Building design and installation : ensuring fire safety for electrical connections
HEALTH & SAFETY FIRE-RESISTANT , SURFACE- MOUNTED ENCLOSURES
SPELSBERG
Building design and installation : ensuring fire safety for electrical connections
To protect electrical junctions in buildings from the threat of fire , embedding connections in concrete has been one of the possible solutions in the past , depending on the building design . While concrete is fire resistant , the challenges of access make inspection , as well as installation , more complex to achieve . Instead , fire-protected enclosures mounted directly onto a wall surface can make maintenance and installation significantly faster while maintaining the required safety standards .
Chris Lloyd , Managing Director at Spelsberg UK , explains the advantages of fire-resistant , surface-mounted enclosures .
In the event of a building fire , safety systems must continue operating for a prolonged period . As well as alarms to warn occupants and alert emergency services , lighting must remain active to highlight a safe exit route . Smoke and heat extraction systems might be relied on , as well as water booster systems to supply extinguishers , while dedicated elevators might need to safely transport fire crews .
All these systems need electrical power and protection of their supply during a blaze , potentially for an hour or more after a fire has taken hold . To achieve this , cable junctions and distribution boards have historically been designed and embedded within concrete protection . However , installing electrical connections within fireprotected enclosures mounted directly onto walls can offer equivalent protection – and in some cases can provide greater security .
The concrete challenge While concrete is fire-resistant , the protection it provides to embedded electrical junctions depends on its thickness , and whether additional insulating materials are used in combination . Moreover , embedded electrical junctions might not sufficiently contain a fire should an electrical failure occur inside a concrete wall . In a case like this , the fire could spread through cavities or reach flammable materials if the integrity of the wall is compromised .
Fire protection solutions from Spelsberg : high-quality cable junction and connection boxes , as well as durable surface-mounted small distribution boards
64 PECM Issue 72