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 | | TENMAT'S NEW SLEEVE STOPS THE SPREAD OF SMOKE AND FIRE THROUGH CEILING FANS AND VENTS | | | Tenmat Ltd | | 27/06/2007 | | | As we all may know, virtually all ceiling mounted recessed downlights need to be fire rated or fire protected to prevent the rapid spread of fire via a floor cavity, but there are much bigger fire hazards lurking within our ceilings which have been largely ignored in the past, these are ceiling mounted fans and ventilation ducts.
As most ceiling mounted fans and vents are made from polymeric materials they disappear within seconds in a British Standard fire test, leaving a gapping hole in the ceiling structure through which the fire can spread.
As the size of a hole for a fan or vent is much bigger than that of a downlight, then the area left open to the fire when the fan or vent melts is many times bigger in area than that of a downlight, in addition a fan or vent does not even have a steel "can" which many downlights do to slow the progress of the fire.
To make matters many times worse, a ventilation system allows both fire and smoke to move rapidly around a building, as unlike downlights which terminate in the ceiling, ventilation systems go somewhere and are designed to move air around a building, smoke and fire will follow exactly the same path if not prevented from doing so.
The increasing popularity of loft located, centralised ventilation and heat recovery units require ventilation ducting to pass both vertically as well as horizontally through the building structure creating smoke and fire paths to every part of a building.
Legislation is already in place to ensure that all penetrations through all fire rated membranes needs to be protected as outlined in Building Regulations Approved Document B, why is it not done? The answer is simple in that it is very difficult to effectively fire stop a ventilation system as any "box type constructions" would still have an exit hole for the exhaust, therefore a different approach is required.
Tenmat Ltd have developed an intumescent sleeve solution for all popular ceiling fans and vent ducts, it is a simple sleeve which fits around the fan or vent spigot and is then pushed into the ceiling. When a fire hits the ceiling the sleeve expands and seals the hole in the ceiling, the sleeves have been tested in both 30 minute and 60 minute ceiling constructions to BS 476 part 21 and has achieved in excess of the ceilings standard design fire protection.
The Tenmat ceiling fan and vent sleeve will be distributed via electrical wholesalers as well as standard ventilation distributors.
A full range of Fire protection products for ventilation ductwork is also available. | |
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