Dry water - Sapphire/Novec fire suppressant

[DaveC426913]

I just saw an article on TV about this new material by 3M called Novec 1230 (or Sapphire by Ansul) that looks and acts much like water, but isn't.

It's non-conducting and non-destructive. I was wondering what this material would be like to handle. I wondered how hard it would be to tell that it was not water, by, say, weight, vicosity or other.

But they mention that it evaporates about 25x faster than water. It seems to me, that it would appear and behave very much like alcohol - it would be cold to the touch and would noticeably evaporate like alcohol does.

I wonder if it is aromatically volatile like alcohol (though they seem to have no problem with large, open containers of the stuff.)

 

[Bystander]

http://tsp-europe.com/English/Products/Extinguishing/novec1230.asp

 

[DaveC426913]

I should have added that I have been looking around a bit, but I haven't found anything that talks about what it's like to handle or touch.

 

[Bystander]

Normal boiling point is 49 C --- that give you any hints? Be about like chloroform. Plus, it might be absorbed fairly rapidly through the skin --- plus, the health and safety hazards are downplayed for marketing purposes --- plus, you throw any fluorinated organic compound into a fire you get HF. Does it burn if mixed with air? No. Does it evaporate and carry off a lot of combustion heat? Yes. Enough to quench enough different fire types to make it useful? Yes. Do you want to be in the room with it? No.