A simple household match burns at around 600-800°C. For such a small flame, that's pretty hot. It's a temperature that's also hot enough to threaten the structural integrity of a standard roller shutter door in a fire.
But an ordinary roller shutter isn't designed to withstand fire. Yes, it can provide some additional physical security alongside regular use within a busy working environment. But it can't hold back flames or prevent their spread.
For that, you need a Fire Roller Shutter.
Only roller shutters with 'fire' in their description can be classified as being able to resist fire. They must also be independently lab-tested to meet current Fire Standards. Only then can they be legally certified as having a specific Fire Resistance Level (FRL) rating.
However, this doesn't mean a fire roller shutter is fireproof. It isn't!
In simple terms, a Fire Resistance Level is a rating of time.
Fire roller shutters are designed and constructed to confine a fire to where it starts. To buy time.
Time for the occupants of a building to escape. And time for the emergency services to tackle the blaze before it spreads further.
And it's how long a shutter can resist fire for that defines the rating a fire roller shutter is given.
There are three rating levels: 1, 2 or 4 hours (usually expressed as 60, 120 and 240 minutes). But to obtain this vital information, every fire roller shutter design has to be independently tested in a specialist laboratory.
There are several independent fire testing laboratories carrying out Fire resistance testing at sites across Britain.
These tests ensure that all current UK standards, as well as European and International standards, are met. It's not just roller shutters that are tested. They also carry out fire resistance tests on many other products for all kinds of industries.
To ensure everything is as realistic as possible, all fire testing is designed to replicate the product's intended end-use.
For fire roller shutters this means the whole shutter is built into an appropriate supporting structure – a brick wall surround, for example. This structure is then built into a restraint frame and mounted onto the front of a furnace.
For every fire resistance test (whatever the product), the temperature within the furnace is controlled according to internationally accepted codes. As part of new fire test EN1634-1, fire roller shutters are subjected to temperatures of around 1,000°C.
Although this article is principally about roller shutters, it's worth mentioning that Fire Curtains also have the same FRL ratings – 60, 120 and 240. And like fire roller shutters, they too have to undergo a rigorous process with an independent fire testing laboratory.
However, for fire curtains there are three distinctly different testing categories:
Fire Integrity – Tested up to 1000°C, this determines the curtain's ability to stop the spread of
fire.
Irradiance Performance – This determines how long it takes the heat generated by the fire to transfer to the non-fire side. In particular, how long (in minutes) it takes the heat on the non-fire side to reach 15kW/m2.
Thermal Insulation – This looks at the heat absorbed by the curtain and measures in minutes just how long the non-fire side of the curtain can be touched for by human skin without burning.
How the curtain performed in these three categories can be provided as individual results or as a combination to set the curtain's FRL rating of 60, 120 or 240 minutes.
If your Fire Risk Assessment has specified Fire Roller Shutters and you're based in Essex, London or the South East, please get in touch.
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