mounting board

[alan2009]

Hello,

wondered if anyone can help with this.
I’m getting Scottish Power to come in and fit an isolator switch and move the meter to a more convenient location.
They sent me a quote, £440, part of which says I have to provide a board of appropriate size for them to fix their equipment on which is fair enough.
However it also says the board should be made of “suitable fire proof material”.
When I asked them they suggested I could get it from an electrical supplier. I’ve tried a few local ones with no luck.
Does anyone know what constitutes fire proof material and where I can get it? Would plywood coated in fire resistant paint be ok?
I don’t think SP are all really that bothered to be honest and it’s going to be a contractor that does the work but I’d rather comply with their requirements if possible in case there’s any hassle about it.

 

[Chri5]

Tops tiles does a nice line in concrete board

Good old plasterboard is fire proof


Thing is the DNO makes you supply a board, yet then you can enclose the whole installation in timber, MDF, conti board etc.

Ask them for descriptive / manufacture / supplier of a board they would deem suitable might be the best way.

 

[17thman]

stupid isn't it how my dno regularly fix updated metres to old wooden mounting boards and then insist that you have to mount a new isolator on an intumescent material. plasterboard or intumescent plasterboard, fireboard or similar will do.

 

[Spark123]

The first thing that came to mind is something like this: http://cpc.farnell.com/trac-lighting/mb1/heavy-duty-meter-board-18-x-12/dp/PL06708

 

[davelx]

stupid isn't it how my dno regularly fix updated metres to old wooden mounting boards and then insist that you have to mount a new isolator on an intumescent material. plasterboard or intumescent plasterboard, fireboard or similar will do.

Intumescent? I find that surprising. Intumescent materials are not fireproof, it means the substance swells/puffs up when it gets hot. Such materials are used around the outside of fire-check doors to seal the gap between the door and the frame to stop smoke and fumes getting past into the adjacent area in the event of a fire.

In the case of intumescent plasterboard, it's used to provide a fire barrier, for example in a ceiling, by forming a heat insulating layer when it swells up. I would not have thought this sort of behaviour a good idea for a mounting board for a CU or meter etc.

 

[bernardgreen]

From what I have heard the idea is now to protect the incomer between the entry point and the company fuse so that an un-fused short across the network does not happen when there is a fire around the incomer.

So intumescent material that, in the event of fire, buried the cutout and incomer cable does make sense.

 

[kai]

From what I have heard the idea is now to protect the incomer between the entry point and the company fuse so that an un-fused short across the network does not happen when there is a fire around the incomer.

So intumescent material that, in the event of fire, buried the cutout and incomer cable does make sense.

What are you on about?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It will burn in the right circumstances, but I think it needs other fuels to be present.

Anyway - with a melting point around 2000°C it probably counts as fireproof: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AP0473-Alumin...5041429QQihZ001QQcategoryZ98641QQcmdZViewItem

 

[rebuke]

So intumescent material that, in the event of fire, buried the cutout and incomer cable does make sense.

Surely in a fire it will swell outwards, causing the screws that hold the cutout and meter to the board to pull outwards, potentially popping out, causing the cutout and meter to fall off the board - I can't see that it would bury the cutout and incoming cable...

 

[davelx]

Surely in a fire it will swell outwards, causing the screws that hold the cutout and meter to the board to pull outwards, potentially popping out, causing the cutout and meter to fall off the board - I can't see that it would bury the cutout and incoming cable...

Yes, that's what I think and why it doesn't seem an appropriate material to me.

Anyone care to set up a test (I might so it myself as I have an old CU floating around somewhere)?

 

[ElectricDunc]

It's just chipboard similar to the stuff you use for flooring in the back of meter cupboards supplied by the builders merchants so surely that would be adequate.

 

[Click-Sure]

It will burn in the right circumstances, but I think it needs other fuels to be present.

Anyway - with a melting point around 2000°C it probably counts as fireproof: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AP0473-Alumin...QihZ001QQcategoryZ98641QQcmdZViewItem[/QUOTE]

I think the fact that it conducts electricity is possibly an issue there bas...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Tell that to all the people who make metal CUs and metal boxes and metal conduit and metal cable tray and general purpose metal enclosures with metal backplates....

 

[Click-Sure]

Point taken bas, I wouldn't use one on a TT system though!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

True.