There are essential factors you must consider when choosing fire protection equipment or products. Note that the importance of highly protective fire tools cannot be understated. Not only do a fire sleeve and other related fire protection products help save lives, but they also help prevent property damage. That means you must pay attention to the specific characteristics that define high-quality fire sleeves.
This will ensure that you purchase functional fire-related pieces of equipment. Here are the essential defining characteristics of reliable fire sleeves you must consider before you buy one.
1. Flexibility
Generally, fire sleeves are made from a flexible material to ensure flexibility when it comes to covering different areas. The rubber and silicon knitting used in the process of manufacturing these products make them perfect for varied shapes. It is also possible to use them on various electrical components of varying widths and lengths. Regardless of the specific shape of your electronic components, you no longer need to worry about looking for a protective covering that perfectly fits.
It is essential to mention that fire sleeves are expandable, ensuring that you can fit as many electronic wires as you wish. This is particularly important in most electrical devices with highly limited spaces you can safely wrap multiple wires.
2. Reliable protection against high temperature
High-quality fire sleeves can protect your electrical cables and electrical appliances that enclose them even at high temperatures of about 260 degrees Celsius. Such properties can prevent accidents and burns when handling various electrical components that often experience high temperatures or are prone to fires.
It is also important to mention that fire sleeves are made from high-quality fiberglass yarn and coated with silicone rubber. This is why fire sleeves are self-extinguishing because the rubber reacts with heat to form some kind of protective layer of silicon oxide. That means your electronics or electrical components don’t emit much heat by preventing a fire from starting or even spreading.
3. Minimizing or preventing energy loss
Generally, energy is lost or dissipated as it travels from one medium to another. High-quality fire sleeves can help minimize this process of energy loss, particularly when used on electrical components. According to many energy experts, this is because the inner side of the sleeve reflects a lot of heat, ensuring that energy is retained within the electrical component. Effective reflection of heat can ensure minimum energy loss.
Note that the outermost layer of the fire sleeve is made of non-conductive material. This ensures no energy or minimal energy is lost to the environment. Improving efficiency by using high-quality fire sleeves on various electrical components ensures that less energy is lost, and this could end up reducing your monthly energy bills.
4. Abrasion resistance
Nearly all electrical cables and electronics often come with a thin covering commonly known as a jacket. The jacket can easily suffer scratches or other forms of damage because it is weak and thin. Fire sleeves help protect electrical cables from being damaged because they add another protective layer to the already existing thin and weak layer. Keep in mind that abrasion to electrical cables can happen if they are moved along rough surfaces while working or even when they come into contact with one another.
Fire sleeves are also self-warping. That means you can move your electrical wires around various corners and take them away from specific areas where people might interfere with them. This ensures there is limited contact with people, particularly when the wires are being moved, and this could prevent abrasion.
Most electronic components such as cables can easily suffer damage whenever a heavy object is placed on top of them for a more extended period of time. This could result in the failure of the electrical component in the long run, and the replacement of such pieces of equipment can be very costly. Fire sleeves offer a durable option and can successfully prevent frequent damage, thereby letting you save on the cost of electrical component repair or replacement in the future.
5. Safety is important
Fire sleeves are specially designed to either seal or fill holes created by pipes or electrical cables that pass through a fire-rated building ceiling or wall. In the case of fire, the sleeve can expand to fill the aperture existing between the substrate and the surface. In case plastic pipes are being used, the sleeve crushes and completely seals the pipe. This prevents the possible passage of smoke and fire to other areas or components.
Damaged or bare electrical wires are some of the top causes of electrical shocks whenever people come into contact with such wires. Using high-quality fire sleeves on electrical wires can help protect people from electrical shocks. It is important to ensure that the fire sleeves are made of non-conductor material that doesn’t get damaged easily.
Fire sleeves are also resistant to oils, hydraulic fluids, and fuels. That means they can offer reliable protection against such fluids that could cause extensive damage.
