agent system to discharge. As the agent naturally leaks out, smoke
will be “pistoned” into the enclosure, causing unnecessary damage to the equipment and
unnecessary costs for clean-up, service, and recharge of the system.
4.7.5 Common Above-ceiling Spaces: HVAC Leakage

HVAC pressures arising from either leaky supply or leaky returns will act to push or pull
agent out of the enclosure faster than expected.
HVAC
Leaky Passive
Supply Return
Dampers Leaks
Increased Pressure
Forces Agent out
Faster

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4.7.6 Suspended Ceilings Too Low
Ceiling void Better design using slightly more agent to

act as reserve over the equipment. No
connection to rest of building. Fire barrier
on all sides. Equipment
Equipment
Worst possible design. Leaky T-bar,

suspended ceiling connects enclosure
to events in other parts of the
building. No reserve over the
equipment. Short retention time.
Note: Containment on all 6 sides is required by NFPA 75.

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5 Optimizing Enclosure design for Peak Pressure and Agent Retention
5.1 Leakage Conflict

There is a conflict between needing more vent area for relieving peak pressure during the
seconds of the discharge, versus needing less leakage area for retaining the agent during the
retention period. In other words, the enclosures must be loose enough to prevent damage
during discharge, but tight enough to retain the agent.
Venting requirements for NFPA 2001 (2012 edition)

5.3.7 …… “If the developed pressures present a threat to the structural strength of the
enclosure, venting shall be provided to prevent excessive pressures.”
In jurisdictions using the ISO standard, the installation of Pressure Relief Vents is standard
practice and most agent manufacturers have their own formulae. The FIA has published
guidelines for Pressure Venting which are the same as the FSSA and are covered in later
sections of this training.
5.2 Options to Pass Both Peak Pressure & hold time requirements
1. Increase Volume; flood above ceiling
2. Decrease Protected height
3. Increase allowable drop
4. No mixing, reduce concentration
5. Specify Mixing & Increase Concentration
6. Increase discharge time to maximum
7. Increase Pressure Limit
8. Reduce Lower leaks only; specify Lower Leak test
9. Extended discharge
10. Reduce hold time
11. Close Isolation dampers at end of the discharge
5.2.1 Install a Relief Vent
For many inert agent systems the traditional solution to managing Peak Pressure has been to
just add a relief damper. But, relief dampers increase cost and sometimes cannot be installed
at all. A vent damper that opens for a few seconds during the discharge gives a large vent area
Section 07 – Witnessing a Test

Page 47 of 115
for relieving the Peak Pressure. It then closes to reduce the leakage area during the retention
period. For many inert agent systems the traditional solution to managing Peak Pressure has
been to just add a relief damper. But, relief dampers increase cost and sometimes cannot be
installed at all. A vent damper that opens for a few seconds during the discharge gives a large
vent area for relieving the Peak Pressure, and then closes to reduce the leakage area during
the retention period.
The safest installation is one where only gravity holds back the relief damper.
Gravity style – open 100% at 50 Pa!
This PRV opens fully at 95.5 Pa
Dual acting PRV – open in both directions
Halocarbons require negative and positive pressure venting. The Dual Acting PRV installed
should consider the greatest Peak Pressure direction (i.e. install PRV to open fully for air intake
into the room if the halocarbon has a larger negative Peak Pressure than a positive Peak
Pressure).

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5.2.2 Use a Continuous Mixing system

Continual mixing is desired if protected equipment height is high and close to the height of
discharge/ceiling. Concentration increase can help hold time.
5.2.3 Use an Extended Discharge system

Extended discharge can work, but is expensive and should be a last resort.
5.2.4 Increase allowable drop

There are two methods to increase allowable drop:
a) Lower equipment height
b) Raise ceiling height
1. Enclosure Design 1: Worst possible design. Leaky T-bar, suspended ceiling connects
enclosure to events in other parts of the building. No reserve over the equipment.
Short hold time.

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2. Enclosure Design 2: Better design, slightly more agent. No connection to rest of

building.
5.2.5 Reducing Lower Leaks only
Lower leaks are the biggest problem.
Less is more
5.2.6 Lower Agent Concentration for Non-mixing System
More agent = faster draining
Examples – Passing Both Peak Pressure & hold time requirements:

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1750 HFC-125 at 8%
1500 INERGEN 34.0%

Peak Pressure (Pa)..
IG-55 Pro-INERT 36.7%

1250
HFC 227ea 7.0%

1000
FK-5-1-12 4.2%
750
HFC 23 18.0%
500
IG-100 37.1%
250
Retention Time
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 Minimum Retention
Time
NFPA Retention Time (min.)
Figure 4 – Low enclosure pressure limit (5 PSF) – Fails hold time
1750 HFC-125 at 8%
1500 INERGEN 34.0%


1250
HFC 227ea 7.0%

1000
FK-5-1-12 4.2%
750
HFC 23 18.0%
500
IG-100 37.1%
250
Retention Time
0
Time
Figure 5 - Increase enclosure pressure limit (from 5 to 10 PSF) – 1 can pass hold time

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1750 HFC-125 at 8%
1500 INERGEN 34.0%


1250
HFC 227ea 7.0%

1000
FK-5-1-12 4.2%
750
HFC 23 18.0%
500
IG-100 37.1%
250
Retention Time
0
Time
Figure 6 - Increase Allowable drop in height or concentration from 10% to 25% - 3 can pass hold time
Allowable drop in height

Minimum
Protected Minimum Maximum
(Equipment) Protected Protected (Agent)
(Equipment) Height
Height
Height
Maximum Protected
(Agent) Height
The next example requires the Minimum Protected Height to be defined.

It is the minimum level the agent is allowed to fall to during the retention period.

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1750 HFC-125 at 8%
1500 INERGEN 34.0%


1250
HFC 227ea 7.0%

1000
FK-5-1-12 4.2%
750
HFC 23 18.0%
500
IG-100 37.1%
250
Retention Time
0
Time
Figure 7 - Increase Maximum Flooded Height - 6 can pass hold time
1750 HFC-125 at 8%
1500 INERGEN 34.0%


1250
HFC 227ea 7.0%

1000
FK-5-1-12 4.2%
750
HFC 23 18.0%
500
IG-100 37.1%
250
Retention Time
0
Time
Figure 8 - Decrease Lower Leaks Only - ALL can pass hold time

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5.3 Good Vent Design Principles

1. Open early
2. Vent high
3. Test Vent to ensure it will open (see section 5.4)
There is a very narrow margin between needing a vent and not needing one. Enclosure vent
area should always be measured and a test completed to ensure adequate relief-venting.
The last thing needed, should a fire event occur, would be to make a bad situation worse by
damaging the enclosure.
Open Early decreases Peak Pressure
Enclosure Pressure (Pa) Versus Time
800.00
700.00
Peak Positive Pressure of +671 Pa

600.00
.
Enclosure Pressure ( Pascals)
500.00
Peak Negative Pressure of +346 Pa

400.00 Vent open at 250 Pa
300.00
Peak Negative Pressure of +142 Pa
200.00 Vent open at 50 Pa
100.00
0.00
5 10 15 20 25 30
-100.00
Time (seconds)
Open vents as early as possible.

The top curve depicts no vent giving the greatest peak at 671 Pascals.
The middle curve shows the Vent opening at 250 Pascals creating a 346 Pascal peak.
The bottom curve shows the Vent opening at 50 Pascals giving a 142 Pascal peak.
Opening the vent early decreases the peak.

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Vent as high as possible
Ideally relief dampers would be located above suspended ceilings so that air is vented and
not agent.
5.4 Vent Area Measurement test
Door Fan measures leakage areas at 2.5 PSF (125 Pa)
The leakage area of clean agent enclosures has been measured regularly using Door Fans for
retention predictions. The same Door Fan system can also be used for measuring the vent
area at higher test pressures.
Tape vents open for measuring leakage for Peak Pressure, and taped shut for measuring
leakage for Retention.

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Testing for Vent Area reveals Problems

1. Vent opens partially or too late.
This commonly used damper only opened 20% at 250 Pascals, giving only a tiny
fraction of the venting that was expected. When field tested, vent dampers rarely
perform as anticipated.
2. Vent becomes blocked along the venting ductwork or at the exit flap. They must be
inspected on a regular basis.
3. Electronic dampers may not open
What guarantees that the Electronic dampers will open at all? If electronic or
pneumatic actuators are used, they must be fast enough to open before the pressure
rises above 50 Pascals. Some pressure spikes occur in less than a second, but will the
dampers respond that fast? Are they tested regularly to see if they still open? Gravity-
induced opening of the dampers should be considered in their design in case the
electronics fail.

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4. The vent was installed backwards.
The large negative pulse was not reduced by the damper which was installed to open
on a positive pressure!
Ceiling tiles can only take 50 Pa!
Beware of lay-in ceiling tiles that will be easily blown out as the agent makes its way to the
relief vent or to leaks above the ceiling.
Calculate the ceiling tile vent area to ensure this is avoided.
Ceiling Tile Vent Area = Leakage Area above ceiling X Pressure Limit / 50
E.g. Leakage = 100 cm2
Pressure limit = 500 Pa
Ceiling Tile Vent Area = 100 cm2 X 500 Pa / 50 = 1000 cm2
A calculation must be made to determine the pressure drop across a light weight suspended
ceiling. In cases where there are holes above the suspended ceiling and insufficient holes in
the suspended ceiling itself, sufficient pressure may blow the ceiling upwards in the case of
inerts or pull it down in the case of halocarbons (especially under low humidity conditions).
Placing vents in the suspended ceiling will prevent this condition.

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Suspended ceilings that are subjected to velocity pressures from the nozzles during
discharge will be displaced. Deflections into the suspended ceilings can also be caused when
the discharge stream strikes and object in the line of the discharge stream.
5.5 Warnings & Conclusions
Warning Bells
High minimum protected heights require tight rooms to hold agent. We should already know at
the design stage that this will be a problem room. Either it will not hold the agent
concentration or it will have too much Peak Pressure or more likely, both.
Regardless of the agent used, whenever hold time is over 20 minutes, you are in the problem
zone. By the time you get to 40 minute hold times, you certainly have lots of Peak Pressure.
Had the last two pieces of advice been heeded millions of dollars would have been saved.

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Conclusions
1. All agents can create excessive pressures

2. Many venting solutions exist
3. Testing vent area is inexpensive and beneficial
4. PRVs seldom work correctly and need repeat testing.
5. Lower leak test increases allows an enclosure to have more upper leakage to relieve
peak pressure while allowing the measurement of a smaller lower leakage to yield a
longer retention time.
6. Leakage must be optimized for Peak Pressure AND agent retention
7. Check gravity PRV operation with Door Fan when measuring retention

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6 Witnessing an Enclosure Integrity Test
The witness plays a key role in ensuring that the test is completed correctly. Many witnesses
are unaware however, of exactly what they need to look for and what factors affect the test
results. What follows is a short explanation of each of the points that the witness should be
aware of during the test.
The 4-page Enclosure Integrity Verification Form that follows is a comprehensive checklist
showing each and every point that must be inspected to complete an approval according to
NFPA 2001.
6.1 Technician Training
7.6.1 All persons who could be expected to inspect, test, maintain, or operate
fire extinguishing systems shall be thoroughly trained and kept thoroughly
trained in the functions they are expected to perform.
NFPA 7.6.1 requires that testers be appropriately trained. The testing technician should be
certified to at least Level 2 for conducting a single Door Fan test and at least Level 3 when
conducting a dual Door Fan test. Testers who have completed any part of Retrotec’s training
program are listed on our website at www.retrotec.com, with complete details of their level
of certification.
Technician certification is stored within the FanTestic Integrity software, is displayed

prominently in the software and on reports, and is easily viewable by the authority upon
request.
6.2 Software Conformance

Analysis tools in use by the technician to produce ELA and hold time calculations must
conform to the standard being tested to (either NFPA or ISO).
Retrotec’s FanTestic Integrity Windows software conforms to the NFPA 2001 and ISO 14520
standards exactly.
6.3 Room Pressure Gauge Calibration Certificate

The NFPA and ISO standards require that pressure gauges used to measure the room pressure
be calibrated annually. The gauge must be accurate to +/-1 Pa.
Calibration certificates are sent with each fan or gauge. The witness should ensure that the
gauge being used by the technician has a current calibration certificate and that the serial
numbers on the equipment match the serial numbers in the software.
The ISO standard recommends calibration but does not suggest how often. It does require +/-1
Pa accuracy. Retrotec recommends annual calibration of all pressure gauges.

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6.4 System calibration
C.2.2.1.6 Door Fan systems should be checked for calibration every 5 years
under controlled conditions, and a certificate should be available for inspection
at all integrity tests. The calibration should be performed according to
manufacturer’s specifications.
The certificate should include the following:
1) Description of calibration facility and responsible technician.
2) Date of calibration and serial number of Door Fan.
3) Room pressure gauge error estimates at 10 Pa, 15 Pa, 20 Pa, and 50 Pa
measured by both ascending and descending pressures (minimum).
4) Fan calibration at a minimum of 3 leakage areas (approximate): 0.5 m²,
0.25 m², and 0.05 m² measured at a pressure of 10 Pa.
6.5 Field Calibration check procedure

A field calibration check can be requested by the witness to see if the equipment and
operator can actually measure a hole of a known size. This test takes very little time to
perform and is the perfect way to gain confidence in the tester, test equipment, and test
technique.
It is preferable to inform the operator beforehand of the expectation to perform a field

calibration check so the operator can bring the requisite equipment.
6.6 Return Path

There must be a complete and unobstructed flow path from every leak in the enclosure back
to the Door Fan otherwise some leaks may not be measured. This may entail opening
stairwell or elevator doors to floors above and below, neighboring room doors, and perhaps
windows and doors leading outside (if the enclosure under test borders an external wall).
The witness should ensure that the operator has examined and accounted for the return
paths from all leaks.
6.7 Room and Equipment Set-up

All doors within the zone must be open. The HVAC system and all dampers must be set as
they would be at or during a discharge.
A doorway must be selected that opens into the largest and most open space. Applying tape
to seal up the Door Fan panels is OK as long as the doorway is tighter than the panels.
The volume of the room should be calculated on-site using a tape measure or by counting
tiles. Taking volume measurements from blue-prints or site-staff as gospel, without
confirmation, should not be permitted.

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Maximum agent height and minimum protected height must be physically (and correctly)
measured on-site.
Similarly, the operator must confirm the weight or volume of agent through actual
inspection of the bottles, not by consulting design documents or talking to site staff.
6.8 Bias pressure Check

Before beginning the test, the operator should accurately determine the bias pressure. With
the doorway completely sealed and the Door Fan completely sealed, the magnitude of the
bias pressure must be measured. By opening a small hole (perhaps a single low-flow plug)
and using smoke, direction of the bias pressure should be determined.
Relying on the positive/negative sign as read from a digital gauge is very error-prone and
should be discouraged.
The origin of pressures above 3 or 4 Pa should be determined and rectified if possible.
6.9 Gauge Set-up

In the case of analog gauges, gauge leveling and zeroing must be completed before any
tubes are hooked up. Most analog gauges are meant to be mounted vertically (usually on
door-frame or in a pre-designed rack or console). Once mounted, the gauges should be
carefully zeroed using small screw-driver and tapped gently to ensure stability. Once zeroed,
analog gauges should be quite stable over the course of the test and need only be spot-
checked occasionally or tapped prior to each measurement.
In the case of digital gauges, zeroing is usually done through a pneumatic switch, either
manually or automatically. Many digital gauges are susceptible to position and once zeroed,
should not be moved. Digital gauges also tend to drift slightly over time as they warm up.
Digital gauges should be zeroed prior to each test measurement.
The witness should ensure that gauges are zeroed correctly.
6.10 Flow and Room Pressures Entered Correctly

In addition to ensuring that the gauges are correctly reading the pressures, the witness
should also confirm that the operator actually records the pressure correctly and enters it
correctly into the software.
6.11 Range Selection

The “Ranges” on a Retrotec Door Fan refers to the selection of flow-restrictor-plates or orifices
that change the airflow through the blower. Testing on the correct Range is extremely critical
for good results for two reasons.
Often the same room-pressure can be achieved with a number of different Ranges (just like a
manual transmission car can achieve the same speed in a number of different gears). For the

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best results, the Door Fan should be running above ½-speed and the flow-pressure through the
Door Fan must be greater than the room-pressure and should be at least double the room
pressure. If these conditions aren’t met, the operator should change to the next smaller flow
range.
If the operator does not input the correct flow-range that the test was conducted on into the
software, the results can be significantly affected. Retrotec’s FanTestic Integrity Windows
software displays a picture of the selected Range, which must be acknowledged, before the
results of each test are entered. Alternatively, the ranges can only be identified by consulting
Retrotec’s Range Configuration table.
The witness must confirm that the range on the printout or shown in software during the test
matches the range that is actually used by the operator.
6.12 Testing in Both Directions

Rooms must be tested positively and negatively to eliminate bias due to duct leaks and other
bias pressures. Testing in both directions is not done due to positive pressures after discharge.
6.13 Determining the Leakage Split – The BCLA Test

To measure leaks in the lower part of the room is not the same as taping up leaks to pass a
discharge test. The leakage of the whole room, including the ceiling is measured in the first
test, the Total Leaks Test. The lower leaks can be measured separately to get a more accurate
prediction of hold time. The Total leaks test MUST be performed first and then, and only then,
can the BCLA test be performed.
During a ceiling-neutralization/flex-duct test, the witness should ensure that the operator has
indeed neutralized flow across the ceiling. This should be verified by observing the readings on
the pressure gauges, making sure there is a 0 pressure difference between the ceiling space
and the room.
6.14 Technical Judgment

As a last resort to other BCLA techniques, Retrotec software has a spreadsheet method of
determining leak location. For enclosures with extremely large overhead leaks they may be
passed using “technical judgment” as per the following section:
Section C-1.2.2 (e) of NFPA 2001 App C version 2000 states:

“Enclosures with large overhead leaks but no significant leaks in the floor slab and walls
will yield unrealistically short hold time predictions. Experience has shown that enclosures
of this type can be capable of retaining clean agent for prolonged periods. However, in such
cases the AHJ might waive the quantitative results in favor of a detailed witnessed leak
inspection of all floors and wall with a Door Fan and smoke pencil.”
It must be understood that, although this test will show the enclosure’s ability to hold agent in
a discharge test, a large measure of the passive fire protection has been eliminated due to the
absence of an upper sealed smoke and fire barrier.

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6.15 Yearly Retests

All enclosures must be re-tested yearly if any doubt exists as to whether the room has had
any more holes put in it in the last year.
6.16 Commonly Needed Inert Gas Clarifications

Inert gases are all heavier than air (with the exception of Nitrogen) and will, according to
NFPA 2001 and ISO 14520, run out of room leaks.
They are not as heavy as halocarbons and usually only run out at half the rate. They do run out
though.
Inert agent enclosures have a very narrow window where they must be tight enough to hold the
agent but loose enough to vent peak discharge pressures.
All inert clean agents need relief vent areas according to their manufacturers.
Inert agents still must pass the Door Fan tests.
If the enclosure has a vent, its area can be checked with the Door Fan and some vents can be
tested for their ability to open under pressure.
6.17 Enclosure Integrity Test Verification Form

Because there are so many aspects for the witness to keep track of during the Enclosure
Integrity Test, Retrotec has developed an easy-to-follow checklist. You can also find this form
in the appendices at the end of this document.
Please feel free to copy this form and customize it for your own organization as you require.

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Enclosure Integrity verification form

Building
Room
Testing technician
Witness
Date and time of test
Check Section in Name on

What to look for
off Software Computer Screen
1 __ yes Is the pressure gauge calibration certificate up to date?

N/A N/A (less than 1 year old)
__ no
2 __ yes Is the door fan system calibration certificate up to date?

N/A N/A
__ no (less than 5 years old)
3 __ yes Does the technician have the correct level of training?

N/A N/A
__ no Ask for certificate
4 __ yes Test and Has the correct test type been selected? If mixing is
Technician Test type
__ no chosen, verify that mixing will occur.
details
5 __ yes Building and Elevation above

Is it correct within 600 ft or 200 m?
__ no Agent details sea level
6
__ yes Protected
Building and This is used to calculate the design concentration. It
enclosure must be measured, was it?
__ no Agent details
volume
7 __ yes Building and Was it measured from floor slab to highest point that is
Enclosure height
__ no Agent details flooded with agent?
8 __ yes Was the height from the floor slab to the equipment
Building and Minimum being protected properly measured? Only applies if
__ no
Agent details protected height there is no mixing but it is useful to have it recorded
__n/a either way.
9 __ yes Was the minimum anticipated temperature entered? If

Building and Operating that information was unavailable it is ok to enter the
__ no Agent details temperature current room temperature.
10 __ yes Building and

Agent Have they selected the correct agent?
__ no Agent details

Page 65 of 115

What to look for
11 Options are mass, volume, or concentration. Have they

__ yes Building and selected the appropriate method? Volume for inert
Agent quantity by agents, mass for halocarbon agents. Concentration
__ no Agent details
should not be used unless no mass or volume is known.
12 __ yes Building and Did they enter a correct quantity (mass or volume) and
Agent quantity
__ no Agent details read it from the labels on the tanks?
13 __ yes Do you agree that the value recorded will prevent re-
Building and Minimum ignition at the end of the retention period? Only applies
__ no
Agent details concentration if there is mixing but it is useful to have it recorded
__n/a either way.
14 __ yes Is the correct design concentration entered from the

Building and Design system design specs? Only applies for extended discharge
__ no
Agent details concentration
__n/a systems.
15 __ yes Building and Specified hold

Do you agree with the time shown?
__ no Agent details time
16 __ yes Remove all temporary tape or get sufficient assurance it

N/A N/A
__none will be replaced with a permanent seal.
17 __ yes Leakage Area:

Total Enclosure If untested values were entered, do you agree with their
__ no Tested/Enter validity? It would be unusual to have untested values.
Leakage
__ n/a untested
18 __ yes Total Enclosure Bias pressure Did you observe the bias pressure measurement at the
__ no Leakage during fan test time of the Door Fan test?
19 __ yes Total Enclosure

N/A Was the enclosure tested in both directions?
__ no Leakage
20 __ yes Was the enclosure tested at 10Pa and 50Pa in both

Total Enclosure
Induced pressure directions? If 50Pa could not be achieved, are you
__ no Leakage
comfortable with the highest pressure reached?
21 Were the pressures checked across each wall or was

__ yes Total Enclosure there sufficient return path from the Door Fan to the
N/A
__ no Leakage enclosure leaks to ensure the pressure was the same
across all enclosure boundaries.

Page 66 of 115

What to look for
22 __ yes Total Enclosure Was the range used verified? A picture of the ranges will
Fan range
__ no Leakage pop up in FanTestic Integrity when the range is selected.
23 __ yes Was the flow pressure accurately recorded while the

Total Enclosure Door Fan was running without FanTestic Integrity
Fan pressure
__ no Leakage
warning of the pressure being too low?
24 __ yes Total Enclosure Must be between 0.45 and 0.9 to be acceptable (shown
Flow exponent
__ no Leakage in the Detailed Results)
If BCLA test is not done, skip ahead to 33
25 __ yes
BCLA Test N/A Was a Total Enclosure Leakage test completed first?
__ no
26 __ yes Bias pressure Was the bias pressure re-measured at the time of the
BCLA Test BCLA test?
__ no during fan test
27 __ yes Leakage Area:

If untested values were entered, do you agree with their
__ no BCLA Test Tested/Enter
validity? It would be unusual to have untested values.
__n/a untested
28 __ yes Was the enclosure tested at 10Pa and 50Pa in both

BCLA Test Induced pressure directions? If 50Pa could not be achieved, are you
__ no comfortable with the highest pressure reached?
29 Were the pressures checked across each wall or was

__ yes there sufficient return path from the Door Fan to the
BCLA Test N/A
__ no enclosure leaks to ensure the pressure was the same
across all enclosure boundaries.
30 __ yes Was the range used verified? A picture of the ranges will
BCLA Test Fan range
__ no pop up in FanTestic Integrity when the range is selected.
31 __ yes Was the flow pressure accurately recorded while the

BCLA Test Fan pressure Door Fan was running without FanTestic Integrity
__ no warning of the pressure being too low?
32 __ yes Must be between 0.45 and 0.9 to be acceptable (shown

BCLA Test Flow exponent in the Detailed Results)
__ no

Page 67 of 115

What to look for
33 This is the hold time given all the variables input into
__ pass FanTestic Integrity. If this is greater or equal to the
Retention Time,t
__ fail “Specified hold time” in the Building and Agent details
section, the room PASSES.
Note any other concerns
you had about the test ->

Page 68 of 115
6.18 Standards and How They Apply
Standards Agents Latest edition

NFPA 2001, Annex C All Agents except Halon and CO2 2012
ISO 14520, Annex E All Agents except Halon and CO2 2006
NFPA 12A, Appendix B Halon only 2009
NFPA 12, not included CO2 only 2011
6.19 Small Room hold times
For the purposes of this discussion, small rooms will be defined as 2,500 ft3 or less.
Some compromises can be made for small rooms for two reasons:
 They are not likely to have a large fire that would threaten the rest of the building.
 Once trained personnel arrive and open the door, the enclosure integrity (and some of
the agent) is lost anyway so shorter hold times can be considered.
6.19.1 Selecting an Appropriate hold time
NFPA 2001 states “... the design concentration ... shall be maintained for a sufficient period
of time to allow effective emergency action by trained personnel”.
The following guidelines are suggested for small enclosures.
At a remote site, for example, where re-ignition was possible and where it would take 30
minutes for a responsible party to arrive should be specified as 30 minutes. On the other
hand, a small room with little or no potential for a deep-seated fire and where personnel
would respond within 5 minutes would need a hold time of 5 minutes. NFPA 2001 does not
recommend any specific time. The AHJ must ultimately decide what time is appropriate. ISO
does specify 10 minutes.
Each room must have at least one door, and that door will leak about 5 to 20 in 2. A 350 ft3
room with a 10-minute hold time requires a leakage of 7 in2 or less to pass. Since that is not
really practical, reducing the specified hold time or an extended discharge is the only
option.
6.19.2 Recommended Times for Small Rooms
For room volumes of: 2,500 1,250 625 350 ft3

Page 69 of 115
Minimum achievable leakage area is: 62 42 32 23 in2

Suggested hold times for inerts: 10 10 8 6 minutes
Suggested hold times for halocarbons: 8 6 4 3 minutes

Page 70 of 115
Appendices
Page 71 of 115
7 Appendix A – Agent Comparison
7.1 Standards
Standards Agents Latest Edition
NFPA 2001, Annex C All Agents except Halon and CO2 2012
ISO 14520, Annex E Standard All Agents except Halon and CO2 2006
NFPA 12A, Appendix B Halon only 2009
NFPA 12, not included CO2 only 2011
7.2 Agents
Manufacturer
NFPA Chemical
Agent’s Trade Name with registered Density kg/m3
name name
trademark 
Air n/a Air n/a 1.205
INERT Agents
Argon Minimax GmbH IG-01 Ar 1.700
Argonite  Ginge Kerr IG-55 N2 50%, Ar 50% 1.410
CO2 Chemetron, others CO2 CO2 1.832
Inergen  Ansul IG-541 N2 52%, Ar 40%, 1.430

CO2 8%
Nitrogen Cerbex AG IG-100 N2 1.165
HALOCARBONS
CEA-308  3M FC-218 C3F8 7.905
CEA-410  3M FC-3-1-10 C4F10 9.850
FE-227  DuPont HFC-227ea CF3CHFCF3 7.260
FE-241  DuPont HCFC-124 CHClFCF3 5.830
FE-25  DuPont HFC-125 CHF2CF3 5.060
FE-36  DuPont HFC-236fa CF3CH2CF3 6.545
FIC-1311 - FIC-1311 CF3I 8.051
FM-200  Great Lakes HFC-227ea CF3CHFCF3 7.260

Chemical
Appendix A – Clean Agent Comparison

Page 72 of 115
Halon Recycled only Halon1301 6.283
SIII  NAF HCFC BlendA CHClF2 82% 3.840
Novec 1230  3M None yet ? 12.937
7.3 Specific volume and density constants for agents

GAS METRIC IMPERIAL
K1 K2 kg/cu.m. K1 K2 lb./ft2
Air 1.202 0.0750

Argon 0.56850 0.00208 1.700 8.5140 0.01850 0.1061
Argonite 0.65980 0.00242 1.410 9.8809 0.02150 0.0880
CEA-308 0.11712 0.00467
CEA-410 0.09410 0.00030 9.850 1.4090 0.00310 0.6149
CO2 0.49747 0.00203 1.832 7.4472 0.01806 0.1144
FE-13 0.31640 0.00120 2.915 4.7250 0.01070 0.1820
FE-227 0.12690 0.00050 7.260 1.8850 0.00460 0.4532
FE-241 0.15750 0.00060 5.830 2.3395 0.00580 0.3640
FE-25 0.18250 0.00070 5.060 2.7200 0.00060 0.3159
FE-36 0.14130 0.00060 6.545 2.0980 0.00500 0.4086
FIC-1311 0.11380 0.00050 8.051 1.6830 0.00440 0.5026
fm-200 0.12690 0.00050 7.260 1.8850 0.00460 0.4532
Halon 0.14871 0.00057 6.283 2.2062 0.00505 0.3922
Inergen  0.65799 0.00239 1.430 9.8579 0.02143 0.0893
SIII 0.24130 0.00088 3.840 3.6120 0.00790 0.2397

Novec 1230 0.07100 0.0003 12.9366 1.0627 0.00267
 ss= k1 + k2 * T
 ss= specific volume in ft2 / lb. or cu. m. / kg. T = temperature in F or C
2
 Densities are shown in lb./ft or kg/cu.m. for the agent in the gaseous
state at 70F or 21C
 Higher densities and concentrations will result in greater column
pressures. See the table (2 pages forward) labeled “comparing hold

Page 73 of 115
times…descending interface case.” The higher the column pressure, the shorter the hold
time
7.4 Concentration Ranges ... from an enclosure leakage perspective

Warning! Not for use in designing systems. The purpose of this is to review the range of concentrations used
in calculating hold times. Small changes in concentration do not affect the hold time very much unless the
agent is continually mixed throughout the retention period.
Minimum % at
Typical design % Maximum design Design range
the end of the
Agent for occupied % for occupied for unoccupied NOAEL LOAEL
retention
spaces spaces spaces
period
Europe 5 %
Halon 7.5 % 2.5 % 5% 7.5 %
N America 6 %
CO2 not suitable 28 - 65 %
FM-200 for Fike
7% 9% 5.5 % 9% 10.5 %
& Kidde-Fenwal
FM-200 for
7.44 % 9% 5.5 % 9% 10.5 %
Chemetron
FM-200 in Europe 7.9%
SIII 8.6 % 13 % 8.6 % 10 % > 10 %
CEA-410 5 -12 % 24 % * 5% 40 % > 40 %
FE-13 16- 20 % 24 % * 15 % 50 % > 50 %
FE-25 7.5 % 10 %
Inergen  37.5 % 43 % ** 34 – 50 % 28.6 % 43 % 52 %
Argonite 43 % ? 43 % 52 %
FIC-1311
FE-241 1% 2.5 %
FE-36 10 % 15 %
Argon 43 % ? 43 % 52 %
CEA-308 8.8 % 30 % > 30 %
Novec 1230 5% 4.6 %

Page 74 of 115
Typical design % Most commonly specified. Usually for the typical room where a descending interface is
for occupied assumed for purpose of calculating the retention period per NFPA 12A & 2001 Appendix B.
spaces Higher concentrations yield somewhat shorter hold times due to increased pressure.
Maximum design % Design concentration specified where continual mixing will occur during the retention
for occupied period such that the concentration degrades at all elevations at the same time. Higher
spaces concentrations yield somewhat longer hold times due to increased pressure.
Design range for Typical range for agent use in unoccupied areas. Presumably, any concentration could be
unoccupied spaces used here.
Minimum % at end Assuming continual mixing during the retention period, the concentration will drop
of the retention gradually over the entire period. The higher the initial % and the lower the final %, the
period longer the hold time (often 10 minutes).
NOAEL From 2001. No Observable Adverse Effect Level.
LOAEL From 2001. Lowest Observable Adverse Effect Level.

Page 75 of 115
7.5 Comparing hold times – descending interface case

Example: 1,000 ft3 room at 70 F, 10 ft high, min. protected height of 7.5 ft, ELA (leakage area) of whole
room measured with Door Fan of 22 in2
Warning! Agent concentrations shown are for demonstration of comparative hold times in the same
enclosure and may not reflect their ability to put out a fire or keep it out. Consult a qualified fire protection
engineer for appropriate design concentrations.
Column
Quantity of % concen-
Agent Pressure NFPA calculated hold time
agent tration
Pc
Argon 470 ft2 37. 5% 5.6 Pa 14 minutes
Argonite 470 ft2 37.5% 2.3 Pa 21 minutes
CEA-308
CEA-410 61 lb. 9% 23.1 Pa 8 minutes
CO2 52 lb. 37.5 % 7.1 Pa 14 minutes
FE-13 40 lb. 18 % 9.2 Pa 11 minutes
FE-227 37 lb. 7.55 % 13.7 Pa 10 minutes
FE-241
FE-25
FE-36
FIC-1311
fm-200 37 lb. 7.55 % 13.7 Pa 10 minutes
Halon 25 lb. 6% 9.2 Pa 11 minutes
Inergen  470 ft2 37.5 % 2.6 Pa 20 minutes
SIII 24 lb. 9% 7.2 Pa 13 minutes
This is created by the weight of agent pressing on the floor. As soon as the agent begins to
Column Pressure
leak out, this pressure is reduced by the pressure drop across the upper leaks and the loss
- Pc
of agent.
NFPA calculated In this example, this is the time for a descending interface between the agent below and
hold time the air above to drop to 7.5 ft. above the slab.

Page 76 of 115
7.6 Comparing hold times ... continual mixing case

Same example: 1,000 ft2 room at 70 F, 10 ft. high, ELA (leakage area) of whole room measured with Door
Fan of 22 sq.in. - but min. concentration at 10 minutes shown in table.
Warning! Agent concentrations shown are for demonstration of comparative hold times in the same
enclosure and may not reflect their ability to put out a fire or keep it out. Consult a qualified fire protection
engineer for appropriate design concentrations.
Quantity of
Agent Initial % Final % Column Pressure NFPA hold time No mixing case results
agent
Argon 559 ft2 43% ** 31.3% 6.4 Pa 14 minutes 14 minutes
2
Argonite 559 ft 43% ** 28.6% 2.7 Pa 27.2 minutes*** 21 minutes
CEA-308
CEA-410 196 lb. 24% * 5% 62.1 Pa 23 minutes 8 minutes
2
CO2 559 ft 42.8%** 31.3% 8.1 Pa 13 minutes 14 minutes
FE-13 57.5 lb. 24% * 15% 12.3 Pa 15 minutes 11 minutes
FE-227 45 lb. 9% 5.5% 16.4 Pa 14 minutes 10 minutes
FE-241
FE-25
FE-36
FIC-1311
fm-200 45 lb. 9% 5.5% 16.4 Pa 14 minutes 10 minutes
Halon 31.5 lb. 7.5% 2.5% 11.4 Pa 32 minutes 11 minutes
INERGEN  559 ft2 43% ** 28.6% 2.9 Pa 26.1 minutes*** 20 minutes
SIII 26.6 lb. 10% 8.6% 7.9 Pa 7 minutes 13 minutes
* Maximum design is 24 % for occupied spaces to prevent O 2 from falling below 16 % per NFPA.
** Maximum design is 43 % ** for occupied spaces for inert agents to give 12 % O2 per NFPA.
*** Note recalculated time.
Initial % Highest initial concentration was used to give longest hold time
Lowest concentration used in example to show the longest hold time at end of the retention
Final %
period for enclosure example.
Pc is created by the weight of agent pressing on the floor. As soon as the agent begins to
Column Pressure
leak out, this pressure is reduced by the pressure drop across the upper leaks and the loss
Pc
of agent.
NFPA calculated
Time for the concentration to drop from the initial concentration to the final %.
hold time
7.7 Conclusions
The inert agents have longer hold times because their density is close to that of air. This
would allow their enclosures to be about twice as leaky to maintain the same concentration.

Page 77 of 115
Caution is advised in making them too leaky as smoke damage from outside the enclosure
may become a problem.
Some agents have the same hold time while others are higher and lower. The agent’s
performance must be checked during the design phase to ensure the enclosure’s dimensions
maximize hold time. For example: For descending interface cases, rooms must have the
highest possible ceilings and the equipment in the room must be at the lowest possible level.
For continual mixing cases, rooms must have the greatest volume and maximum initial
versus final concentration to increase hold times. Ideally, the enclosure can be optimized for
both situations because it may not be known whether mixing will occur during the hold time
or not.

Page 78 of 115
7.8 Agent Comments

Argon Inert clean agent - see INERGEN  - same comments apply
Argonite Inert clean agent - 50% Argon and 50% Nitrogen - see INERGEN  - same comments apply
CEA-308 Not currently in 2001 but slated for next issue - in draft of ISO standard
Large range between design and NOAEL - would allow for high design concentrations where
CEA-410
continual mixing was desired to provide protection at high levels in an enclosure
CO2 For unoccupied areas only
UL listed to - 40 F and ceilings up to 25 feet - Kidde literature states NOAEL of 30 % - large range
FE-13 between design and NOAEL would allow for high design concentrations where continual mixing
was desired
FE-241 For unoccupied areas, cabinets & compartments - useful down to –32 F
FE-25 For unoccupied areas
FE-36 For portable extinguishers
FIC-1311 Listed in 2001 but no information available
FM-200, Popular replacement for Halon in many halocarbon clean agent applications - puts out fires by
FE-227 removing heat at the molecular level so combustion cannot continue
Halon The old standard used Halon as a familiar reference for comparison to other agents
 Inert clean agent
 Initial oxygen content 13.1 % for 37.5 % INERGEN and 12 % for 43 % INERGEN
 Unoccupied areas can have greater concentrations than 52 %
INERGEN   This can rise up to 15 % O2 (28.6 % INERGEN) before it loses its fire suppression abilities
Inergen has longer hold times due to its density being only slightly heavier than air - even so, the
higher concentrations still cause considerable loss from leaks
NFPA 2001 requires a Door Fan test on every installation - in addition, relief venting must be
added no matter how leaky the enclosure is, according to Ansul
SIII Widely used in Australia

Page 79 of 115
8 Appendix B – NFPA Standard Excerpts
8.1 NFPA 2001 Standard (Year 2008 Edition)

Call NFPA @ 1-800-344-3555 for a complete copy
Standard Comments
5.1 System Design
5.1.2.2
Working plans shall be drawn to an indicated scale and shall
show the following items that pertain to the design of the
system:
5.1.2.2 (10)
For and enclosure protected by a clean agent fire
extinguishing system an estimate of the maximum positive and
the maximum negative pressure, relative to ambient pressure,
expected to be developed upon the discharge of agent.
5.1.2.2 (28)
*Pressure relief vent area, or equivalent leakage area, for the
protected enclosure to prevent development, during system
discharge, of a pressure difference across the enclosure
boundaries that exceeds a specified enclosure pressure limit.
5.3 Enclosure
5.3.1
In the design of a total flooding system, the characteristics of
the protected enclosure shall be considered.
5.3.2 The area of unclosable openings in the protected
enclosure shall be kept to a minimum.
5.3.3
The authority having jurisdiction shall be permitted to require
pressurization/ depressurization of the protected enclosure or
other tests to assure performance meeting the requirements
of this standard (see Annex C).
5.3.4
To prevent loss of agent through openings to adjacent hazards
or work areas, openings shall be permanently sealed or
Extended discharge
equipped with automatic closures. Where reasonable
recommended where
confinement of agent is not practicable, protection shall be
openings can’t be sealed.
expanded to include the adjacent connected hazards or work
areas or additional agent shall be introduced in the protected
enclosure using an extended discharge configuration.
Appendix B – NFPA Standards Excepts

Page 80 of 115
5.3.5 Other than the ventilation systems identified in 5.3.5.2,

forced air ventilating systems, including self-contained air
recirculation systems, shall be shut down or closed
automatically where their continued operation would
adversely affect the performance of the fire extinguishing
system or result in propagation of the fire.
5.3.5.1 If not shut down or closed automatically, the volume

of the self-contained recirculating undampered ventilation
system ducts and components mounted below the ceiling
height of the protected space shall be considered as part of
the total hazard volume when determining the quantity of
agent.
5.3.5.2 Ventilation systems necessary to ensure safety shall

not be required to be shut down upon activation of the fire
suppression system. An extended agent discharge shall be
provided to maintain the design concentration for the
required duration of protection.
5.3.6* The protected enclosure shall have the structural
strength and integrity to contain the agent discharge. If the
Venting shall be provided if
developed pressures present a threat to the structural
there is any risk of
strength of the enclosure, venting shall be provided to prevent
overpressure during the
excessive pressures. Designers shall consult system
discharge.
manufacturer’s recommended procedures relative to
enclosure venting.
5.6* Duration of Protection.
A minimum concentration of 85 percent of the design This time is usually 10
concentration shall be held at the highest level of minutes but this should be
combustibles for a minimum period of 10 minutes or for a considered more carefully.
period to allow for response by trained personnel. It is Take into account response
important that the agent design concentration not only shall time for fire dept. or other
be achieved, but also shall be maintained for a sufficient personnel; the mass of the
period of time to allow effective emergency action by trained fuel; the extent of “deep-
personnel. This is equally important in all classes of fires since seated” potential.
a persistent ignition source (e.g. an arc, heat source,
oxyacetylene torch, or “deep-seated” fire) can lead to
resurgence of the initial event once the clean agent has
dissipated.
7.1 Inspection, Testing, Maintenance, and Training

Page 81 of 115
7.1.1 Inspection & Tests

At least annually, all systems shall be thoroughly inspected
and tested for proper operation by personnel qualified in the
installation and testing of clean agent extinguishing systems.
Discharge tests shall not be required.
7.4 Enclosure Inspection

Other than as identified in 7.4.1, the enclosure protected by There will almost always be
the clean agent shall be thoroughly inspected at least every 12 cause for a re-test since
months to determine if penetrations or other changes have enclosures always become
occurred that could lead to agent leakage or other changes leakier with time. It is far
have occurred that could change volume of hazard, or both. easier to set up the Door Fan
Where the inspection indicates conditions that could result in and retest than to do a
the inability to maintain the clean agent concentration, the detailed inspection to find
conditions shall be corrected. If the uncertainty still exists, holes in the enclosures.
the enclosures shall be retested for integrity in accordance
with 7.7.2.3
7.5.3
Any penetrations made through the enclosure protected by Door Fan test will show
the clean agent shall be sealed immediately. The method of enclosure is sealed.
sealing shall restore the original fire resistance rating of the
enclosure.
7.6.1
All persons who could be expected to inspect, test, maintain, AHJ may ask to see
or operate fire extinguishing systems shall be thoroughly certificate of course
trained and kept thoroughly trained in the functions they are completion on door for
expected to perform. testing.
7.7.2.3*
Review Enclosure Integrity. All total flooding systems shall This clumsily worded section
have the enclosure examined and tested to locate and then is usually taken to mean that
effectively seal any significant air leaks that could result in a all clean agent systems must
failure of the enclosure to hold the specified agent have a Door Fan test. The
concentration level for the specified holding period. The quantitative results are used
currently preferred method is using a blower Door Fan unit when enclosure is re-tested.
and smoke pencil. Quantitative results shall be obtained and
recorded to indicate that the specific agent concentration for
the specific duration of protection is in compliance with
Section 5.6, using an approved blower fan unit or other means
as approved by the authority having jurisdiction.
All of Annex C

Call NFPA @ 1-800-344-3555 for a complete copy

Page 82 of 115
Standard Comments
5.3 Enclosure
5.3.1
5.3.2 The area of unclosable openings in the protected
5.3.3
of this standard (see Appendix C).
5.3.4
Extended discharge
recommended where
5.3.5 Other than the ventilation systems identified in 5.3.5.1
and 5.3.5.3., forced air ventilating systems shall be shut down
or closed automatically where their continued operation
would adversely affect the performance of the fire
extinguishing system or result in propagation of the fire.
5.3.5.1 Completely self contained recirculating ventilation
shall not be required to shut down.
5.3.5.2 The volume of the ventilation system and associated

ductwork shall be considered as part of the total hazard
volume when determining the quantity of agent.
5.3.6 The protected enclosure shall have the structural

strength and integrity to contain the agent discharge. If the
developed pressures present a threat to the structural
strength of the enclosure, venting shall be provided to prevent
excessive pressures. Designers shall consult system
discharge.
manufacturer’s recommended procedures relative to
enclosure venting.

Page 83 of 115
5.6* Duration of Protection.

It is important that the agent design concentration not only This time is usually 10
shall be achieved, but also shall be maintained for a sufficient minutes but this should be
period of time to allow effective emergency action by trained considered more carefully.
personnel. This is equally important in all classes of fires since Take into account response
a persistent ignition source (e.g. an arc, heat source, time for fire dept. or other
oxyacetylene torch, or “deep-seated” fire) can lead to personnel; the mass of the
resurgence of the initial event once the clean agent has fuel; the extent of “deep-
dissipated. seated” potential.
Exception: Ventilation systems necessary to ensure safety are
not required to be shut down upon activation of the fire
6.1.1 Inspection & Tests
and tested for proper operation by competent personnel.
Discharge tests are not required.
6.4 Enclosure Inspection

Other than as identified in 6.4.1, the enclosure protected by There will almost always be
the clean agent shall be thoroughly inspected at least every 12 cause for a re-test since
months to determine if penetrations or other changes have enclosures always become
occurred that could adversely affect agent leakage or change leakier with time. It is far
volume of hazard, or both. Where the inspection indicates easier to set up the Door Fan
conditions that could result in the inability to maintain the and retest than to do a
clean agent concentration, the conditions shall be corrected. detailed inspection to find
If the uncertainty still exists, the enclosures shall be retested holes in the enclosures.
for integrity in accordance with 6.7.2.3.
6.5.3
enclosure
6.6.1
All persons who might be expected to inspect, test, maintain, AHJ may ask to see

Page 84 of 115
6.7.2.2.10*
If a discharge test is to be conducted, containers for the agent
to be used shall be weighed before and after discharge. Fill
weight of container shall be verified by weighing or other
approved methods. For inert gas clean agents, container
pressure shall be recorded before and after discharge.
6.7.2.3*
and smoke pencil. If quantitative results are recorded, these
could be useful for comparison at future tests (For guidance,
see Appendix C).
All of Appendix C

Page 85 of 115

Standard Comments
3-3 Enclosure
3-3.1
3-3.2 The area of unclosable openings in the protected
3-3.3
of this standard (see Appendix C).
3-3.4
Extended discharge
recommended where
3-3.5 Forced-air ventilating systems shall be shut down or
closed automatically where their continued operation would
adversely affect the performance of the fire extinguishment
agent system or result in propagation of the fire. Completely
self-containment recirculating ventilation systems are not
required to shut down. The volume of the system and
associated ductwork shall be considered as part of the total
hazard volume when determining quantity of agent.
3-3.6
discharge.

Page 86 of 115
3-6*
Duration of Protection. It is important that the agent design This time is usually 10
concentration not only shall be achieved, but also shall be minutes but this should be
maintained for a sufficient period of time to allow effective considered more carefully.
emergency action by trained personnel. This is equally Take into account response
important in all classes of fires since a persistent ignition time for fire dept. or other
source (e.g. an arc, heat source, oxyacetylene torch, or personnel; the mass of the
“deep-seated” fire) can lead to resurgence of the initial event fuel; the extent of “deep-
once the clean agent has dissipated. seated” potential.
Exception: Ventilation systems necessary to ensure safety are
not required to be shut down upon activation of the fire
4-1.1
and tested for proper operation by competent personnel.
Discharge tests are not required.
4-4
Enclosure Inspection. At least every 12 months, the enclosure There will almost always be
protected by the clean agent shall be thoroughly inspected to cause for a re-test since
determine if penetrations or other changes have occurred that enclosures always become
could adversely affect agent leakage or indicates conditions leakier with time. It is far
that could result in inability to maintain the clean agent easier to set up the Door Fan
concentration, they shall be corrected. If uncertainty still and retest than to do a
exists, the enclosures shall be tested for integrity in detailed inspection to find
accordance with 4-7.2.3. holes in the enclosures.
4-5.3
enclosure
4-6.1
All persons who might be expected to inspect, test, maintain, AHJ may ask to see
4-7.2.2.10*
If a discharge test is to be conducted, containers for the agent
to be used shall be weighed before and after discharge. Fill
weight of container shall be verified by weighing or other
approved methods. For inert gas clean agents, container
pressure shall be recorded before and after discharge.

Page 87 of 115
4-7.2.3*
and smoke pencil. If quantitative results are recorded, these
could be useful for comparison at future tests (For guidance,
see Appendix B (they meant C)).
All of Appendix C

Page 88 of 115
8.4 NFPA 12A Halon

3-6 Altitude Adjustment.
The design quantity of Halon 1301 shall be adjusted to compensate for The altitude
altitudes of more than 3000 ft. (1000 m) above or below sea level and adjustment in A-3-
pressures that vary by 10 percent above or below standard sea level 6 of 2001 is used
pressure (29.92 in. Hg at 70 degrees F). The Halon 1301 quantity shall for all agents to
be corrected by multiplying the quantity determined in 3-5.1 and 3-5.2 adjust
by the ratio of average ambient enclosure pressure to standard sea concentration for
level pressure. altitude.
3-7.1.2 Discharge Time.
The agent discharge shall be substantially completed in a normal 10 seconds or as otherwise
required by the authority having jurisdiction. This period shall be measured as the interval
between the first appearance of liquid at the nozzle and the time when the discharge
becomes predominantly gaseous. This point is distinguished by a marked change in both the
sound and the appearance of the discharge.
4-7.2.2 Enclosure Integrity Acceptance.
All total flooding systems shall have the enclosure examined and tested to locate and then
effectively seal any significant air leaks that could result in a failure of the enclosure to
hold the specified Halon 1301 concentration level for the specified holding period. The
currently preferred method is using a blower Door Fan unit and smoke pencil. If
quantitative results are recorded, these could be useful for comparison at future tests on
the same room with a Door Fan.
A-3.3.3
The design of total flooding Halon 1301 systems only beneath the raised floor of EDP
facilities when the occupied space above the raised floor is not similarly protected by a
total flooding Halon 1301 system does not meet the intent of this standard. Such a design
does not comply with the definition of a total flooding system or with this chapter.
A-3-5.2 Leakage of Halon 1301 through Enclosure Openings.
Halon 1301 discharged into an enclosure for total flooding will result in an enclosure for
total flooding will result in an air/agent mixture that has a higher specific gravity than the
air surrounding the enclosure. Therefore, any opening in the walls of the enclosure will
allow the heavier air/agent mixture to flow out of the enclosure, being replaced with
lighter outside air flowing into the enclosure through the same opening. The rate at which
agent is lost through openings will depend on the height and width of the opening, the
location of the opening in the wall, and the concentration of agent in the enclosure.
Fresh air entering the enclosure will collect toward the top, forming an interface between
the air/agent mixture and fresh air. As leakage proceeds, the interface will move toward
the bottom of the opening. The space below the interface will contain essentially the
original extinguishing concentration of agent, whereas the upper space will be completely
unprotected. The rate at which the interface moves downward increases as concentrations
of agent increase, so that simply injecting an overdose of agent initially will not provide an
extended period of protection.

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All of Appendix B

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8.5 NFPA 12 for CO2

2-6.1 General.
The venting of flammable vapors and pressure buildup from the discharge of quantities of
carbon dioxide into closed spaces shall be considered. Venting of flammable vapors is
covered in 2-2.1.4. The pressure venting consideration involves such variables as enclosure
strength and injection rate.
2-6.2 Pressure Relief Venting.
Porosity and leakages such as at doors, windows, and dampers, though not readily apparent
or easily calculated, have been found to provide sufficient relief for the normal carbon
dioxide flooding systems without need for additional venting. Record storage rooms,
refrigerated spaces, and ductwork have also been found to need no additional venting when
tested under their average system conditions.
2-6.2.1
For very tight enclosures, the area necessary for free venting shall be calculated form the
following formula. Assuming the expansion of carbon dioxide to be 9 ft.3/lb (0.56 m.3/kg)
will give satisfactory results.
X=Q
1.3 P
2
Where X = Free venting area in in.
Q = Calculated carbon dioxide flow rate in lbs./min.
P = Allowable strength of enclosure in lbs/ft2
For SI Units
XM = 23.9 QM
PM
XM = Free venting area mm2
QM = Calculated carbon dioxide flow rate in kg/min.
PM = Allowable strength of enclosure bars, gauge.
2-6.2.2
In many instances, particularly when hazardous materials are involved, relief openings are
already provided for explosion venting. These and other available openings often provide
adequate venting.

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9 Appendix C – Sample Enclosure Integrity Test Specification
The first section of this guide discusses issues to be addressed by the designer/specifier, on
behalf of the client, at the conceptual stages of the planned project. Further sections
provide sample performance and prescriptive specifications, which specifically impact
enclosure acceptance, particularly when using the new NFPA 2001 Enclosure Integrity Test or
ISO 14520. These sections are to be integrated into other readily available standard Clean
Agent specifications, which cover other areas such as References, System Description,
Submittals, Qualifications, Warranty and Service, Products and Piping.
The general objective of this document is to ensure that new Clean Agent protected
enclosures are built so they can be accepted using the 12A & 2001 Enclosure Integrity Test.
It is important to note however that most of the recommendations will also help ensure
trouble-free acceptance of enclosures using the conventional discharge test. In addition,
many of these recommendations can be applied to CO2.
This material must be carefully edited for each installation to ensure that the completed
specification is appropriate to the particular installation, to avoid conflicting requirements,
to ensure consistent numbering, and to ensure that the particular specification is placed in
the appropriate contractor's contract. Items shown in bold are sample specifications. Items
shown in regular type are either instructions or background information for the specification
writer. Items in parentheses are generally options to be included or not depending on system
requirements.
This document has been written assuming that year 2000 NFPA 2001 CLEAN AGENT
STANDARD is the principal governing code or standard. If this is not the case, the
appropriate substitutions should be made.
This document is not to be considered a formal or informal interpretation of NFPA 2001. If

any aspect of NFPA 2001 is not clear to the reader, he is advised to contact NFPA directly for
a formal interpretation. This document reflects only the views and opinions of Retrotec
based on our experience. This document itself carries no authority. Retrotec makes no
warranty either expressed or implied that these sample specifications are appropriate for
use in their current form.
While many of the examples in this document refer to computer facilities, this should not be
taken to mean that the guidelines are not appropriate for other types of hazards.
9.1 General Enclosure Design Guidelines

If Clean Agent has been determined to be the most appropriate extinguishing Agent for the
installation, a number of items should be reviewed prior to designing the enclosure and
system and developing the specifications.
Appendix C – Sample Enclosure Integrity Test Specification

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9.1.1 Slab To Slab Walls or Solid Ceiling

In order to retain the Clean Agent for the full hold time, the enclosure must be tightly built.
In order to be accepted using the Enclosure Integrity Procedure, each zone's enclosure must
either have perimeter walls which extend from slab to slab as per NFPA 75, or must have a
solid (drywall) ceiling.
Interior walls between rooms within one Clean Agent zone should stop at the suspended
ceiling level, so that the Clean Agent protected zone has a common ceiling plenum. In
addition it must be possible to "pneumatically" connect all the rooms within the zone,
preferably with permanently installed transfer air openings or an uncarpeted common sub-
floor.
Past experience has shown that slab-to-slab construction is not generally necessary for an
enclosure to retain the Agent. It is however preferred, if the enclosure is to be accepted
using NFPA 2001 Appendix C.
Slab-to-slab walls or a solid ceiling are not specifically required by NFPA 2001 although they
are in NFPA 75 and by many local authorities.
An extremely thorough visual inspection using a smoke pencil and Door Fan may satisfy some
authorities. Its non-quantitative nature is a drawback-.
If the client originally intended to install a lay-in tile ceiling with a common ceiling plenum
to the rest of the building, the benefits of either slab-to-slab or solid ceiling construction
should be described and they are:
1. Greater overall fire protection of the hazard will be obtained through having at least a
one-hour fire rated separation surrounding the enclosure. Compartmentation is
considered one of the key first elements in effective fire protection.
2. Greater environmental control (humidity, dust and temperature) and lower ongoing
maintenance costs will be provided by a tight enclosure.
3. Greater protection from smoke contamination originating outside the hazard is obtained
with a tight enclosure.
4. The increased cost of providing additional drywall and dampers will be offset by lower
maintenance costs, possibly lower initial acceptance test costs if a discharge test is not
performed and also reduced costs to maintain an acceptably tight enclosure over time.
5. Authorities Having Jurisdiction now require periodic Enclosure Integrity Testing to ensure
continued performance. Slab-to-slab walls make the enclosure easier to "re-accept" it
quantitatively in the future.

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9.1.2 Avoidance of Attached Volumes

The Enclosure Integrity Test requires that an unrestricted return path be present during the
test between the Door Fan and each leak in the enclosure. This is generally obtained by
opening doors (or ceiling tiles) between rooms and spaces adjoining the Clean Agent
protected enclosure while the test is being conducted. The resulting surrounding network of
rooms and corridors is known as the relief path.
If a doorway or ceiling space is not available to pneumatically connect an adjoining room to

the rest of the relief path during the fan test, the leakage from the Clean Agent protected
room into that room may not be accurately measured. This adjoining room is then referred
to as an attached volume.
Attached volumes can be avoided by ensuring that doors, hatches, or common ceiling
plenums exist between all adjoining rooms and corridors outside the protected enclosure.
Note that attached volumes should be avoided in any case as they may indicate a restriction
of egress options from such rooms in the case of an emergency.
If leakage from the Clean Agent protected enclosure to an attached volume is less than half
the leakage from the attached volume into the relief path, or if the barrier between the two
spaces has only a small portion of the enclosures total leakage, little effect will be made on
the test's accuracy. Unfortunately, this is a subjective evaluation and difficult to administer
in the field.
Do not design a common ceiling plenum between the attached volume and the protected
enclosure. A slab-to-slab wall should be installed between the protected enclosure and all
adjoining rooms and corridors.
Do not design an unprotected room to be built within the envelope of the protected
enclosure. Leakage into an unprotected space completely within the protected enclosure
will not be measured by the Enclosure Integrity Test. Such spaces should be included in the
Clean Agent protected space.
9.1.3 Penetration Planning

Achieving and maintaining a high degree of tightness is facilitated by having the location and
design of certain penetrations, specifically for cables, planned in advance. The installation
of round pipe sleeves or other engineered sealable openings is recommended. Sufficient
extra capacity should be installed to handle expected future expansion. Sealing openings
between cables within bundles is a very common and difficult problem to solve once all
cables are in place.
9.1.4 Document Passageways

Many data processing centers include a "pigeon hole" system to control the flow of
documents into and out of the room. These generally have glass or acrylic doors or flaps. If
such a system is installed, it is recommended that it not penetrate the enclosure perimeter
walls, as excessive leakage will occur. A Clean Agent protected vestibule should be included
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in the room design or the design should include an electrical or mechanical means to close
such an opening.
9.1.5 HVAC Dampers

All ducts leading into or out of the space must be mechanically dampered, even if the air
handler serving them will be shut down and the ducts terminate at ceiling level. Dampers
should be smoke rated.
9.1.6 "Un-closeable" Openings

Un-closeable openings must be avoided. Very few such openings are actually un-closeable.
For example, most conveyor belt systems can be designed so that the belt is divided at the
opening and spring loaded "guillotine" type dampers can be installed to seal off the opening
upon discharge. Other "pass-throughs" can be similarly sealed. A perfect seal may be
impossible to obtain, but a reasonably tight seal is usually possible. The key issue is to
identify and accommodate such openings at the design stage, not after a room fails an
Enclosure Integrity or Discharge test.
9.1.7 Location of Dedicated HVAC units

Whenever possible, dedicated HVAC units for room cooling, dehumidification and dust
control should be placed entirely within the protected enclosure. Duct and access panel
leakage often cause excessive Clean Agent loss. If this is not possible, specify that the
additional measures needed to ensure a tight system be the responsibility of the HVAC
contractor.
9.1.8 Minimum Protected Height

Even if a Clean Agent protected enclosure is designed and built to be as tight as possible, a
certain degree of leakage must be expected to occur.
The leakage mechanism is somewhat as follows. During the retention period, the agent/air
mixture, being heavier than air, will generally leak out lower openings. Air will enter
through openings high in the room at the same rate to replace it. If air-moving devices in the
room are shut down, this incoming air tends to collect at the top of the room. The upper
level of the Clean Agent mixture descends over time. This boundary layer between the
original agent/air mixture and the infiltrated air is known as the descending interface.
However, if any air moving equipment is left on during the retention period (blowers, air
conditioning units or UPS equipment), the incoming air becomes completely mixed with the
original agent/air mixture. This causes the average concentration throughout the room to
decay. This phenomenon is known as mechanical mixing.
If a descending interface forms, the allowable height to which it can descend in 10 minutes
is a crucial factor. This minimum protected height is usually where the upper probe would
have been placed during a discharge acceptance test.
The minimum protected height is best defined as the highest combustible item in the room.
Design the room and its equipment (cable trays are the most common problem) so that all

Page 95 of 115
combustibles are kept below the 75% level (measured from the floor slab). The 75% level is
an NFPA 2001 guideline, and allows for a reasonable amount of Clean Agent leakage (up to
25% of the room volume) while not severely restricting the equipment design.
If the minimum protected height is set above 85% of the protected enclosure height, more
reliable and extended protection can be provided near ceiling level by intentionally
designing in continuous mechanical mixing. If this is done the minimum protected height is
irrelevant, as the same concentration will be present everywhere in the enclosure.
A discussion of the mechanical mixing option is necessary in this Enclosure Integrity Testing
document even though it enters into system design, as it significantly impacts on the ability
to accept the enclosure.
Mechanical mixing is most often achieved by running the in-room air conditioners upon
discharge. There are however three drawbacks to this approach: the AC unit may be what is
on fire; sub-floor AC units will invariably accelerate the Clean Agent loss as they push the
mixture out any leaks in the sub-floor (or ductwork outside the protected enclosure); and
the mixture may inadvertently be blown into unprotected ceiling voids.
Mechanical mixing can also be achieved by installing a separate air handling system, which
activates upon discharge to continuously circulate the Clean Agent mixture up from floor
level to ceiling level. Better control of the distribution can be obtained. A separate system is
not ideal either, as it must be periodically checked and maintained in order to ensure it is
still operational (much the same as for a Clean Agent purge system). The final selection is up
to the designer.
The "descending interface or mechanical mixing" decision must be made early in the design
process as it may affect the determination of required Agent quantity, and therefore, the
required cylinders and piping layout. If mechanical mixing will occur, and a 6% initial
concentration is used, only 16.6% of the room volume could be lost before a 5%
concentration is reached. If mechanical mixing will occur, longer hold times will be achieved
using a higher initial concentration. For example, if a 6.7% initial concentration is achieved,
up to 25% of the room volume can leak out before 5% is reached. This may be an appropriate
design choice for either a small room or one which has features, which make achieving an
airtight seal difficult. An extended discharge design is another option.
Small rooms (up to approximately 5,000 cubic feet) have historically been the most difficult
to pass using a discharge test. There appears to be two reasons for this. One is that Clean
Agent is more likely to be lost during the initial discharge, especially if there is an
unprotected ceiling void above. This appears to be reduced if a "soft" discharge is used.
Contact Clean Agent equipment manufacturers for more guidance.
The predominant reason appears to be because small rooms have much less favorable
surface to volume ratios. For example, a 10,000 cubic foot room has ten times the volume of
a 1,000 cubic foot room, but has only three times the wall area. Relatively speaking, the
small room has to be much tighter to retain the agent. As the Room Integrity Test is even

Page 96 of 115
more stringent than the discharge test, this can make small rooms difficult to accept if they
aren't practically airtight.
9.1.9 Summary
If all air moving equipment will be shut down in the event of a fire, the Minimum Protected
Height (e.g. 75% of room height) and Minimum Initial Concentration (e.g. 6%) should be
specified in the bid request documents. Refer to Section 3.00 for a discussion of why it is
necessary to specify a minimum initial concentration to design for if an Enclosure Integrity
Test is to be used for acceptance. It is recommended that the Minimum Protected Height be
no higher than 75% of the room height, especially if the enclosure volume is less than 5,000
cubic feet.
If a mechanical mixing design approach is taken, the HVAC contractor and Clean Agent
installer must be informed of the mechanical and control requirements. It is recommended
that a higher Minimum Initial Concentration (e.g. 6.75%) be specified if the enclosure
volume is less than 5,000 cubic feet.
Note that the new Year 2000 NFPA 2001 Enclosure Integrity Procedure models the
"mechanically mixed" retention period.
9.2 Enclosure Integrity Specifications

(For the General Contractor)
On new installations, it is recommended that the General Contractor (GC), if one is present,
be made responsible for overall room tightness. The GC would then require that all his
subcontractors perform the necessary sealing, which relates to their work. Any work being
done on the installation by second-level contractors (e.g. cable pullers) not operating under
the GC must also be subjected to this requirement under their contracts. If the Clean Agent
system is being installed as a retrofit, one contractor must be made responsible for sealing
existing holes. If no building contractor is involved in the retrofit, the Clean Agent installer
may be able to arrange for this service.
The prescriptive specifications give guidance on what must be sealed, while the
performance specification determines whether the job was done right. In order to pass the
Enclosure Integrity Test, the contractor may have to seal items, which are not specifically
described, in the prescriptive specifications. Item 2.02C covers just about every possibility.
9.2.1 Enclosure Integrity Performance Specification

Enclosure leakage shall be eliminated to at least the degree necessary to enable the
Clean Agent protected enclosure to pass a test conducted in accordance with the Year
2000 NFPA 2001 Enclosure Integrity Procedure. Variables of interest are listed in Article
6, APPROVAL/ACCEPTANCE OF ENCLOSURE INTEGRITY.

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It is possible to calculate in advance using NFPA 2001 Appendix C what the maximum
allowable Equivalent Leakage Area would be for the enclosure. If this is done, the
performance specification could be even more specific.
9.2.2 Enclosure Integrity Prescriptive Specifications

The following items cover enclosure leakage in a general fashion, and should be placed in
the General Contractor's specification. He should then repeat those appropriate to specific
subcontractors in their specifications. If the client or AHJ requires that the materials and
techniques used must produce a one or two-hour fire rated enclosure, this must be
specified.
Because historically the walls and roof of unprotected ceiling voids above suspended ceilings
have not had to be well sealed to retain agent, existing building practice, if retained, will
produce enclosures where large leakage areas will be measured, resulting in unacceptably
low predicted hold times. It is recommended that where possible the walls and roofs of
unprotected ceiling voids be sealed as tightly as the protected enclosure below. If this is not
possible or practical (in a retrofit for example), it is generally possible to accept the
enclosure using the B-2.6.2 Suspended Ceiling Leakage Neutralization Method. It is
recommended however that every attempt be made to seal the ceiling void first.
1. The perimeter walls of the protected enclosure shall extend from the structural floor
to the structural floor above, or the roof.
Alternately: The ceiling of the enclosure shall be ( ) inch drywall (plasterboard),

mudded, taped and painted per Article ( ). Access panels shall be provided as
indicated on the plans (# ).
Possible addition: The ceiling system shall be constructed with an upper deck in
order to provide a walk on surface for servicing above ceiling utilities. (Specify
construction details if desired.)
2. Where an under floor space continues out of the Clean Agent protected area into
adjoining rooms, airtight partitions shall be installed under the floor directly under
above-floor border partitions. These partitions shall be caulked top and bottom. If a
removable floor tile extends under a doorway over such a partition, it shall either be:
permanently sealed in place; installed with a flexible seal between it and the wall
below; or the tile shall be discontinued at the doorway with a permanent airtight
ledge created up to which the floor tiles abut. If adjoining rooms share the same
under floor air handlers, then the partitions shall have dampers installed of the same
type as required for ductwork.
3. All holes, cracks, or penetrations leading into or out of the protected area shall be
sealed. Pipe chases and wire troughs shall be sealed around both the outside and
inside at a point where they pass through the envelope of the protected zone. All
walls shall be caulked around the inside perimeter of the room where the walls rest
on the floor slab and where the walls intersect the ceiling slab or roof above.

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4. Porous block walls shall be sealed slab-to-slab to prevent gas from passing through
the block. Multiple coats of paint may be required.
5. All doors shall have door sweeps or drop seals on the bottoms, weather stripping
around the jambs, latching mechanisms and door closer hardware. In addition, double
doors shall have a weather-stripped astragal to prevent leakage between doors and a
coordinator to assure proper sequence of closure.
6. Windows shall have solid weather-stripping around all joints. Glass to frame and
frame to wall joins shall be sealed.
7. All floor drains shall have traps designed to have water or other compatible liquid in
them at all times.
8. All unused and out-of-service ductwork leading into or from a protected area shall be
permanently sealed off (air tight) with metal plates caulked and screwed in place at
the point where they breach the envelope of the protected zone.
9. All ceiling tiles shall have a weight of at least (xx) pounds per square foot.
Lightweight vinyl coated acoustic tiles shall not be used.
The possibility of ceiling tiles being displaced during a discharge should be addressed at the
design stage. Possible options include tile clipping, nozzle deflectors, lowering the nozzles a
certain distance from the ceiling and ensuring proper nozzle location. Contact Clean Agent
equipment manufacturers for guidance.
9.3 Clean Agent System Specifications

(For the Clean Agent Contractor)
This section covers only the issue relating to the Clean Agent system design, which has an
impact on the Enclosure Integrity Test. A complete specification should cover the
appropriate Year 2000 NFPA 2001 articles and features of particular interest to the client.
Note: Examples use Halon because it is generic - substitute the proper values using Halon as
a guide.
Past practice in the industry has been to specify the minimum concentration (usually 5% for
Halon) which has to still be in the room at the end of the required retention period (usually
10 minutes). The typical Clean Agent installer, knowing that some enclosure leakage is
usually present, prudently designs for l0% to 20% more Agent on the initial discharge.
Experience has shown this to usually be sufficient to deal with either the room volume lost if
mechanical mixing takes place, or the dilution of the upper layer of the Clean Agent column
if a descending interface forms. The descending interface's dilution is caused by the
infiltrating air, which enters high in the room. After l0 minutes, the top l0% or so of the
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Clean Agent column usually contains only half its initial concentration. The vast majority of
"5%" systems are, therefore, installed to provide between 5.5% and 6% initially.
While a small amount (10% to 20%) of extra Agent is generally needed, more is rarely better
(if mechanical mixing doesn't occur). The greater the initial concentration, the denser the
Clean Agent mixture becomes, the more the column of Clean Agent weighs, and the faster
the descending interface will drop. If a room is leaky the answer is generally to make the
enclosure tighter, not to add more agent. The following from NFPA 2001 Appendix A
confirms this: "The rate at which the interface moves downward increases as concentrations
of Agent increase, so that simply injecting an overdose of Agent initially will not provide an
extended period of protection."
It is important to note however that this is only true if a descending interface forms during
the retention period. If mechanical mixing occurs, more Agent will extend the retention
period.
The essential point to be made is this: If a discharge concentration test will not be
performed, it is necessary to specify the initial Clean Agent concentration required (usually
6% for Halon) that would normally ensure the desired minimum concentration is maintained
(usually 5% for Halon). Otherwise, the marketplace will compel the Clean Agent installer to
install only enough gas to reach 5%. This is a distinct departure from past practice, which
has generally been to only specify the minimum.
If mechanical mixing will occur in a small room, it is prudent to specify an even higher initial
concentration (e.g. 6.5% to 6.75% to retain 5% for Halon). These ratios can be adjusted
accordingly if the client requires more than the most commonly required minimum of 5%.
The system shall be designed and installed to provide a (6) % Halon concentration
throughout the protected enclosure upon discharge, as calculated in NFPA 2001. The
protected enclosure extends from the floor slab to (the slab above) (the suspended
ceiling). The following rooms are considered to constitute the Clean Agent protected
zone: ( ).
9.4 HVAC Specifications

(For the Mechanical Contractor)
9.4.1 Ductwork
Ductwork in service with the building air handling unit shall have gasketed low leak
agent/smoke type dampers with flexible seals (option: conforming to UL-555S "Standard
for Leakage Rated Dampers For Use in Smoke Control Systems", Class I leakage rated).
Rigid metal-to-metal blade seals shall not be used. Dampers shall be spring-loaded or
motor-operated to provide near airtight shut-off. (Option: The dampers shall be of the
spring close, motor open type.)

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The dampers shall be installed as close as possible to the duct's point of entry into the
room. All duct joints between the damper and the duct entry point shall be sealed. The
gap between the damper frame and the duct wall shall be sealed. A minimum 6" square
access panel shall be installed to permit internal inspection of the damper.
Alterations to air conditioning, heating, ventilating ductwork and related equipment

shall be in accordance with NFPA 90A, Standard for the Installation of Air Conditioning
and Ventilating Systems, or NFPA 90B, Standard for the Installation of Warm Air Heating
and Air Conditioning Systems, as applicable.
It is recommended that whenever possible, any in-room air conditioning units be shut down
upon discharge to reduce the possibility that they will expel the mixture from the sub-floor.
Ideally, the Clean Agent protected enclosure will be a "dead" room from a bias pressure
standpoint by the time the Clean Agent discharges. If the dampers are truly tight, and the
in-room air conditioning units are shut down, close to zero pressure is usually achieved.
Occasionally, however, significant imbalances exist in the building HVAC system, which
could increase the leakage of Clean Agent from the enclosure. If a significant bias pressure is
uncovered during the Enclosure Integrity Test which is not solved by improving damper seals
or sealing leaks, it may prove to be necessary to have that zone of the building's air handlers
shut down in addition to closing the dampers.
9.5 Approval/Acceptance of Clean Agent System

The following article covers only the acceptance of the Clean Agent system, which is the
Clean Agent installer's responsibility. Adequate enclosure integrity is confirmed in section 6.
Historically, the vast majority of discharge test failures have been caused by lack of
enclosure integrity. Nonetheless, if a discharge test is not being carried out, it is essential
that other aspects of the system installation be verified and tested per NFPA 2001.
1. The contractor shall carry out the acceptance tests described in NFPA 2001 year
2000 edition, section 4-7 in the presence of the AHJ or its representative.
2. The contractor shall provide a test report. After the tests are completed and the
system has been accepted, the system shall be brought to full operating condition.
9.6 Approval/Acceptance of Enclosure Integrity
In most instances, the Clean Agent contractor is required to provide the Enclosure Integrity
Test, although it is possible to separate it from the overall contract and obtain bids from
other parties. The following wording assumes that the Clean Agent contractor is providing
the test, and these articles are placed in his contract. It is important to note that while the
Clean Agent contractor is often responsible for providing the Enclosure Integrity Test, he
should not be responsible for the sealing unless very specifically stated in his contract. This
usually is only possible on some retrofits.

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Article 11.6.1 may be used if the enclosure will have a raised floor and/or a suspended
ceiling, and if the specifier wants to have the Clean Agent contractor involved in inspecting
the General Contractor's sealing work. This task could be done with the inspecting authority.
The intent is to confirm that all possible leaks have been sealed at the earliest and easiest
stage of construction.
1. Prior to the installation of the (raised floor) (and) (suspended ceiling) the Clean Agent
contractor shall depressurize the enclosure to at least -5 pa (-.02" w.c.) with a Door Fan
unit and inspect the enclosure using a smoke pencil. The inspection shall be done in the
presence of the owner's representative and the General Contractor. Uncalibrated fans
and/or the building return air-handling system may be used if needed to create the
pressure differential required. Temporary sealing of un-closeable openings is permitted if
this is needed to obtain the pressure differential required. Examples of such openings are
doorways without doors, ducts without dampers and unsealed cable trays i.e. those
openings which are ultimately to be sealed prior to contract completion. Measurements
need not be recorded. A written report and plan view of the enclosure identifying the
location and nature of leaks uncovered shall be submitted.
2. Upon completion of the enclosure by all trades involved (e.g. doors and dampers
installed, all penetrations sealed), the Clean Agent contractor shall conduct an Enclosure
Integrity Test in conformance with NFPA (12A 1994) & 2001 Appendix C, in the presence
of the owner's representative and the General Contractor. Variables of interest are listed
in Article 11.6.4 below. Acceptable deviations from the Procedure are listed in Article
11.6.5 below. Should the test be unsuccessful, an inspection shall be conducted and a
report and plan view of the enclosure identifying the location and nature of leaks
uncovered shall be submitted. If more than one test is required, additional tests shall be
at the expense of the contractor(s) whose deficiencies are responsible for the test
failure.
3. Upon successful completion of the test conducted in article 6.02, a final Enclosure
Integrity Test per Year 2000 NFPA 2001 shall be conducted in the presence of the AHJ or
his representative. The contractor shall provide a test report, including a copy of the
recorded measurements.
Adequate notice shall be given to the AHJ or its representative to enable either or both
to attend.
If the enclosure's leakage has increased since the successful completion of the test
specified in 11.6.2, and this leakage causes the enclosure to fail this test, the enclosure
shall be inspected to uncover the source of this leakage. If retesting is required it shall
be conducted at the expense of the contractor (s) whose deficiencies are responsible for
the test failure.
4. Variables of Interest
A. (MECHANICAL MIXING) (DESCENDING INTERFACE)

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The Clean Agent leakage shall be modeled assuming that (mechanical mixing)
(descending interface formation) takes place during the retention period.
B. (MINIMUM PROTECTED HEIGHT) (MINIMUM ALLOWABLE CONCENTRATION)
The Minimum Protected Height shall be xx.x feet from the floor slab.
Use this if a descending interface will form. Note: This is not the height to be used in the
calculation of total extinguishing Agent required.
The Minimum Allowable Concentration shall be (x)%.
Use this if mechanical mixing will take place during the retention period.
C. RETENTION PERIOD
The minimum retention period shall be (10) minutes.
5. Acceptable Deviation From Year 2000 NFPA 2001 Procedure
ONLY TO BE INCLUDED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORITY HAVING JURISDICTION OR

THEIR REPRESENTATIVES.
The following optional items address possible refinements of the testing procedure. They
have not been reviewed or accepted by the 2001 Technical Committee as of the date of this
document.
Determination of Height of Protected Enclosure
Very high or very deep spaces in the room may be ignored when determining the Height
of Protected Enclosure provided that the volume of the space represents less than 15%
of the zone's volume. If the space is very deep (e.g. dropping below floor level) a
qualitative leak inspection must confirm that insignificant leakage exists in the space.
The wording in paragraph 4-7.2.3 states that the enclosure shall be "examined or tested" to
ensure tight construction. Since most AHJs prefer a quantitative test over a subjective
examination, the Door Fan test is likely to be most often requested. However, this paragraph
does not specifically state that leakage measurements must be taken or that the test be
used to predict hold time. It is up to the AHJ to determine:
a) What procedure to follow (possibly Appendix C),
b) Whether the enclosure has to pass a hold time prediction,
c) How to test and accept enclosures that are outside the scope of Appendix C,

Page 103 of 115
d) What testing is required in addition to that specified in section 1-7.4 in order to

accept the system.
9.7 Warranty
If Maintenance Service is requested as part of initial installation, add this article to other
standard system checks.
12 months after the acceptance of the enclosure, the Clean Agent contractor (or other
testing agency if appropriate) shall conduct an Enclosure Integrity Test in conformance
with Year 2000 NFPA 2001 Edition Appendix C. Variables of interest are listed in article
6.04 above. Acceptable deviations from the procedure are listed in article 6.05 above.
Should the test be unsuccessful, an inspection shall be conducted and a report and plan
view of the enclosure identifying the location and nature of leaks uncovered shall be
submitted.
Furnished by:
Retrotec Energy Innovations Ltd.,
1015 Ironwork Passage Vancouver BC,
Canada V6H 3R4
e-mail colin@retrotec.com Phone: (604) 732-0142 FAX: (604) 737-0152
Retrotec provides this information as an industry service. The material is not copyrighted
and may be copied and redistributed without restriction.
Constructive criticism and comments on this document are welcome in order to improve
future revisions.

Page 104 of 115
10 Appendix D – Enclosure Integrity Verification Form

Enclosure Integrity verification form
Building
Room
Test #
Testing technician
Witness
Date and time of test
Check Name on Computer

Screen tab What to look for
off Screen
__ yes “View” button will Is the One Year Calibration Certificate up to

Home display the current
__ no date?
certificate
__ yes “View” button will

Is the Five Year Calibration Certificate up to
__ no date?
certificate
“View” button will

__ yes Does the technician have the correct level of
__ no training? See Level 1-A, page 15
certificate
__ yes Is it correct within 1000 ft.?

Building/Room Elevation See Level 1-A, page 12
__ no
__ yes This is used to re-calculate the design

Net protected room
Building/Room concentration. It must be re-measured, was it?
__ no volume
See Level 1-A, page 12
Was the temperature expected during a discharge
__ yes Room operating within 10F or 5 C? It may differ from the
Building/Room
__ no temperature temperature at the time of test.
See Level 1-A, page 12
Was it re-measured from floor slab to highest

__ yes Maximum agent combustible? Enter the maximum agent height
Building/Room
__ no height from lower slab to highest point that is flooded
with agent. See Level 1-A, page 13
__ yes Minimum agent Do you agree with the time shown?

Building/Room
__ no retention See Level 1-A, page 13
Appendix D – Enclosure Integrity Verification Form

Page 105 of 115

off Screen
__ yes Were you able to confirm the agent weight or

Agent/Test Agent weight
__ no volume? See Level 1-A, page 14
__ yes
Agent/Test Agent volume Only used for INERGEN in North America
__ no
__ yes Does the concentration meet the specification?

Agent/Test Initial Concentration See Level 1-A, page 14
__ no
__ yes Remove all temporary tape or get sufficient

assurance it will be replaced with a permanent
__none seal.
__ yes If untested values were entered, do you agree

Enter untested with their validity? See Level 1-A, page 16. It
__ no Total Leaks
values
__ n/a would be unusual to have untested values.
__ yes Did you see the smoke movement test at the

Total Leaks Smoke
__ no doorway? See Level 1-A, page 17
__ yes Test both

Total Leaks Was the enclosure tested in both directions?
__ no directions:
__ yes Did you observe the bias pressure measurement

Total Leaks Bias pressure
__ no at the time of the Door Fan test?
Temperature during
__ yes test(0F) Was the temperature within 100F or 50C of that
recorded? The NFPA Procedure requires a
__ no Total Leaks
measurement if the difference is greater than 18
Temperature during 0F or10 0C
test(0C)
__ yes
Range for room Was the room pressure reading within the range
__ no Total Leaks specified?
pressures:
__ yes Was the range used verified? A picture of the

range will pop up on CA2001 when the room
__ no Total Leaks Blower range
pressure is entered or see the range section a
few pages ahead.

Page 106 of 115

off Screen
Were the correct room pressures recorded with

the Door Fan running? Were the pressures
__ yes checked across each wall or was there sufficient
Total Leaks Room pressure
__ no return path from the Door Fan to the enclosure
leaks to ensure the pressure was the same across
all enclosure boundaries.
__ yes Was the flow pressure accurately recorded while

Total Leaks Flow pressure: the Door Fan was running without pop ups in
__ no CA2001 warning of the pressure being too low?
Applies only to multipoint tests and here the
ISO only Total Leaks Error %: value must be 6% or less for the test to be good
Must be between 0.45 and 0.9 to be acceptable -

ISO only Total Leaks Slope n: applies only to ISO tests
Must be 99% or higher on multipoint tests -

ISO only Total Leaks Correlation: applies only to ISO tests
ISO only Total Leaks Standard Error: Must be 0.07 or less - applies only to ISO tests
Were the Total Leaks measured first and was the

__ yes smoke was neutralized at ceiling openings before
Lower Leaks Flex-duct test readings were taken? The resultant leakage area
__ no must be entered in the Lower Leak tab, NOT the
Total Leak tab (common mistake).
Were the Total Leaks measured first? The

__ yes Plastic on ceiling resultant leakage area must be entered in the
Lower Leaks
__ no test Lower Leak tab, NOT the Total Leak tab
(common mistake).
__ yes Are you comfortable with the method of

Lower Leaks Estimated
__ no estimation?
__ yes Mixing during

Retention Would this occur? See Level 1-A, page 24
__ no retention
__ yes No mixing during Would conditions be calm enough after discharge

Retention
__ no retention for no mixing of agent and incoming air?
__ yes Is there an extended discharge. If so, what is the

Retention Extended discharge
__ no quantity and duration?

Page 107 of 115

off Screen
Have the enclosure set up as it would be just prior

__ yes to agent discharge. Do you think the smoke
Retention Smoke
__ no direction recorded is the same as what it would be
during the retention period?
Was the height above the lower slab to the

__ yes Minimum equipment being protected, properly measured?
Retention
__ no protected height Only applies if there is no mixing but it is useful
to have it recorded either way.
__ yes Do you agree that the value recorded will

__ no Minimum prevent re-ignition at the end of the retention
Retention
__ not concentration period? Only applies if there is mixing but it is
sure useful to have it recorded either way.
This is the hold time given all the variables input

__ pass into CA2001 so far. If this is greater or equal to
Retention Time,t
__ fail the “Minimum agent retention” specified on the
Building/Room tab, the room PASSES.
Note any other concerns

you had about the test ->

Page 108 of 115
11 Appendix E – Glossary of Terms
Term Definition
Agent Short form for Clean Agent fire suppressant. Can be an inert or a halocarbon.
Agent/Air Interface See “sharp interface” – the vertical distance through which the agent concentration
goes from that discharged to 0.
AHJ Authority Having Jurisdiction – responsible for witnessing and approving all systems
and commissioning verification including the integrity test but in practice, is seldom
there and when they are, they know very little about what to look for, which is why
Retrotec created the Enclosure Test Form and training course to aid them in properly
witnessing tests.
Air Current Tester Neutrally buoyant smoke (manufactured by Retrotec Inc.) used to locate leakage
locations, and to observe the direction of air flow, or to see if pressure neutralization
between two zones is reached.
air leakage Pertains to how leaky an enclosure may be; The movement/flow of air through the
building envelope, which is driven by either or both positive (infiltration) or negative
(exfiltration) pressure differences or test pressures across the building envelope.
Airflow The amount of cubic feet, cubic meters, or liters of air moving into or out of the
enclosure being testing. To be completely qualified, flow must be expressed at a
reference pressure, for example Flow-at-50Pa or Flow-at-10Pa.
If the pressure in the enclosure is stable, then the flow through the fan equals the
flow through the leaks in the enclosure.
BCLA (Below Ceiling Leaks below a suspended ceiling. Hole in the floor or lower leaks. Often assumed to be
Leakage Area) one half of the Total Hole in the Room (ELA).
Below Ceiling Leakage See “Lower Leak”.
Bias Pressure Pressure that exists when the enclosure has been prepared for the test, but before the
fan is activated. There is always some bias pressure due to stack, wind, flues and active
HVAC systems. There are two components of Bias pressure. A fixed Baseline offset
(usually due to stack or HVAC) and a fluctuating pressure (usually due to wind or
elevator operation). A method for determining bias pressure is by having a digital
gauge accumulate readings over an adjustable time period with the Door Fan off.
(Note: The terms “bias pressure”, “Baseline pressure,” and “zero Fan Pressure
difference” are used interchangeably with the term bias pressure in other
documents/standards used in the industry.)
Blower Door See “Door Fan”
Continual Mixing Airflow activity within the test room that is sufficient to maintain an equal
concentration at all locations
and prevent the formation of distinct zones of air and agent/air mixture, i.e. no
interface develops.
Depressurization The process of creating a negative pressure in the enclosure by blowing air out of it. Air
is drawn in from outside through leakages of the enclosure to replace the air, showing
up as “geysers” when checked with an Air Current Tester.
digital gauge A gauge with an electronic pressure sensor and digital display that is capable of reading
in tenths of a Pascal.
Door Fan A fan that is fitted into an open doorway with a Door Panel in order to pressurize or
depressurize an enclosure. It is a calibrated fan capable of measuring airflow and
Appendix E – Glossary Of Terms

Page 109 of 115
Term Definition
calculating enclosure leakage.
A Door Fan is often called a “Blower Door” in residential testing applications or
occasionally an “Infiltrometer™” in large building testing. It may be called a “test fan”
which is a generic term.
Dynamic discharge This is a combination of the Peak Pressure during the actual discharge and the velocity
pressure pressure associated with streams of agent hitting walls or ceilings, thereby trying to
force its way out of the enclosure during this brief period.
enclosure The volume that is protected with clean agent. It could also mean the above ceiling
space if it is not protected since for all intents the enclosure boundary is at the fire
barrier and suspended ceilings do not represent a fire barrier unless they are fitted with
special fire rated tiles.
Enclosure Test Form 4-page checklist and data collection sheets that Retrotec developed, to be used for
Enclosure Integrity Tests
Envelope The surfaces composed of floor and walls and floors that separate the test volume from
volume surrounding the test volume. Also see” enclosure”
Equivalent Leakage In layman’s terms, the ELA is the size of hole we’d have if all the building’s cracks and
Area (ELA or EqLA) holes could somehow be brought together. Also called: Whole Room Leakage and
includes leaks through the ceiling and below the ceiling leakage area (BCLA). In CA2001
we measure this in units of ft2. or m2, at a reference pressure in Pascals (Pa).
In Engineer’s terms: the equivalent size of hole required in a flat plate to give the same
flow rate having a discharge coefficient of 0.61 and taken at the Reference Pressure.
This ELA is sometimes called the EqLA or Canadian ELA because it was first used in the
Canadian GSB air leakage standard for houses. This ELA enjoys worldwide acceptance
by most testers, even in the US.
This ELA should not be confused with another ELA that is often called the EfLA or
Effective Leakage Area. It is very unfortunate that both these ELA’s have the same
acronym of ELA. The EfLA was developed for the US ASTM Standard and is smaller than
the EqLA by at least a factor of 0.61 because it uses a discharge coefficient of 1.0. This
EfLA is sometimes called the LBL or Lawrence Berkley Labs ELA because it was
developed there and is used in the LBL natural Air Change model that enjoys wide
usage- apart from that usage, the EfLA is not used very much but the existence of both
can create huge problems that are totally lost on some users.
When it is taken at a reference pressure of 75 Pa, it is often referred to as EqLA75. EqLA
is typically about twice the size of an effective leakage area that describes the same air
flow rate. See ASTM E779-10, eq. (5).
ELA is expressed in units of in2, ft2, cm2 or m2
It should be referenced to a pressure in Pascals (but often isn’t)
The relationship between flow and EqLA is (in imperial units):
Flow[CFM] = sqrt(Pressure[Pa]) * EqLA[in2] * 1.0755
Extended Discharge An optional method to maintain concentration whereby after the initial discharge an
extended discharge takes place with the intention of maintaining the original
concentration more or less by injecting a continuous stream of agent for an extended
period (usually 10 to 20 minutes). Retrotec CA2001 software will calculate the amount
of extended discharge required.
An Extended Discharge is sometimes called “Continuous Discharge”.

Page 110 of 115
Term Definition
False Ceiling See “suspended ceiling”. Also, can be called “T-bar ceiling” or “Lay-in ceiling”.
Fan Pressure The pressure difference between inside the door fan and the surrounding air. This
pressure can be read as “PrB” from Channel B on a DM-2 gauge. The DM-2 uses the Fan
Pressure to calculate the air flow rate through the Door Fan.
Flex Duct Ceiling A Door Fan test method that uses a second fan connected through the suspended
Neutralization ceiling. The second fan takes care of the upper room leaks with the above the ceiling
fan. The first Door Fan takes care of the Lower Leaks. The flow through both Door fans
is adjusted till there is neutral flow across the ceiling that is verified by smoke puffed
into gaps. The Lower fan measures the Lower Leaks.
Flex Duct test See “Flex Duct Ceiling Neutralization”
Flow Range See “Range Configuration” which is abbreviated as Range Config on DM-2 gauge.
hold time hold time is sometimes referred to as “Retention time,” and its definition depends on
if the fire suppression system forms a Descending Interface or it is a Continual Mixing
system:
“Descending Interface” – Agent is discharged at near-ceiling level into the enclosure.
An ‘interface’ with a constant concentration (known as the Initial Concentration)
descends from the discharge level as gas leaves the enclosure through leaks. The time
it takes for this ‘interface’ to reach the Minimum protected height is defined as the
hold time.
“Continual Mixing” – Agent is discharged at near-ceiling level into the enclosure. Fans
circulate gas throughout the room, resulting in a uniform agent concentration. This
concentration begins at Initial Concentration and lowers until it eventually reaches a
specified Minimum Concentration. The time it takes for the Initial Concentration to
reach the Minimum Concentration is defined as the hold time.
induced pressure The pressure difference created by the Door Fan (Test Fan) between inside and outside
of the enclosure. This pressure is commonly measured on Channel A of the pressure
gauge.
Lay-In (Tile) Ceiling See “Suspended Ceiling”
Leakage A general term used to describe holes or the area of holes in or around an enclosure.
Leakage Area The measurement of “Leakage.” It is usually expressed in ft2 or m2, and sometimes in
in2 or cm2.
Lower Leaks All leaks below the ceiling are assumed to be Lower Leaks.
Leaks attributed to air that flows in from below. If the room were filled full of water,
more water would leak from these leaks. Includes wall and floor leaks.
outdoors Outside the building in the area around the building.
Pascal (Pa) The metric unit of pressure. 1 Pascal is equivalent to 0.000145 psi, or 249 Pascals in 1”
Water Column (the pressure required to push water up 1” in a tube)
Pressurization The process of inducing a positive pressure in an enclosure by blowing air into it. Air is
pushed out through all the leaks, causing the smoke to move away from the operator
when checked with an Air Current Tester.
Protected enclosure This term describes the total space that is flooded with clean agent upon discharge.
This includes above ceiling spaces only if that volume is intentionally flooded with
agent. This includes adjacent rooms if they are discharged at the same time.
Range Configuration The configuration of the calibrated fan refers to whether the front of the fan is open of
if it has a Range Plate or Range Ring attached which will change the calibration curves

Page 111 of 115
Term Definition
that must be used to calculate flow. Typically, the gauge is set to the Range
Configuration that matches the configuration of the fan being used to measure flow or
the flow is looked up in a table where the flow is read under the appropriate Range
Configuration and opposite the Fan Pressure. See Retrotec’s QuickGuide-Blower Door
RangeConfig. For example, Range Configurations for the 2000 fan are: Open, A, B, C8,
C6, C4, C3, C2, C1, L4, L2, and L1. Each calibrated fan model has a unique set of
standard calibration curves shown in the Blower Door (Door Fan) manual.
reading A set of simultaneous Room Pressure and Fan Pressure readings. Sometimes referred
to as a data set or test point because it is plotted as one point on a graph.
Reference Pressure The pressure at which a result is calculated. This is usually at the test pressure. For
example ELA is typically referenced to 10 Pa. ELA is also taken at 25 Pa for some
purposes because it tends to be more repeatable. Forced Air Changes per Hour
(ACH) are usually referenced to 50 Pa, which is why it is common to see ACH50 for
Air Changes at 50 Pa. Or, CFM50 would be the airflow at 50 Pa. In all cases the test
may be taken at a pressure close to the reference pressure and then, using a
computer, can be extrapolated to calculate the result that would have been
observed, had the target reference pressure been achieved.
Retention time See “hold time”
Return Path The volume around the tested room that the door fan blows into (under room
depressurization) or out of (under room pressurization). The flow from the door fan
must be allowed to return to the point of leakage in the room through the return path
space.
room See “Enclosure”.
Room Pressure See “induced pressure”
Sharp Interface A model used in the NFPA 2001 (2012 edition) Standard that hypothesizes the
concentration gradient of the clean agent’s “Descending Interface” in an enclosure
after discharge from a fire suppression system. The Sharp Interface model hypothesizes
that there is a height (or “Interface”) at which the entire volume below this Interface is
constant at the initial concentration (of agent after discharge), and the entire volume
above this Interface contains 0% agent concentration.
single zone A space in which the pressure difference between any two places, differ by no more
than a certain percent difference between the inside to outside pressures. To be
classified as a single zone, this percent pressure difference must be less than 5% for
USACE and ASTM E779-10, but can be less than 10% for some other protocols.
Suspended Ceiling Common ceiling type found in most computer rooms and offices. Tiles lift up to expose
space above.
T-bar Ceiling See “Suspended Ceiling”.
Total Enclosure See “ELA”

Leakage
Total Leaks or Total See “ELA”
Leakage
Upper Leaks Leaks attributed to air that flows in from above. If the room was filled full of water, no
water would leak from these leaks. Also called the “Hole in the Ceiling”.
Vent Pressure See “Peak Pressure”.

Page 112 of 115
Term Definition
Whole Room leakage See “ELA”

Page 113 of 115
12 Industry related Acronyms
Acronym Standard/Organization
FIA Fire Industry Association
FSSA Fire Suppression Systems Association
ISO International Organization for Standardization
NFPA National Fire Protection Association

Page 114 of 115
Appendix E –
Page 115 of 115

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1 Introduction to Peak Pressures and Enclosure Integrity

Water-based sprinkler systems protect the building but not

1.2 A brief history of gaseous agents…

CO2 was the first total flooding gaseous agent but it

Even today, the discharge test is of limited use due

2 Peak Pressure facts

2.1 What is Peak Pressure?

Clean Agent discharges can produce damaging Peak Pressures

If the enclosure is not tested properly, problems will not be uncovered.

2.2 Peak Pressure theory

The magnitude of Peak Pressure depends on many factors:

• Humidity (depending on the agent)

2.2.1 Peak Pressure with Inert agents

2.2.2 Peak Pressure with Halocarbon agents

HFC-125 Room Pressure Test #2

Figure 2 - Peak Pressure of a Halocarbon: HFC-125

2.3 Leakage to Volume Ratio (LVR)

2.4 Humidity effects on Peak Pressure

Figure 3 - humidity correction factors for halocarbon peak pressures

2.5 Design elements to sustain Peak Pressure

2.5.1 Enclosure strength

Wall Strength from 1997 HOTWC paper

2.5.2 Determine necessary LVR

2.5.3 Required vent area

3 Hold Time facts

3.1 What is Hold Time?

NFPA 2001, 2012 Edition, states

“5.6* Duration of Protection. A minimum concentration of 85 percent of the minimum

Driving forces – gravity

• Interface forms between agent and air

3.2.1 Pressures across Holes: How Agent is Lost

0% Agent 5% Agent 10% Agent

More agent = more leakage

This is of significant importance in enclosures that fail. A very common misconception is to

3.2.2 Dynamic discharge pressures

3.2.3 Mixing – Convection and circulating fans

Circulating fans also cause mixing.

3.3 Pressures That Cause Agent Loss

3.4 Descending Interface

Probe at 173" from floor slab

3.4.1 NFPA 2001 – sharp interface

3.4.2 ISO 14520 – wide interface

3.5 Continual Mixing

3.6 Comparing Continual Mixing and Descending Interface Hold Times

Air flows out through leaks in

3.7.1 How a Door Fan “Sees” a Room

Infinite retention Longest retention Shortest retention Middle retention

3 units 1.5 units 1 unit

3.7.2 Total Enclosure Leakage (or Whole Room) test

When conducting a Total Leaks Test, a single Door Fan is

3.7.3 Hold Time requirement for NFPA 2001 (2012 edition)

The existing NFPA procedure states in C.1.3.9 :

Measuring Lower Leaks

Test Method for Lower Leaks

 Upper fan, with Flex Duct, neutralizes Ceiling (upper) leaks

The lower leak acts like the drain hole

3.8 Predicting the hold time

3.9 Hold Time Dependencies

3.9.1 Leakage Area (ELA)

3.9.2 Initial and Final Clean Agent Concentration

Increased Design Concentration, IDC: