[labnetwork] Automatic gas shutoff at the source

[Nicholas Menounos]

Hi Kostis,

The answer will vary based on the statutory codes and AHJ of your location.

MIT.nano is equipped with a dedicated, stand-alone hazardous gas monitoring system that triggers automatic, fail-safe emergency shutoffs for associated gas equipment. To satisfy the 'constantly attended control station' requirements in NFPA 55/72, and Massachusetts Fire Code, the gas detection system also communicates evacuation details to the building's fire alarm system. If the building is in alarm from other fire alarm initiation devices, it will send a "global gas off" to the hazardous gas monitoring system.

Happy to discuss more offline...but in short, if you have a very small system, leveraging the fire alarm maybe advantageous...If you have many points, a stand-alone system you control is a huge advantage.

Best,
Nick Menounos, PE
MIT.nano - Associate Director of Infrastructure
Cell: (508) 932-0938<tel:+15089320938>

From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Chiappa
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 2:40 AM
To: Michelakis, Kostis <kostis at slac.stanford.edu>; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Automatic gas shutoff at the source

Hi Kostis,

Here at NTNU NanoLab in Trondheim we use the fire alarm signal to shutoff all gases except N2 and CDA.  We use ESO valves at the gas panel.  We also have some bottles BCl3 for example where the ESO is part of the bottle.

I don't know if it's mandated, but it makes a lot of sense for the many of the gasses we are using.

Kind regards
Mark.


Mark Chiappa
NTNU NanoLab
K1-111
Sem Sælansdsvei 14
7034 Trondheim
+47 91897617


From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> on behalf of Michelakis, Kostis <kostis at slac.stanford.edu<mailto:kostis at slac.stanford.edu>>
Date: Wednesday, 22 April 2026 at 01:43
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu> <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: [labnetwork] Automatic gas shutoff at the source
Dear Labnetwork colleagues,

We are reviewing our emergency procedures and I would like to ask, specifically for your hazardous and toxic gases, in the case of a fire alarm being triggered, if you make use of the building's Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP) respective signal to automatically shutoff gases at the source.

We have at our disposal a range of engineering controls to shutoff gases at the source, but I am specifically interested to learn if the method of using directly the fire alarm signal has been mandated or otherwise chosen in your setting.

Thank you in advance for your consideration,
Kostis
--


Kostis Michelakis, PhD
DMF Lab Manager
kostis at slac.stanford.edu<mailto:kostis at slac.stanford.edu>
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
slac.stanford.edu<http://slac.stanford.edu>

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