We are often interested in drawing industry attention to important future developments in fire protection. Today’s topic is about an effective and innovative solution to reduce arc flash risk in fire pump controllers. In this article, we will discuss electrical fire pump control devices.
NFPA 20 and NEC Article 695 require fire pump controllers and have strict rules regarding the connection of electrical power to a fire pump controller. The reason for this is that code officials are concerned about an inadvertent interruption of electrical power in the event of a fire, which could prevent the operation of an electric motor fire pump. Therefore, the preferred method of electrical connection is the simplest – a direct connection from the electrical supply to the fire pump controller. Even if some switches and overcurrent protectors are used, their size, location, letters, etc. are indicated in NEC and NFPA 20.
The fire pump controllers are constantly energized (on) and ready to go. And as we just mentioned, controllers are often more directly related to utility input capacity than other motor loads within a building. These characteristics of fire pump controllers bring with them additional arc flash hazards – the extremely dangerous situation in which an electrical current leaves its intended path and travels from one conductor to another or ground. Depending on the power source, hundreds of thousands of amps can instantly rush into the console and melt metals, cables, and anything else in its path. It is, to some extent, lightning and could be fatal to anyone around.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Needed for Electrical Work (NFPA 70E) is available on the market today, but may not be enough when it comes to fire pump controllers as they are often wired by default to an unlimited source of energy. Today, many organizations rule that active business is not allowed due to this risk.
Historically, this has meant that you must shut down the entire building before you can perform any maintenance on the fire pump controllers. (Remember that fire pump controllers have a dedicated power supply to avoid inadvertent disconnections.) In addition to being annoying and inconvenient, turning off all power often makes troubleshooting a fire pump controller impossible. So … how can we safely troubleshoot a fire pump controller without having to turn off electrical power to the entire building?
I believe this feature is the future of building a safe fire pump controller, especially for large universities, hospitals, and institutional sites where safety protocols are strictly regulated and managed.
See a great video of this feature in action below and learn more at https://www.yashengineering.in/