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We put a 15 kWh battery storage system in our garage and had to build a fire-rated room around it with a 60-minute fire-rated door to maintain code -- which is
by carimura 2y ago
We put a 15 kWh battery storage system in our garage and had to build a fire-rated room around it with a 60-minute fire-rated door to maintain code -- which is a pretty heavy weight steel door. It wasn't easy. All to maintain county code. The funny part is by the time we got the inspection, the fire department had a new inspector and he said "wow, you did all of this for the battery?"
- kelnos 2y agoHow much did that cost, as a percent of the total cost of the system you built? My feeling is that a requirement like that could make the project financially infeasible for a lot of people.
- cf100clunk 2y agoConsider the U.S. insurance industry and their desire/need to refuse payouts when possible. If a fire occurs and the location contravenes just about any code their staff can find, they will likely refuse payout and it will be time for you to lawyer up. So, in that case, the expense of that special room might be seen as a bargain in the long run.
- kelnos 2y agoSure, I don't disagree with that, but someone looking to do an installation might just decide not to do it at all, seeing the cost of the protection setup. That may or may not be rational, but I could easily see that happening. Sticker shock is a thing, and solar+battery installs are already plenty pricey, even with the cost renaissance we've been seing. GP/sibling says it added on another 5-10% for them, though, so that's not too bad, though I guess it was a DIY job, and would have cost more to pay someone else to do it.
- carimura 2y ago5-10% of the battery itself. required 1/2" sheet rock, that 60-min door, etc etc. would have been more if I hired someone to do it.
- carimura 2y agosorry 3/4" sheet rock in case anyone is counting here.... :)
- Vecr 2y agoA lot of people probably don't follow the law.
- carimura 2y agocorrect. but a lot of people do. and it can be expensive.
- ipython 2y agoWow. And you can park a car that has a battery with 5x the potential energy in my garage without any additional requirements? Somewhere or another the code doesn’t add up.
- trhway 2y agoTypically the code requires 60-min firewalling of the garage.
- floatrock 2y agoFor an EV? I think the op is pointing out that some building codes put huge restrictions on building isolation with stationary storage like powerwalls, but as soon as those batteries are on wheels then regulating cars is someone else's department.
- trhway 2y ago>For an EV? For a 20 gallon tank of gasoline on wheels.
- ipython 2y agoAlso a good point. If each gallon of gasoline is equivalent to about 33kWh of energy, I could have 1.3MWh stored in two ICE powered cars. I guess it’s harder to put out a battery fire than a gas fire?
- Etheryte 2y agoThe way you put out a battery fire is you don't. Last I checked, the current best practice for an electric car that catches fire is to just let it burn to the ground while trying to stop anything around from catching fire.
- mschuster91 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]