Low Fire Hazard (LFH)
Outdoor fibreflow products are based on the excellent physical characteristics of polyethylene. For indoor use, where fire risks are present, it is advisable to make use of materials that give low risk of hazards during fire. This is a big topic, but the main risks are summarised as:
· Flammability: How readily will it ignite, then spread or feed fire?
· Smoke: Is visibility (to escape) quickly lost by dense smoke?
· Fumes / Acid: Are the chemicals in the smoke toxic, disabling or corrosive?
Most deaths during building fires are due not to burns but to the combination of smoke (visibility) and fumes, followed by suffocation etc. Carbon monoxide is odourless and disables 'escape' muscles. Acids attack eyes and throat, and reduce the ability to escape.
19-way LFH bundle
Emtelle use the very best LFH materials to minimise all of these effects, and thus greatly increase the likelihood of escape from the fire scene:
Low Flammability: Will not support combustion, even vertically.
Low Smoke: Smoke density dramatically reduced. See photos.
Low Toxic Fume: No halogens*, nitrogen, sulphur or phosphorus.
No nitrogen means no generation of ammonia, acrylonitrile, NOx, and hydrogen
cyanide.
No sulphur means no generation of hydrogen sulphide or sulphur dioxide.
(All these are gases commonly evolved during indoor fires)
Less fumes also means less acids, thus reducing the corrosive effect on
equipment, computers etc in rooms near the fire source and exposed
to the fumes.
SMOKE TEST PHOTOS ('3 metre cube')
Normal indoor (PVC) cable fire at 3 minutes. Escape through this smoke would be difficult.
A fibreflow LFH (halogen-free) cable fire, also at 3 minutes.
*Halogens are elements like chlorine, bromine or fluorine, all toxic, smoky and acidic. Curiously they are also good flame retardants (difficult to ignite), but new generation cable specs tend to ‘prohibit’ halogenated materials in favour of less toxic alternatives.
