OT Don't read this (was Re: Altair MBL source)

[shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com]

Oh yeah, getting back to the "manual override" OT thread:

Our halon dump system has at least three manual overrides:

1.  A switch on the wall by the door to initiate a dump.  (I don't
   know if the delay and alarms get sounded before this kind of dump
   or not.)

2.  A momentary toggle switch on the wall to inhibit a dump.  I think
   the idea behind it being momentary is that it's a dead-man switch -
   when you abandon the room the dump will go ahead without you :-).

3.  One intentional non-electronic way to initiate a dump.  It's this
   big brass handle on the valve mechanism.  My cow orkers have examined
   this and we think that after the valve opens a little bit, the flow will
   blow the valve the rest of the way open.

And then there's the fourth way, which is to have a contractor messing
around with the electric valve solenoid and trip it when nobody expects!

The plumbing is quite impressive.  The halon cylinders stand about 6 feet
tall by about two feet in diameter, and the pipe is like 4 inches in
diameter.  The computer rooms (about 60 feet by 40 feet each) have 3
cylinders, and the operating theater (about half the size of a football
field) has several clusters of 6 cylinders.

Tim.