Hydrogen Chloride Transport and Decay in a Large Apparatus I. Decomposition of Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Wire Insulation in a Plenum by Current Overload

Abstract

Large-scale combustion product evaluation experiments were carried out in a realistic room-plenum arrangement. A 30 ft. (9.14 m) length of electrical power wire with flexible PVC jacket and insulation was decomposed, in a plenum, by the action of an electrical overload. The combustion gases measured were HCl, CO, CO 2 and unburned hydrocarbons. The maximum con centration of HCl in the plenum was 3000 ppm (which represents roughly one third of the total chlorine in the wire). However, this amount decreased rapidly so that only 200—300 ppm remained at the end of 30 min; none of the other combustion gases measured decayed significantly. Little or no HCl was found in the living space, except in one experiment with forced air recirculation, when a maximum concentration of 200 ppm was measured. Reasonable ac counting is presented for the very large proportion of HCl missing from the at mosphere.