Storage batteries are an important component of many domestic solar PV installations, storing power generated during the day for use at night. To minimise the risk of batteries becoming a fire hazard, a new British Standard covering fire safety for home battery storage installations came into force on 31 March 2024.
The standard is – PAS 63100:2024: Electrical installations. Protection against fire of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for use in dwellings.
As an installer, we take fire safety of our client’s installations very seriously. We would always recommend locating storage batteries outside the home and away from rooms used for living. If outdoor placement is not feasible, there are basic requirements for indoor locations housing storage batteries. These include:
- Ensuring batteries are separated from habitable rooms and escape routes by appropriate fire compartmentation.
- Providing fire detection for the battery location, linked to a fire alarm system to alert inhabitants of a fire.
- Making sure that inhabitants’ escape routes are not obstructed.
Part of the new standard is the introduction of warning labels clearly indicating the presence of either battery energy storage system (BESS) or both solar PV and BESS in a building (see left).
Batteries should not be installed in any of the following locations:
- Rooms intended for sleeping.
- Routes used as a means of escape that are not defined as protected escape routes, including landings, staircases, and corridors.
- Corridors, shafts, stairs, or lobbies of protected escape routes.
- Firefighting lobbies, shafts, or staircases.
- Storage cupboards, enclosures, or spaces opening into rooms intended for sleeping.
- Outdoors (ground-mounted or wall-mounted in a suitable enclosure) within 1m of escape routes, doors, windows, or ventilation ports.
- Voids, roof spaces or lofts.
- Within 2m of stored flammable materials and fuel storage tanks or cylinders.
- Cellars or basements that have no access to the outside of the building.
If you have any concerns over where to install batteries for your solar PV system, do get in touch Tel: 01432 861047.