Batteries in plant room and 120 minute fire rated walls

[jimseng]

Just chatting through with building control and the subject of batteries came up. He suggested I need 120 minute fire ratings for the plant room if I have my solar batteries installed inside but I can't find out if this is his recommendation or if there is something written down stipulating this. Anybody have any thoughts? I don't have an outside option.

[Dillsue]

AFAIK everything to do with battery location and fire protection are all recommendations and there's nothing mandatory.  One thing you want to understand is if your insurer stipulates anything??

[jimseng]

@Dillsue Thanks. That is what I was wondering. The whole building control landscape seems pretty vague and based on opinion.

[JohnMo]

I added mine after sign off, just incase they said variation. Then did what I felt was ok. Most batteries for houses seem to be a safer rather than less safe battery technology now. 

[jimseng]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Most batteries for houses seem to be a safer rather than less safe battery technology now

Tumble dryers anyone? These battery units come with fire suppression built in. 

[BotusBuild]

I'd rather have a modern battery unit in the plant room than a tumble dryer anywhere inside the house

[jimseng]

The reason I asked this question is because this line in PAS 63100:2024 does not to agree with the building inspector's statement about 120 mins:

Quote

Any indoor location in which storage batteries or storage battery enclosures are installed shall have fire resisting separation from indoor locations identified in 6.5.5 by walls, ceilings and floors with a fire performance of at least REI 30 to BS EN 13501 series (30 min to BS 476 series for load bearing capacity, integrity and insulation).

 

Edited 11 hours ago by jimseng

[kandgmitchell]

5 hours ago, jimseng said:

He suggested I need 120 minute fire ratings for the plant room if I have my solar batteries installed inside

Just ask him where in Part B this is mentioned.......

[saveasteading]

44 minutes ago, kandgmitchell said:

ask him where in Part B

It will say that fire should not be allowed to spread.  The rest is examples of how to do this. 

We can't expect the bco to know about battery technology and risk.

So you need to know the fire risk and present this to he bco.

But 120minutes may not be difficult. usually just extra plasterboard.

[ETC]

Ask him to see the Regulation. Not just the Approved Document. 30 minutes in a house is more than enough.

[Nickfromwales]

Current client has looked into this and we spoke in depth about what's "coming next" for the regs surrounding domestic battery locations.

 

Attics are apparently getting removed from the acceptable list, largely due to the logistics of fighting a fire up an attic; eg not having a fire-fighter getting into such a compromised position to fight what is a bloody horrible fire to extinguish.

 

I always design electrical systems to have multi-sensor smoke & heat detection in all plant locations, and I always run a 3-core to the garage if it's quite near to the house as an early warning of a fire in the garage, to give the occupants an opportunity to tackle it before it became fully involved. 

 

I also put "locate / test / hush" buttons, positioned strategically, where someone woken by the omni-directional wailing of the smoke detectors can press "locate". This silences every detector except the one which has been triggered, so if in plant or attic or garage etc you can go straight to the source of the smoke / fire vs searching every room in the house in a panic.

 

2 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

I'd rather have a modern battery unit in the plant room than a tumble dryer anywhere inside the house

Not many people put the TD up the attic though, lol.  

[DamonHD]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X2501312X

 

Quantitative fire likelihood assessment of battery home storage systems in comparison to general house fires in Germany and other battery related fires

[DamonHD]

PAS 63100:2024

(Electrical installations – Protection against fire of battery energy storage systems for use in dwellings – Specification)

6.5.5 Batteries shall not be installed in any of the following locations:

a) rooms in which persons are intended to sleep;

b) routes used as a means of escape that are not defined as protected escape routes, including landings, staircases and corridors;

c) corridors, shafts, stairs or lobbies of protected escape routes;

d) firefighting lobbies, shafts or staircases;

e) storage cupboards, enclosures or spaces opening into rooms in which persons are intended to sleep;

f) outdoors (ground-mounted or wall-mounted in a suitable enclosure) within 1 m of:

1) escape routes;

2) doors;

3) windows; or

4) ventilation ports.

g) voids, roof spaces or lofts;

h) within 2 m of stored flammable materials and fuel storage tanks or cylinders; and

i) cellars or basements that have no access to the outside of the building.