Fire spread
energised enclosures from fire has changed. Historically, the fire protection of small energised enclosures has in many cases been an imprecise and non certifiable area within the fire protection industry, due to the lack of specific performance standards. For this reason, the default position has been
systems certified to European Standard EN 15004, its international equivalents and extrapolations of them. This has been an unsatisfactory situation since the confirmation of performance when protecting small enclosures has relied on manufacturers’ own testing without the third party approval, essential for full acceptance in the market. With the publication of the new LPCB standard LPS 1666 in January 2017, the landscape for certification of systems in this area has changed.
Certification criteria
Whilst fire extinguishing performance testing confirms one element of a system’s performance, LPS 1666 sets out detailed requirements for a whole range of system integrity tests, and provides an assurance to specifiers and end users that systems are fit for purpose. Certification of systems to LPS 1666 includes testing and confirmation of the following:
• •
fire extinguishing performance based on maximum enclosure volume(s)
range of operation for system pressure and temperature
• detection and activation characteristics – tube burst, proximity
• •
system limits for detection tube length
fully installed system leak characteristics
• maximum and minimum system temperature discharge characteristics
• •
system installation limits
full system component testing – corrosion, pressure strength, leakage, corrosion, ageing and system monitoring devices
• protocols for servicing and maintenance of systems, together with approval of the manufacturer’s training programme
Over the page, there is a discussion which highlights the characteristics of systems certified to both BS EN 15004 and LPS 1666. Also detailed are the historical limitations and improvements that are now available for the protection of small energised electrical enclosures.
FOCUS
www.frmjournal.com JUNE 2018
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