Fire-Stop Systems

Thermalastic® 83C - CABLE TRAY FIRE BREAKS

Effective Fire Breaks

FIRE-STOP SYSTEMS' Thermalastic® 83C Fire Retardant Cable Coating for preventing flame spread in grouped electrical cables.

Thermalastic® 83C works by cutting off oxygen from the fuel source, inhibiting the combustion process in the immediate vicinity of the cable insulation and reducing heat transmission to the protected cables. In the simplest sense, the coating transforms a group of cables into one large single cable, covered with a fire retardant jacket.

Cable Coating Fire Breaks have been proven to be an effective, dependable and economical way to prevent fire spread in cable trays.

Some practical locations for fire breaks are:

Where vertical trays pass through grated floors or other floor penetrations where penetration fire seals are not practical;
At vertical and horizontal cable tray tees and crosses;
In cable trays running under grated floors where flammable materials and trash tend to collect;
In long horizontal tray runs, particularly where stacked tray conditions exist.

Total Electrical Cable Fire Protection

Thermalastic® 83C Cable Coating is also one of the most economical and maintenance-free ways to protect cables from fire in electrical equipment, cable spreader and control rooms. It is totally reliable because there are no electrical or mechanical activating devices to fail, no human error to be concerned about, no tanks to refill and no periodic maintenance.

Thermalastic® 83C provides reliable, maintenance free, low cost fire protection that few, if any other, system can match.

Thermalastic® 83C also protects cable insulation from exposure to fires such as those caused by burning trash, lube oil or other flammable material that may accumulate around cable trays.

The protection time frame that Thermalastic® 83C can provide to protect electrical cables from a fire before the insulation begins to deteriorate will depend on the intensity of the flame, type and size of cables, type of insulation and other variables. In the event that a maximum time lapse protection from fire exposure is desired, a heavier coating can be applied to those areas.

How Does Thermalastic 83C® Work? When exposed to fire:

Thermalastic® 83C produces cooling vapors from metallic hydrates in the coating. These vapors reduce the heat transmission to the protected cables.
Inorganic components in the coating create form a surface of high emissivity properties that results in the radiation of significant amounts of heat being push away from the cables.
Fire retardant components present in the coating inhibit the combustion process in the immediate vicinity of the cables.

Effect on Current Carrying Ampacity

While Thermalastic® 83C is very effective in blocking extreme heat from fire exposure, it has no adverse effect on low temperature heat dissipation that might affect cable ampacity. The reasons for this are:

The low temperature thermal conductivity of Thermalastic® 83C is almost identical to P.V.C.

The increase in cable diameter and slightly rougher surface after the cable coating is applied provides more cooling surface area to the cable.

NO ELECTRICAL DE-RATING OF THE CABLES IS NECESSARY.