
#WHAT IS A FIREWIRE CABLE LOOK LIKE CODE#
Special additives can be added to PVC to make it flame-retardant to meet plenum specifications in some installations.įor fire safety and code compliance concerns, choose PLENUM rated cable. PVC means polyvinyl chloride, and it is a common plastic cable insulation or jacket.
#WHAT IS A FIREWIRE CABLE LOOK LIKE INSTALL#
PLENUM cable tends to be a little more difficult to install because it sometimes will “kink” more readily during installation, and, it is more difficult to “strip” than PVC cable. Usually, PLENUM fire resistant rated cables are two-three times the cost of PVC versions. The materials required to pass PLENUM fire test specifications usually cause a price increase over non-plenum-rated cables. There are many materials that meet Plenum specifications. PLENUM cables are manufactured and tested to ensure the cable will not be the fuel to a fire. The fumes could carry to the rest of the building through the air conditioner, and, as a result, the fumes could harm others. Wire and cable are usually installed in the same area, and if that wire burns during a fire, it would emit toxic fumes. In most buildings, the PLENUM area above a drop ceiling is used as the source of air for the air conditioning systems. If fire safety is not any concern or local code requirement, choose PVC for ease of installation and lower cost.Ī PLENUM area is the air return for an air conditioning system.


Therefore, for fire safety and code compliance concerns, choose PLENUM rated cable. As a result, the National Electric Code (NEC) requires that only plenum rated cables be installed in plenum air spaces. Plenum Rated Cable has a special coating on the wire, which causes it to burn at a much higher temperature and emit fewer fumes than conventional PVC. Exposure to these fumes could then hinder the safe evacuation of persons in the vicinity and result in increased fatalities. If you have a Plenum ceiling, having PVC cable in the ceiling during a fire would cause a concentration of these fumes to be spread throughout the building. If a fire occurs, burning PVC Cable can emit large quantities of dense black toxic smoke, and significant amounts of hydrochloric acid. Put simply, PVC Cable is the most common type of cable used today and consists of a chemical compound called Poly Vinyl Chloride. Videos of different types of network cables burning.If a duct in your drop ceiling is missing a section: your drop ceiling suddenly, inadvertently, becomes an air-handling space. Generally, you should use plenum cable in a dropped ceiling unless you are certain that it is not air-handling space. The linked wikipedia article, has good diagrams illustrating what is plenum space and what isn't. This is generally not the case with CAT5.

Sloppy termination will reduce the capacity of the run.

The difference is an electrical code safety issue. noise, crimping, termination), just the sheathing. There's no telecommunication difference (e.g.
