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How to Make Safe Choices When Buying Your Fire Alarm Cables

Whether you are undertaking your first project to renovate, upgrade, or install a fire alarm system or just need a refresher on the basics of purchasing fire alarm system, this article is written just for you. As with any safety system, adhering to government standards and established best practices can make a big difference in the peace of mind you feel regarding the safety of your building. Below you will find a handy list of things to keep in mind when you are buying new fire alarm cables.

1. Coloration Is Important
One of the most frequently overlooked aspects of wise cable purchasing is the coloration of insulation. While the color of a cable’s insulation obviously does not affect the quality of the cable itself, having lengths of variously colored cable can make a huge difference to your project on an organizational level.

For example, buying cable of different colors for different parts of your alarm system can make identifying future maintenance issues much easier. If you and your team can visually identify which wires are going where without having to trace them, it can shave hours or even days off the length of maintenance for your system.

2. Keep Your Spaces Separate
The ability to identify cables immediately by their coloration can also help improve the safety of the system in another, more important way: Keeping your spaces separate. In the laying of fire alarm cables, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that there are two different ratings of between-floor space in buildings. Plenum space is space that has access to freshly circulated air, requiring the use of “plenum rated” cables. Riser space is space that has no access to circulating air, usually as a result of being sealed off from areas that the air system in your building would normally bring air to.

While you can use plenum rated cable anywhere in your system (though this is more expensive,) you cannot use riser rated cable in plenum space. As a result of this fact, it is incredibly important to ensure that you keep your plenum rated cable and riser rated cable separate and well-identified, especially in the possibility that you undertake future renovations to your building’s interior. While the aforementioned choices in cable coloration are one way to help identify plenum or riser rated cables in your building, it is not the only way. What matters is that there is a system in place to quickly and reliably identify which cable types are used where.

3. Always Buy With Reliable Brands and Reliable Suppliers
Safety systems are no place to scrimp and save. When buying fire alarm cables you need the best, both from the manufacturer of your cable and from the supplier who will deliver it to you. Always look for sites that offer high-quality warranties and guarantees on their products, because a company that believes in their product should be willing to put their money where their mouth is.

When you’re ready to buy your cables, work with professionals. At www.EWCSwire.com, we stock certified, high-quality cables that will ensure your system works the way it is supposed to. Come see for yourself today!

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