> Passive Fire Protection Products

> About Passive Fire Protection

Passive fire protection products are used in fire protection systems to resist, retard and isolate a fire and the associated smoke and fumes: they do not in themselves extinguish a fire hence they are classed as 'passive' protection.

A key design requirement for fire protection products concerns public safety - the guarantee of a specific fire resistance / retardation time, for example 30 or 60 minutes, in which to evacuate a building. Dependent on the particular product and application fire protection times vary between 30 minutes up to 6 hours.

The flame retardant and smoke stopping capabilities of these products enable fire, rescue and emergency services to undertake their jobs in a more controlled environment. Fire and smoke damage to a building and its contents may be significantly reduced by the installation of passive fire protection products.

ASTROflame provides a wide range of products to protect the weak points of a building which would otherwise allow the free and uncontrolled passage of fire, smoke and fumes.

We offer a comprehensive range of intumescent passive fire stopping products for use in walls, floors, ceilings, doors, ducts and other fire rated compartmentation structures.

• Cavity and cladding fire barriers
• Fire-resisting air transfer grilles (ventilation)
• Fire-resisting boards, pillows and blocks for gap sealing
• Fire-resisting ductwork and ductwork seals
• Fire-resisting construction foam and mastics
• Fire door furniture & hardware
• Glazing channel & tape
• Lighting hoods
• Linear gap seals
• Penetration seals for pipes, cables and other services
• Reaction to fire coatings - steel and timber coatings and decorative paints

Fire testing has been carried out by Warrington Fire Research, Chiltern Fire, BRE, Loss Prevention Council and NHBC Approval amongst others.

Intumescent products are those which expand (intumesce) to several times their original size when activated by high temperatures. This action prevents the spread of flames and smoke from the fire affected area to other parts of a building. Fire door seals, pipe collars and clamps are generally of this type.

Intumescent products have to be independently fire tested and certified to national or international standards to ensure that they will operate as claimed in the event of a fire - for example retain their integrity for 30 minutes.

Fire rated products are flame resistant or fire retardant but not intumescent. These are suitable for general construction purposes and may be preferable to products which have no fire rating of any kind - for example Fire Rated Construction Foam.

Non Rated Products are non-combustible items, such as metal letterplates and louvre covers, not rated for fire resistance but designed to be used in conjunction with products which are, such as intumescent letterbox liners or fire grilles.

> Fire Door Protection

Where Building Regulations dictate that fire doors are required for the safety of the occupants of a building they also stipulate the degree of fire resistance they should provide.

Astroflame produces or sources a number of seals, including 'intumescent' seals, that can be used in conjunction with a fire door to meet these various levels.

Check with your local regulatory authorities to see which regulations or standards apply for a particular passive fire prevention application. The exact type of seal to be fitted also depends upon the type of door and the conditions being guarded against.

Intumescent fire seals are designed to expand when subjected to heat. Fire seals are usually fitted into timber door frames and are designed for use primarily with fire rated doors.

Smoke seals are designed to contain first the fumes and then the fire itself should it reach the seal. They can be a combination of mechanical and compression seals using brush, blade or bubble form factors. They also have a draft excluder and noise reduction effect.

Cold smoke is smoke that has cooled to ambient temperature after drifting from a fire. Should the temperature rise high enough the intumescent material activates and takes over the fire door sealing role. Many of the door frame seals we supply will contain cold smoke and can be used to upgrade existing doors.

Hot smoke seals are designed to withstand greater temperatures (200 degrees° Celsius) than cold smoke seals and may be specified where it is imperative the smoke seal does not leak (for example toxic fumes) before the intumescent material has reached full activation temperature.

> Selecting Fire Protection Products

• Is the product independently certified to the relevant standard(s) ?
• Does the product have Certifire Approval ?
• Does the product have Building Control Approval ?
• Does the product have NHBC Type Approval.
• Are fire test certificates available ?
• Will an intumescent door seal fill a 3mm gap when it activates (BS476 Part 22) ?
• Could the activated seal overpressurise a fire door, obstructing Emergency Services ?
• Does product's design enable easy but robust installation - products have to be installed correctly to perform correctly.
• How much wear and tear will the seal have to take ?
• Decor - can the seal's finish match existing decor ?
• Maintenance requirements and estimated lifetime of seal.

> Fire Seal Standards

The Building Regulations or Building Codes of different countries specify the standards fire and smoke seals are required to achieve the most common being.

UK - British building Regulations Approved Document B.

BSI Standards: BS 476 pt. 20, BS 476 pt. 12, BS 476 pt. 22, BS 476 Sect. 31.1, BS 8214, BS 5588

International - ISO DIS 12472, ISO CD 5925-1 and others.

USA - Building Code and the Residential Code IBC 2000

Standards: NFPA 101, NFPA 105, UBC 7-2, UL 110113, UL 10C, UL 1784

Australia - Building Code BCA Sec. A2.3, D1.12, C3.10, C3.4, G5, El. 8, E2.2, E3.6, P2.3.4

AS 1530.4, ASINZS 1905.1, AS 1851.7, AS/NZS 1530.7, AS 1851.6, AS 3959 and others.

> RAVEN Seals

We now stock seals from RAVEN Products, an Australian manufacturer of many types of top quality perimeter seal including some designed for passive fire protection and smoke sealing applications.

Smoke seals are tested in accordance with BS476 Pt 31.1 and are required to meet the smoke 'leakage' requirement of BS5588 Pts 1, 2 & 3.This involves measuring air leakage through a door at various pressure differentials. One criterion laid down for acceptability in the Building Regulations is 3 cubic meters per linear meter per hour, at a pressure difference of 25 pascals. Tested Raven Smoke seals easily meet this criterion.

Seals intended for use with fire resistant door assemblies and medium temperature "smoke doors" are tested in accordance with BS 476 Pt 22. Many Raven smoke systems have been tested to AS/NZS 1530.7 & ISO CD 5925-1.

The tradename RAVEN^™ and its registered trademarks remain the property of Raven Products Pty Ltd Australia and are reproduced on this site by permission of Raven Products Pty Ltd

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