Producers of insulated pipes and ducts, or a few of them at the very least, stand accused of selling merchandise that don’t stand as much as their claims in relation to withstanding fireplace.

The Thermal Insulation Contractors Affiliation (TICA) is urging a recent evaluation of the pre-insulated pipe and duct market following the discharge this summer season of BS 5422:2023 and forward of a raft of secondary laws regarding the Constructing Security Act.

TICA, along with the Constructing Engineering Companies Affiliation (BESA), first raised issues over the suitability of pre-insulated pipework and ductwork product to be used inside buildings in July 2022.

TICA’s technical coverage supervisor Chris Ridge mentioned: “Twelve months after our preliminary communications it has develop into essential for TICA to boost this difficulty once more. BS 5422:2023 now defines ‘response to fireside’ by way of the Euroclass system and states a minimal efficiency of Euroclass C-s3, d2 in dwelling purposes and B-s3, d2 in non-dwelling purposes. Many pre-insulated programs which might be being marketed to be used inside buildings merely don’t meet these standards.”

As well as, TICA is elevating questions over the testing regimes employed by some producers of pre-insulated pipe and duct programs.

“We’re seeing vastly differing response to fireside outcomes for merchandise that look like of an identical nature,” he mentioned. “In some instances, the testing processes adopted by producers of pre-insulated product seem to have diverged from the agreed testing strategies generally understood for conventional thermal insulation merchandise.

“Finally, producers are advertising a system by combining pipe and duct merchandise with an insulation product – this can not negate the accountability of testing the insulation aspect to the prescribed requirements.”

TICA has additionally highlighted the truth that some pre-insulated merchandise are being marketed for purposes the place they merely can not meet the required most warmth loss necessities prescribed in BS 5422:2023 and Permitted Doc L Volumes 1 & 2.

Chris Ridge mentioned: “These accountable for specifying and putting in pre-insulated programs ought to be ready to ask some detailed questions first. Finally, this isn’t only a mixture of merchandise however a junction of trades.

“Nobody would routinely assume {that a} thermal insulator is competent to put in or specify pipework and ductwork. Why, then, ought to we assume {that a} ductwork contractor or pipework contractor is competent to put in or specify thermal insulation?” 

BS 5422:2023 applies to thermal insulating supplies for pipes, tanks, vessels, ductwork and gear working between -40ºc and +700ºc. The primary replace in since 2009, it’s the cornerstone of UK thermal insulation requirements, setting out minimal ranges of efficiency for various working circumstances.

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