Future-Proofing Your HFC227ea(FM200) Fire Suppression System by Changing it Over to NOVEC 1230®

Future-Proofing Your HFC227ea(FM200) Fire Suppression System by Changing it Over to NOVEC 1230®

As a result of the manufacturer of HFC227ea(FM200) beginning its reduction programme in 2016, HFC227ea(FM200) is becoming increasingly harder to source and is also more expensive.

Production phase down detail:

Due to this production phase down, a lot of our customers are now looking at changing over from HFC227ea(FM200) based systems to something easier to live with, such as NOVEC 1230® from 3M. There are various advantages to this…

Advantages of NOVEC 1230®

• NOVEC 1230® is much easier to source in the event that the system discharges.
• A HFC227ea(FM200) to NOVEC 1230® conversion is the easiest of all the gases to complete, with the discharge pipework re-useable (minor changes may be required).
• NOVEC 1230® has no environmental impact should it be discharged.
• The cost of HFC227ea(FM200) for recharging systems is very unstable due to its sporadic availability.
• The OEM cylinder manufacturers have limited stocks of HFC227ea(FM200), which may not fit in with your discharge requirements.

The Environmental Impact of Released HFC227ea(FM200)

The reason for the production phasing down of HFC227ea(FM200) is that the environmental impact of releasing it into the atmosphere is huge – each kg released is equivalent to 3.22 Tonnes of CO2. A very similar phase down has been implemented in the refrigerant industry on their preferred heat transfer agents.

This means that even a small system covering a small server room containing 50kg of HFC227ea(FM200) has an equivalent CO2 value of 161 tonnes!

The Changeover Procedure from HFC227ea(FM200) to NOVEC 1230®

Whilst it is fine to keep your existing HFC227ea(FM200) systems from a regulations point of view, a lot of our customers are looking at changing their systems because of the environmental reasons stated above. The actual system changeover is relatively straightforward and explained below:

• The existing system will be fully surveyed by our engineers, and a hydraulic calculation completed to check all of the pipework diameters and lengths, and to be able to calculate the discharge nozzle sizes and additional system information required – this is key in the new certification of the NOVEC 1230® system.
• The cylinder would need to be changed to a NOVEC 1230®one. Often the exact same cylinder can be supplied but filled with NOVEC 1230® instead – this minimises other changes that need to be made such as cylinder anchor points, electrical connections, pipework sizes etc.
• In many cases, the existing discharge pipework can be re-used – saving on costs and changeover time. Some very minor changes may be required.
• The discharge nozzles will have to be changed, but these are a low-cost item.

The Best Times to Changeover

From a technical point of view the changeover can be completed any-time. However, commercially it is more viable when:

• Your existing HFC227ea(FM200) cylinder(s) is coming up for its 10 year hydrostatic test – instead of spending money on redundant technology and testing your HFC227ea(FM200) cylinder(s), consider converting the system to NOVEC 1230® at that time.
• A similar concept applies if your system has discharged – as the conversion will take a little longer than just a standard recharge of the HFC227ea(FM200) cylinders.

Something that we do for lots of our customers is provide a full cost analysis for the work as explained in point 1 above – this provides a full picture of costs against the added benefits.

Get Started with Sovereign Extinguishing

If you’re looking to change to NOVEC 1230®, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team here at Sovereign Extinguishing. We can look at your installation and give you a feasibility study on the conversion of your gas suppression.

In a world where the climate emergency is imminent – can you afford not to consider the consequences if your system discharges?

Contact us today >

See more: What is a Condensed Aerosol Fire Suppression System?