Low Oxygen Fire Systems Debated

Air is composed of about 21 percent oxygen, 78 percent nitrogen and 1 percent of other gases. ... Wood stops burning when the oxygen content falls to 17 percent and plastic cables between 16 to 17 percent, said Frank Eickhorn, product manager for fire detection at Wagner Alarm and Security Systems GmbH in Hanover, Germany. Wagner makes electric compressors that use a special membrane to remove some of the oxygen from the outside air, a system the company calls OxyReduct. The excess oxygen is exhausted, and the remaining nitrogen-rich air is pumped inside the data center. At 15 percent oxygen, it's safe for humans to enter. ... (Eickhorn) demonstrated with a lighter inside a sealed atrium Wagner has on display at Cebit. It won't light.