Enclosure Integrity Testing

An Enclosure Integrity Test is a mandatory commissioning function for any gaseous extinguishing system that complies with ISO 14520, NFPA 2001, EN 15004 & AS ISO 14520. Confirming whether the enclosure that is being protected will maintain the suppression agent for a minimum duration of 10 minutes is a critical part of the overall system performance. The other critical reason that an Enclosure Integrity Test needs to be conducted on an enclosure where a fire extinguishing system is installed is to evaluate how tight the enclosure may be for the purpose of assessing pressure relief venting. All gaseous extinguishing systems create negative and/or positive pressures on discharge. The magnitude of these pressures will be dependent on how tight or how leaky the enclosure is. If an Enclosure Integrity Test has not been conducted then there is no way to assess whether the pressures on discharge will create a structural integrity problem for your enclosure. Under ISO 14520, NFPA 2001, EN15004 & AS ISO 14520, all enclosures must be evaluated to ensure that structural integrity is not compromised during discharge. A critical part of this evaluation is to perform an Enclosure Integrity Test.