Roxul Industrial Insulation Process - Manual (Page 19)

1.1 Planning and preparation 1.1 Planning and preparation
B. Safety aspects
a) Personal protection
Surface temperatures in excess of 140 °F (60 °C)
can lead to skin burns, if the surface is touched.
Therefore, all accessible installation components
should be designed to protect personnel and
prevent injuries. The insulation applied to such
plant components must ensure that surface
temperatures in excess of 140 °F (60 °C) do not
occur during operation. Consult our Technical
Services Team to determine the required
insulation thickness to aid in personnel
protection. All of the operational parameters must
be known to achieve a reliable design, including,
for example, the temperature of the object, the
ambient temperature, air movement, surface
materials, distance from other objects, etc.
Note
As the surface temperature depends on a set
of physical parameters, which cannot always
be calculated or estimated with any degree
of certainty, the surface temperature is not
a guaranteed measurement. If the required
protection (temperature) cannot be achieved
by insulation, apply additional protective
devices, such as safety guards or enclosement
of the object.
b) Fire protection
The general fire protection requirements imposed
on structural installations are usually defined
within the local Building Codes or the
specifications of plant owner. Structural
installations must be designed, built, modified and
maintained to prevent the outbreak of a fire and
the spread of fire and smoke. In the event of a fire,
the rescuing of people and animals and effectively
extinguishing the fire must be made possible.
During the design of the installation, it is vital to
determine the nature and scope of the fire
prevention measures together with the building
supervisory board, the fire department, insurance
companies and the operator.
As a basic principle, consider the fact that the fire
load in a building or industrial installation can be
considerably increased by flammable insulation
materials. On the other hand, non-flammable
insulation materials such as mineral wool (stone
wool), which has a melting point of >2150 °F
(>1,177 °C), not only have a positive impact on the
fire load, but in the event of a fire, also constitute
a certain fire protection for the installation
component.
Installation components with tracing, in particular,
which use thermal oil as a heat transfer medium,
have an increased risk of catching fire in the event
of a leak. In this case, ensure that the thermal oil
cannot penetrate into the insulation material.
c) Explosion prevention
If there is a risk of fire and explosion, the surface
temperature of the object and the cladding must
be considerably lower than the ignition
temperature of the flammable substance and/or
gas mixtures. This requirement also applies to
thermal bridges, such as pipe mounting supports,
supporting structures and spacers etc.
With regard to insulation systems, explosion
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