FIRE ACCIDENTS IN

ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION

ELECTRICAL FIRE
The term Electrical fire covers cases in which electrical faults lead to over heating or arcing, followed by ignition and combustion of insulating materials in the equipments as well as surroundings.

Examples: Fire on switch board panel caused by defective terminal connector. Fire in circuit breaker caused by any defect in its mechanism. Fire in smoothing reactor in a locomotive caused by poor insulation and subsequent short circuiting.

CAUSES OF ELECTRICAL FIRE

OVERLOADS. INSULATION FAILURES. CONTACT FAILURES. CONDUCTOR FAILURES/ FACTURE.

OVERLOADING.
Overloading in electrical equipment results in excessive currents. Heat developed in conductor is proportional to the squire of the current (HI2Rt). Thus overheated. The insulation is generally made up of materials which damages easily by excessive temperature.Therefore loose their insulating property and lead to short circuit. Since many insulating materials are combustible, they may catch fire if temperature rises to their ignition temperature.

INSULATION FAILURE
Defects & deterioration of electrical insulation may result in short circuit as well as continuous arcing. It will be followed by combustible insulating materials. The temperature of electrical arc is very high & combustible materials in vicinity catch fire unless the arc is extinguished within the fraction of a second.

CONTACT FAILURES.
Failure or less than pre determined pressure on contact between various component in any electrical installation may result in sparking, localised overheating & subsequent burning. In many cases, there may not be any arcing initially but overheating is sufficient to start a fire. In these cases, short circuiting & arcing may start in later stages, but they would not be the original cause of fire.

CONDUCTOR FAILURES/ FACTURE.

Facture in current carrying conductor or component due to mechanical stress or strain may result in local arcing . As electrical arc temperature is very high, hence combustible materials in vicinity may catch fire

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ARCING & SPARKING PHENOMENA:

SPARKING: It is an early stage in the mechanism of failure of pressure contact. If there is poor contact, there will certainly be overheating. Hence, the contact momentarily broken but re-established quickly, there will be sparking.

Sparking:
The alternate make & brake process may continue for hours or even days. Or it may stop for a while & re-start. Flickering of lights in houses is often due to this type of problem. It may be in the main switch board or distribution boards, particularly where Al conductors are used.

ARCING:
Occurs when there is a positive gap in the path of current. This may happen either when insulation fails or when a conductor or a joint factures while carrying current. The arc current literally jumps across an air gap. The air gets ionised and the arc maintained until the power is switched off by a protective device.

FIRE DUE TO FAILUER OF INSULATION.

Electrical short circuit:installation have two or three conductor. --They are insulated from each other and from earth . -- The voltage between such conductor is system voltage,e,g, 230V, 400V etc. ---Due to any failure in insulation at any point , a short circuit results. -- This causes excessive current , overheating & arcing.
--Electrical

Failure of insulation is very common & frequent. Insulation may fail due to various reason:--Deterioration due to normal ageing. --unlike metal , insulating materials are brittle, gets damaged to abrasion,environmental effect, mechanical effect, overheating , rodent attract. Insulation failures & resultant short circuit are usual phenomena in electrical installation, but Fires are not. Hence every electrical installation should be provided with a system which prevent fire in spite of insulation failure.

TYPES AND CAUSES OF INSULATION FAILURE. There are three main types of insulation failure:

Insulation failure due to initial defect.

Insulation failure due to normal ageing.

Insulation failure due to external damage.

INSULATION FAILURE DUE TO INITIAL DEFECT.

May cause by an error in either:Design.

Manufacturing processes.
Installation of equipment.

MEASURES MANDATORY ACCORDING TO INDIAN ELECTRICITY RULES TO PREVENT DEFECT IN INSULATION. Use of materials with BIS certification.

Getting the installation designed and installed by licensed electrical contractor.

High Voltage test on installation before energising it.

INSULATION FAILURE DUE TO NORMAL AGEING & EXTERNAL DAMAGE.

All insulating materials deteriorate in their insulating properties with the passage of time. The rate of deterioration depends on :
Electrical

loading.

Ambient temperature. Layout & surroundings. Presence of foreign materials. Original quality of the design & the materials.

FAILURE OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT OR INSTALLATION DUE TO INSULATION FAILURE CAN BE AVOIDED BY PROVIDING SUITABLE PROTECTIVE SYSTEM.
The protective System consist of : Fuses. Circuit breaker with over current relays. Leakage current sensing devices.

THE INDIAN ELECTRCITY ACT & RULES:

Rule: 29. Electrical installation shall be constructed, installed, protected, worked and maintained in accordance with The Indian Standards and Code of Practice issued by Bureau of Indian Standards ( BIS). The materials and apparatus used shall conform to relevant specifications of BIS. The National Electricity Code Clause 3.1.3.6,: The current rating of a fuse shall not exceed the current rating of the smallest cable in the circuit protected by fuse.

Rule: 45. No electrical installation work, including additions, alterations,repairs and adjustments to existing installations, except such replacement of lamps, fans,fuses, switches, low voltage domestic appliances, and fittings as in no way alter its capacity or character shall be carried out upon the premises of or on behalf of any (consumer, supplier, owner or occupier], for the purpose of supply to such consumer, owner, (or occupier) except by an electrical contractor licensed in this behalf by the State Government and under the direct supervision of a person holding a certificate of competency (and by a person holding a permit) issued or recognised by the State Government:

Rule : 31.
Every supply lines shall be protected by a suitable cutout by its owner. Rule :2. Defines cutout as any appliance for automatically interrupting the transmission of energy through any conductor when the current rises above a predetermined amount and shall also include a fusible cutout.