About 60 billion feet of data communications cable has been installed in the plenum spaces of U.S. buildings during the last two decades. Much of this material is highly flammable, and represents a large and growing fire hazard. Due to the lack of oversight of cable installation and removal, there is a significant amount of abandoned cable in commercial buildings today.
Most communications cables installed in buildings are considered to be combustible by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The relative combustibility of cable is measured by the fuel load, flame spread and smoke generation index rating on cables. This is in large part a function of the type of plastics used in their manufacture.
The NFPA took action to reduce the excess fuel load represented by abandoned cables in the beginning of 2002 by mandating in the National Electrical Code the removal of accessible abandoned cable in all articles concerning low voltage cable.
Most local jurisdictions have already adopted the new provisions, and enforcement of abandoned cable removal is growing nationwide.
Due to the nature of multi-tenant property management, vendors’ operations in these buildings, and tenant turnover, several questions are being raised on how to gauge the hazards of abandoned cable, who will cover the cost to remove it, and who is qualified to do the removal.
DuPont™ Abandoned Cable Services offers a portfolio of services to assist with all aspects of the abandoned cable problem for property managers, building owners, network engineers and facility managers. As a service provider, DuPont offers independent, third-party impartiality to the client, national project logistics and management capabilities, and exclusive technology access.
DuPont™ Abandoned Cable Services offers cabling infrastructure assessments and existing conditions report (ECR) generation, professional contractor referral network, full copper cable recycling and waste diversion tracking, and education for employees or tenants relative to copper cable fire safety.
DuPont is uniquely qualified to deliver these services due to our long, upstanding history in safety codes and standards development, cable manufacturing and testing, safety consulting services portfolio, and our 200-year heritage on safety.
DuPont™ Abandoned Cable Services are available across major metropolitan areas of the U.S.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable offers the best available cable fire safety performance because the insulation and jacket materials are specifically engineered to reduce smoke generation and flame spread.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable reduces smoke up to 20 times more than conventional plenum cables, reducing the risk to building occupants, and of damage to sensitive electronic equipment such as those found in LANs and data centers.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable have primary insulation made of 100 percent Teflon® FEP and jacket made of Smokeguard FP® with Teflon® from AlphaGary.
DuPont certification means the cables are manufactured by DuPont authorized manufacturers and are tested and verified by independent testing labs, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL), to meet the following requirements:
- Compliant with Telecommnications Industries Association (TIA) Category 5e, Category 6 or higher industry standards for electrical performance and insulation.
- Primary wire insulation constructed of 100 percent DuPont™ Teflon® FEP and jacket made with Smokeguard FP® with Teflon®.
- Meet or exceed the most stringent NFPA or UL® limited combustible requirements for cable flame spread, fire load and smoke generation.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable represents as little as a one percent increase in the total network infrastructure project costs, and only about a 10 percent higher cost than installed CMP cable when considering the installation and materials cost of a basic link.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable may offer a cost advantage when used in place of a sprinkler system required in concealed spaces.
DuPont™ certified limited combustible cable also offers greater environmental sustainability than the typical wire and cable products because they:
Do not contain any substances or components regulated under the RoHS and WEEE Directives.
Are free of heavy metals and phthalates.
Are free of hazardous substances such as PBB and PBDE.
Are compliant with California Proposition 65 (requires no warning labels on products).
Offer more complete recyclability of both copper and plastics.
Contain post-industrial recycled content today, with options for post-consumer content in the future.
