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Fire suppression — Novec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is a clean agent fire extinguishant which was developed as a halon replacement and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) alternative. It belongs to a family of chemicals called halocarbons, a group which includes HFCs and fluoroketones. Novec 1230 fluid is a fluoroketone, while chemical clean agents like FM-200™ are HFCs (HFC-227ea). Novec 1230 fluid has a global warming potential (GWP) of less than one while HFCs typically have a GWP of more than 3000. Novec 1230 fluid has the highest margin of safety for human occupancy among clean agents, including inert gas.
Clean agent fire suppression designed for the future
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When you specify a fire protection system, your choices can determine whether a person, valuable asset or even an entire business survives a fire. When that system uses Novec 1230 fluid, you may confidently offer your client a solution that:
- Extinguishes a fire in seconds, before it even starts and long before water-based systems or inert systems discharge.
- Helps protect valuable assets including electronics, irreplaceable paper documents, artefacts and archives. Because Novec 1230 fluid is a waterless fire suppression solution, it leaves no residue and is electrically non-conductive.
- Provides the highest margin of safety for human occupancy of any clean agent solution.
- Is not subject to the HFC phasedown under the F-Gas Regulation in Europe or any global regulatory body, including the Montreal Protocol.
- Comes with a global environmental warranty — the 3M™ Blue Sky℠ Warranty, designed to provide additional peace of mind.
- Is stored as a liquid and discharged as a gas, taking up approximately 80% less floor space compared to inert gas systems.
- Is appropriate for Class A, B and C fire hazards.
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How does Novec 1230 fluid work?
Novec 1230 fluid extinguishes a fire before it starts by rapidly removing heat. In a typical total flooding system, the fluid is stored as a liquid in cylinders pressurised with nitrogen. Automatic detection sensors trigger release when the fire is at the incipient stage, extinguishing it in mere seconds.
Novec 1230 fluid evaporates 50 times faster than water. In fact, you could soak a paperback book in a bath of Novec 1230 fluid and within a minute, pick it up and read where you left off.
In this video you’ll see a controlled test of a fire in a simulated data centre. Watch to compare the performance of Novec 1230 fluid to a water sprinkler system.
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Smart, safe, sustainable fire protection
When you specify a system for fire protection, lives, livelihoods and the environment are at stake. 3M™ Novec™ Fire Protection Fluid helps give you the peace of mind that you’ve made the smart choice to help safeguard all the things in your care.
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is a next-generation synthetic clean agent, designed to balance concerns for human safety, performance and the environment.
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Helping to protect your business and the environment
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid has the highest environmental profile of synthetic clean agents available today.
With zero Ozone Depletion Potential and a Global Warming Potential of less than 1 due to a five day atmospheric lifetime, Novec 1230 fluid helps protect the environment, as well as your valuable assets.
Novec 1230 fluid is not subject to the European F-gas Regulation or any other International Directive or Regulation.
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Extinguishes Fires. Fast
Within seconds, the full extinguishing effect of 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid unfolds. When released in a properly designed system, Novec 1230 fluid rapidly vapourises and evenly distributes throughout the protected space within 10 seconds. It absorbs the heat from the fire, thus interrupting the chain reaction and within a maximum of 40 seconds the fire is extinguished. And since the fire extinguishing system using Novec 1230 fluid extinguishes fire much faster compared to inert gas or CO2 based systems, damage to high value assets is significantly reduced. Meaning business can carry on as normal.
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Safe for people
View Graph: Fire extinguishing agents: margin of safety
Fire extinguishing agents are not equal in the safety provided for occupants. Reviewing the permitted limit for humans and the design concentration gives the best guide to an agent’s potentially hazardous effect. The NOAEL (No Observed Adverse Effect Level) is the internationally established limit for the various extinguishing agents. The design concentration is the amount of extinguishing agent required to extinguish the fire safely. The margin of safety for humans arises from the relative difference between the design concentration and the specific NOAEL.
Graph: Novec 1230 fluid provides widest safety margin for use in occupied spaces Based on EN 15004 Higher Hazard Class A, and NFPA 12 for CO2
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Saves space
When space is at a premium, fire extinguishing systems requiring multiple cylinders can present a challenge. 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is stored as a liquid, whereas inert gases or CO2 are stored as a gas. This means you need significantly less cylinders to store Novec 1230 fluid, enabling more flexible site selection. For confined spaces, the cylinders can be installed within the protected area, removing the need for a separate storage room. In the long run Novec 1230 fluid can help save space and associated cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about Novec 1230 at a glance — get answers to typical questions and see why specifiers call it a clean agent with no known equal.
Applications and case studies for challenging industries
Download the Novec 1230 case study interactive book
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Data centresHelp keep data centres protected from fire with minimal downtime and cleanup.
3M Product to Supply Fire Prot. Sys. for Telegraph Media Group (PDF, 113 KB)
Novec 1230 US Federal Agency Data Centre Case History (PDF, 151 KB)
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MarineHelp protect engine rooms and control rooms of ships at sea, with fast air-shipping of cylinders and quick system recharge.
Enhanced fire protection for marine applications (PDF, 500 KB)
Viking river cruise ships are on-board with the right fire protection (PDF, 4.97 MB)
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Museums, culture & archivesHelp safeguard precious art, archives and artifacts from both fire and water damage.
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid Protects Alamo (PDF, 19 KB)
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fluid Protects Treasures of World (PDF, 469 KB)
Italian archives facility relies on 3M™ Novec™ 1230 fluid (PDF, 242 KB)
Novec 1230 Fluid protects assets for Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (PDF, 424 KB)
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AviationHelp protect people and critical assets in air traffic control towers, hangars and on the flight line.
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fluid Hush House case study (PDF, 119 KB)
3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid Flightline Applications (PDF, 167.43 KB)
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Medical centres & universitiesHelp protect workers and equipment in surgical suites, MRI rooms, storage areas and data centres.
Critical assets at Kuwait University protected by Novec 1230 (PDF, 349 KB)
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Oil and gasHelp put out fires quickly in highly volatile (Class B) environments, including offshore oil platforms.
Enhanced fire safety for the oil and gas industry (PDF, 501 KB)
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Power generation and transmissionHelp protect critical systems in generating facilities, substations and control rooms.
Power industry upgrades building codes for fire suppression (PDF, 1.07 MB)
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TransportationHelp reduce the risk of fire in rail switching stations and on electric-powered transit.
Northern Ireland Railways: Keeping track of fire risk (PDF, 120.67 KB)
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IndustrialHelp protect your control rooms and production assets to reduce downtime.
Comparing fire protection solutions
Novec 1230 fluid offers unparalleled value. Whether you’re looking to:
- Replace a halon fire protection system
- Find an environmentally sustainable and cost comparable alternative to FM-200™ or other HFCs
- Select a clean agent with a high margin of safety for occupied spaces
See at a glance how it stacks up against other common fire suppression systems in terms of performance, safety, sustainability and design flexibility.
Or compare in-depth against HFCs, inert gases, water and CO₂.
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Fire Wire is 3M Novec 1230’s quarterly fire suppression newsletter, developed for specifying engineers, architects and everyone else working in special hazards fire protection. Sign up to get case studies, product announcements from 3M and our OEM partners, FAQs, news commentary and more.
Each specification for a fire suppression system using Novec 1230 fluid reflects the unique circumstances of the application as well as each client’s special considerations, such as sustainability, occupant safety or protecting delicate assets such as hard drives.
Quickly and easily build a specification that meets your client’s needs with our Build a Spec tool.
We have worked with our approved original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to optimise Novec 1230 fluid’s performance in their listed or approved systems.
Featured resources and tools
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3M Novec Hot TopicsSubscribe to Hot TopicsNovec 1230 Fire Protection Fluid flierDownload PDF(PDF, 3.02 MB)Requirements for Clean Extinguishing AgentsDownload brochure (PDF, 18.5 KB)Novec 1230 fluid brochureDownload brochure (PDF, 1.39 MB)Specification checklistDownload checklist (Word, 85 KB)Novec 1230 fluid data sheet
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3M™ Blue Sky℠ Warranty
The 3M™ Blue SkySM Warranty is the industry’s first-of-its-kind global environmental warranty. If 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid is banned from or restricted in use as a fire protection agent within 20 years after installation due to its Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) or Global Warming Potential (GWP), we’ll refund the purchase price of the fluid (backed by a system warranty offered by specific OEM partners).
Let us answer your fire suppression questions
Turn to our team of engineers and scientists to answer your questions and give you the support you need regarding fire suppression systems, regulations and Novec 1230 fluid.
