It's the hot list you don’t want to be on! Learn how to identify and what to do in the event of a switchboard fire.

Do you know what a switchboard that is about to catch fire looks like? The answer might surprise you!

It’s common for switchboards to catch fire due to loose terminals or faulty equipment. In any case, it’s important to read the signs and know how to identify them. This prevents major damage to your property and may even save lives!

So how do you identify a switchboard fire? 

“It would be black or smoking”, you might say. Or it would “have a burning electrical smell”, possibly. 

It could be one or all of those things! BUT it could also be none of them. 

Have a look at a picture of one of our client’s switchboards. To an untrained eye, it looks perfectly normal right?

Well, it’s actually not. Upon closer inspection, we found that the circuit breaker and cabling on the bottom right are at a high risk of burning out. This could potentially be caused by a faulty or old switchboard that needs replacing. 

Our team of electricians conducted a thermal scan to accurately identify the switchboard’s health, which gave us a much better picture. Now have a look at the thermal image of the same switchboard. 

Not so normal. The yellowish area indicates a high risk of switchboard fire, so it’s lucky that the team managed to identify the issue and avoid bigger problems! 

Key Takeaway 

Sometimes you cannot tell if a switchboard is overheating and on the brink of destruction. In these situations, the resulting fire could cause significant damage not only to the switchboard, but the building around it. As seen in this case, prevention is better than cure.

So how do you stop that from happening? A simple thermal imaging report will identify any potential fire risks. This allows you to rectify the problem easily and within budget! 

Have you identified switchboards in your building that look similar to the above example? We’re here to help!

Since 1995, Asset Electrical has helped many Australian businesses stay safe by manufacturing, designing, and maintaining their switchboards. Whether it’s refrigeration or mechanical services switchboard, we’ve got the expertise to get it done. Contact our team for your thermal imaging requirements and avoid being on our Hottest Switchboards of 2023 calendar.