let's look at what happens to a plastic cable clip in the event of a fire i think it's any
excuse to get that lighter out again i think so you can see it's melting away pretty quickly so what's
going to happen to the cable as that melts going okay so obviously the fixing is going to give way
the cable is going to fall away from the structure and there'll be a risk of entanglement for people
exiting the building as well as those people maybe entering the building to rescue people as well
so now it's recommended we use a metal based clip
to ensure that the cable cannot drop away from the structure in the event of a fire and cause
entanglement and I've chosen the D-Line clip here it's a cable grip clip fully metallic and we'll
see what happens obviously under the same conditions we gave that previous plastic one
cables melting away but the fixing isn't going anywhere i suggest that's going to hang around
until the wood itself goes yeah it's yeah look at that fixing it is yeah holding that cable
in place there for preventing the cable coming away from the structure therefore
preventing it being a possible entanglement for people exiting or entering the building
i think that clearly demonstrated how the plastic clips can be affected by a fire and how the
metallic clip held the cable system in place and it's really important isn't it gordon yeah
it isn't that was just this uh okay it's a it's a substantial lighter but it's nothing like the
heat that you get in an actual fire if you don't believe that check out some of the tests that they
do on fire rated ceilings when it comes to down lights to get that 30 60 or 90-minute rating but
on the 30-minute test by the time 30 minutes is up the ceiling's gone and the floor structure is gone
so we're on about that temporary support to enable people to safely exit the building or firefighters
to enter the building to rescue someone in those crucial early stages of a fire and not
get entangled gary isn't it yeah and absolutely and it's covered in the wiring regulations so
you're going to just do a little joe robinson for me you're going to read from the regulations
from the blue book so it's covered under and just it is one regulation that this mops this up
five two one point one zero point two zero two i'm sure you know by heart but wiring
systems shall be supported such that we will not be liable to premature collapse
in the event of a fire and when we're looking at cable clips like this we look at note 4
suitably spaced steel or copper clips saddles or ties are examples that will meet the requirements
of this regulation okay so there's lots of things in there but there's lots of things missing
and this is where we always want your comments below there is no uh guidance on the frequency
of supports whether they be for the surface wiring system maybe for conduit maybe inside a trunking
in order to prevent this premature collapsing is there yeah which is again where it falls back down
to the electrician again what the regulations leaves uh leaves a great area for us to figure
out it always comes down to that engineering judgment so you've done a practical example gary
haven't you yeah so let's see that and yeah and we can talk about that afterwards so this is what
we've got a standard arrangement surface wiring there on a joist clip with our plastic clips so
see that a lot of people's garages places like that yeah you do okay exposed beams etc all i've
done now is taken out those clips okay so we can see what would happen in the event of those
cables falling down here and that could entangle somebody but i'm not going to replace all the
clips okay i'm just going to put them where i think logically from an engineering judgment that
would be probably the best place to clip them so i've got one on each end i'm going to do here okay
so one in there and then you're going to assume that when you remove those plastic clips it's not
going to sag and create that that hazard yeah it is yeah that's that's the sort of thinking behind
it so these are proper clips so in they go so i'm just going to pop out the other ones now so if i
take these clips out we'll see what the scenario looks like so you're simulating in the event of a
fire these have melted and the cable's about to drop down well is it let's see well there we go
yeah so it's held up above the area there where obviously there is a chance that we could walk
into that area okay so that cable is now held in place obviously the clips can be used on block
and brick so in here i'm going to actually now straight into the block itself but i could nail
into the mortar if i wanted to say if it was a brick surface and they are yeah really well held
in place so yeah just take a look at that that's my 2.5 held in place rather than my light and
circuit just saw great finish hopefully i clearly demonstrated there when i took out the clip so
i was suggesting at that stage that obviously the melted that these d-line grip clips that i've
positioned kept the warring system above the area where that door was where people may be exiting
but it isn't just in exiting areas anymore is it gorgeous no so it's all surface wiring because
obviously the route that a firefighter takes possibly to enter the building to rescue somebody
you can't necessarily think what that would be and plan accordingly so that's why it covers all
surface wiring obviously once it's above behind fire barriers such as plasterboard okay different
rules apply but some people are going the extra mile gary yeah we're seeing on instagram that
people are actually saying to us and have shown us pictures of it is where before the obviously
plastic was gone in on new builds have actually still inserted these metallic clips because they
believe that in the event of the ceiling coming down may be earlier than expected that there
wiring system will stay in place remember bs7671 is the minimum requirement the minimum standards
we need to meet and we'd really be interested in your thoughts if you're the type of person that is
installing these clips above plasterboard ceilings so leave those comments below that'd be really
handy for us when it now again it's not just where cables are falling maybe freely into an area that
can cause you know issues for say firefighters is it gordon no because obviously everyone thinks
yeah exit routes and you think you head straight to the door but in the event of a fight obviously
smart filled rooms firefighters will often feel their way around the edge of a room
and use their feet as well so you've got to think about cables that would end up at a lower level
okay dado trunking is the main problem with that and d-line have some separate clips to
deal with uh trunking but if you've got a wiring system that's liable to collapse against a wall
don't think you're out of uh you're out of the way by doing that because that can cause entanglement
yeah it may not in the normal world without a fire okay and also again engineering judgment we're
in a very high ceiling area here if there was a surface warring system above us maybe a conduit
system or maybe pvc cables how far would they fall into the area would they fall far enough into the
area that it could cause entanglement for people that were on the ground level so that's another
thing you've got to take into consideration can we have a look at some of these the clips
on them is substantial yeah so it does have a substantial nail so this is a 2.5 millimeter
clip here and the nails are 2.5 millimeter nail as well ironically but it's uh that's constant
across the range the good thing about these clips is the only sharp object is the point of the nail
the rest of them are smooth finger safe as d-line say on there so you're not gonna you're not
gonna bring in some blood onto the project and we've got the range there gary starting at uh
one and a half mil 2.54 and six millimeter uh for twin and earth cables twin and cpcs yeah okay in
this in this video i don't care what we call them as long as they stay in position because too many
people have been entangled in wiring systems and obviously perished in the fire which is completely
unacceptable hence the regulations have come in and over time adapted and that's why these metal
clips are so important to me personally it's one of the regulations that's quite dear to my heart i
think we should be taking this ultra seriously in order to support our wiring systems but as always
we're interested in everyone else's comments how are you overcoming the problem of surface wiring
systems and holding them in place in the event of a file we'd love to hear about those is there
somebody in the comments that are struggling and you can help them with your experience
please answer them for us but we will also try and get back to as many of these questions as we can