non combustable board

[chris d]

had my mcs inspection last wk and was pulled on mounting sunny boy inverter on mdf. was told it had to be non combustable material, can anyone recommend what to use and where to get it from.

 

[lamb]

Flame retardent ply. Special order from any timber merchants

 

[Worcester]

It's part of building regs, must be 1/2 hour fire resistant. Some MDF can be (check first).

 

[hopkins85]

What's wrong with mounting direct on to wall

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[malcolmsanford]

What's wrong with mounting direct on to wall

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

Quite often there isn't a wall in a loft to mount to, so normally you span a couple of stays and secure to this and the ceiling joists.

 

[saint]

What about 18mm ply with 12.5mm fire resistant plasterboard on top?

 

[Ramjam]

NICEIC told me that an inverter does not need to be mounted on a nun-combustible material and that the waterproof chipboard that I use is perfectly adequate. I use waterproof because I'd hate to see it blow with damp (unlikely I know) and it comes in 8ft x 2ft lengths easy to chop up to make boards. I have the builders merchant chop the tongue and groove off but the boards are cheap and readily available.

It would be a shabby inverter that could set fire to the board upon which it is mounted !!!

I was asked the same question during my NICEIC inspection hence me asking their technical helpline for an answer.

 

[saint]

NICEIC told me it should not be mounted directly on ply. Typical!

 

[SRE]

We nearly failed our NICEIC inspection because we'd been told by NICEIC that we didn't need non combustible board then were told at inspection that it should have been non combustible. Fortunately we had some fire proof plasterboard and 10 mins later all was sorted. It does say in the SMA installation manual that it needs to be non-combustible - we found that bit after the inspection

 

[saint]

The moral of the story is.. only install inverters that are going to catch fire on a fire proof board.

 

[DH Electrical]

Hi There,
You need to go to Timber Merchant and ask for 18mm MDF Class"O" or Class II ""Medite", This is Fire Retardant and complies to BS469, it has a 12mm red section in centre ,sandwiched by 3mm each face. Ask for a copy of the Data Sheets/Testing Reports (that will keep NICEIC Happy)
I pay £60 for an 8 x 4 ft sheet,

Google Search "Medite"??

Hope this helps?
I Think a lot of People will get pulled on this, NICEIC will ask you to go back and change all boards fitted

DH

 

[BruceB]

It's part of building regs, must be 1/2 hour fire resistant.

Which building reg would that be?

Regards
Bruce

 

[TedM]

It is, as always, open to a little bit of interpretation.

Part B Building Regs cover Fire. Table A1 defines specific parts of the structure and how the regulations apply to each part. Table A2 then gives fire protection times required for different types and sizes of building and p61 gives some guidance on how Table A2 should be applied.

It is open to interpretation as to whether a simple piece of board holding electrical equipment is covered by any of it. But, given that the manufacturers state non-combustible material should be used, I don't see any issue with playing safe and using material that is 30 minute fire rated which would be the figure for a residential dwelling with a height no more than 5m. More than 5m would require 60 minutes.

 

[BruceB]

Thanks for trawling through Part B. I cannot see a clear direct requirement from the building regs, particularly in a loft surrounded by other combustible material (trusses/rafters). As you say open to interpretation. But of course you are right that the manufacturers' instructions (for the ones I have looked at anyway) are unequivocal on the matter. So not much discussion really.

Regards
Bruce

 

[mogga]

TRY phoning your local planning office and ask them for guidance afterall they are the ones issuing the building warrent get get them to do their job and keep copy for NICEIC if if the LA say its ok As for trawling through the building regs and interpritation One LA may interperate differently from another best check with them Unless you want to get their backs up and next time you want a warrent they check every nut and bolt IMO

 

[Markc]

You can get flame retardant sprays and coatings that treat wood and offer the required protection. It's the same as what is used on meter boards.

Not sure if this is a way round the problem. Yet again it's up to us installers to solve the issue.

May be develop some thermolite board!

 

[edexlab]

On our installs we've always fixed to brick/stone walls , I have to say I don't think its a good idea to fix to ply/wood etc mainly because of the weight of some of these inverters, and with the heat from the inverter I can't help thinking the ply/wood will deteriorate over time possibly even leading to the areas around the fixings becoming weak over time.
we mainly use SMA and after reading the pdf on mounting on wood decided we would follow that advice, and if necessary fix to unistrut, or concrete fibre board

This pdf does say you can mount to wood as long as there is an air gap and the inverter is spaced via washers at fixing points , however before anyone does this read the datasheet and decide for yourself

http://download.sma.de/smaprosa/dateien/7418/HolzUnt-UEN082610.pdf