Every now and then I read that a severe fire has happened in some datacenter, lots of equipment has been damaged and customers have gone offline. Now I wonder what is there to support and spread fire?
I mean walls in a server room usually have little or no finish. Racks are made of metal. Almost all units have metal cases. Cables have (or at least should have) insulation of materials that don't spread fire.
What is spreading fire in a server room or datacenter?
Best Answer
Here's a bit of information not generally published and at times even denied - the insulation used in most electronic components will burn and burn rather well once a suitable temperature has been reached. This includes the material circuit boards are made of, as well as the lacquer used to coat most components. Some types of insulation, once lit, will add to the problem by producing gases that themselves are somewhat flammable. Of course they also produce noxious gases that could incapacitate or kill anyone unfortunate enough to breath in too much of it.
The insulation on normal (non fire resistant) cables burns extremely well. Even worse, prior to, as well as after, ignition the plastic flows very freely, which helps greatly in the spread of the fire. During a fire some components, such as capacitors, will explode, which further helps to spread the fire by throwing already burning bits around.
Once the temperature is nice and high we start to factor in things like paint and other decorative coatings that can be hard to light but burn well once lit. Even powder coating will burn. Far from adding protection from an already lit fire the metal case will add to the fire by providing additional fuel (the paint or other coating) and will help to sustain the fire by retaining heat and feeding it back to the fire.