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The growing complexity of modern infrastructure requires safety measures that can live up to the task. While they aren’t as flashy as a sprinkler system, passive fire protection, such as fire-rated doors, is essential in minimizing damage spread.
You’d be glad to have passive fire protection systems if a fire breaks out in your building. In this article, you’ll learn how fire-rated doors protect and serve your establishment.
What Is a Fire-Rated Door?
Simply put, it’s a door with a fire-resistance rating, allowing it to withstand the spread of smoke and fire for a specific time. Stairwells are an excellent example of where fire-rated doors should go.
In the event of an emergency, elevators would most likely be offline. As such, stairwells need to be protected from fires to allow your safe passage to the nearest exit.
Depending on your needs, some doors resist fires longer than others; you may choose to go for one with a better rating. Third-party entities such as UL and NFPA are responsible for setting fire-rated door standards.
These fire ratings range from 20 minutes to 3 hours and give you an idea of how much protection your critical systems get before fire and smoke start seeping in.
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How Fire-Rated Doors Serve
Material
For fire-rated doors, you typically choose between timber or steel construction, where steel is the most durable choice. For both types of doors, you’ll need to ensure that the gap between the frame and door leaf stays around 3-4mm. Gaps greater than this compromise the fire resistance of the door.
Intumescent Seals
You’ll typically have intumescent seals on the door frame or door leaf for timber doors. These seals expand in the presence of heat, ensuring fires don’t spread through the gaps. Steel doors typically don’t feature intumescent seals as steel expands in the presence of heat, sealing gaps in the door and frame.
Smoke Seals
While intumescent seals serve to seal gaps when exposed to heat, you may be looking for total protection from smoke at average temperatures. In this case, a smoke seal is what you’d need.
Typically made from polymer blades or brushes, these smoke seals close the gaps at room temperature and prevent smoke from leaking. To ensure total protection in a fire, you’ll need to inspect these seals regularly.
Reminders
First, you need to know that fire-rated doors are a complete assembly. For a fire-rated door to do its job, you’d need the door, its frame, and the associated hardware for installation. Any unauthorized changes increase the risk that the door may not live up to its original expectations.
Next, it’s mandatory for you to install fire-rated doors according to the manufacturer’s guide. Any improper modification to the guidelines may result in a voided fire label.
Moreover, always keep the door closed. A fire door cannot compartmentalize a fire if it’s being held open by unauthorized hardware. You can use an electromagnetic hold open device if a constant passage is necessary.
These devices keep the door open and allow quick movement, but when a fire alarm is activated, the door can be shut manually or with a self-closing device.
Lastly, protecting utilities such as electrical and gas lines is necessary to get the fire rating you want for a building. You will need a fire-rated floor hatch to match your door and walls’ fire rating. Combining these three passive fire protection systems will surely give you the peace of mind you need in your building.
Closing
The benefits of having a top-notch fire protection system are evident. If you’ve adequately maintained your passive and active fire protection systems, you can rest easy knowing you’ve done your best to keep your people safe from fire dangers.
