Textile processing machinery has CO2 fire suppression activated by the plastic tube pressure system (a drop in pressure = alarm), supplemented by manual release handles. This to combat the fire risk from the inevitable build up of fly which is highly combustible. My concern is that cleaning and maintenance ops are done whilst on automatic, exposing personel to asphyxiation. I want the system to be switched to "manual only" when any work is in the danger area. Given that this deection system is much more reliable and robust than optical/ionisation detectors, am I being reasonable please?

Dear Stuff. we need more info. Is the CO2 system a large bank of cylinders designed to flood the whole work room or whole machine (if it is an enclosed machine) OR a small co2 cylinder (like a fire extinguisher) with a nylon tube?. If the first case then I would expect a 30 sec delay while the alarm sounds to allow operating staff to evacuate before the workspace / machine is flooded with CO2. I see no difference between operators and maintenance staff. If you are flooding an enclosed machine that only maintenance go inside, the i would expect the automatic feature to be disabled along with machine isolation. Leave manual available or locked off as well, according to your fire RA. If the second case the volume of CO2 is small and is directed only at the fire as the flames only burn the nylon tube where the fire is. No action required. hope this helps Peter

This sounds like a very old system to me. I would think that all automatic fire supression would have a manual over ride for maintenance work. If nothing else it saves replacing anything due to accidental operation.

Fire trace is okay wrt electrical panels of small volume, questionable wrt to large equipment enclosures. Many variables: position of tubing, size ofd enclosure, ventilation or leakage rate etc.

I would go for the option of switching from auto to manual during maintenance activities. As Chris has stated, it prevents accidental discharge and the costs to replenish the system. In the case of visual inspection tasks, I would suugest that damage to the activation/pressure sensing tubing would be highly unlikely, coupled with short travel distance/quick exit (head and shoulder) and so would not see the need to switch over to manual operation.