What Is The Fire Rated Door?
05 Nisan 2022
First of all, if we think about fire and its possible effects, humanity has experienced the effects of fire since its existence and has been instinctively programmed to be afraid. Although the moment we learn to control fire is one of the turning points of modern humanity, danger continues to exist with us for millions of years. With today's technological possibilities, this danger has been minimized, however not completely resolved. The most basic problem here is that the oxygen molecules in the atmosphere are always ready to the combustion reaction with other molecules. The most important question here is: “How can we be protected from fire?”.
This question can be answered from two different perspectives:
- Fire fighting with active fire protection way.
- Fire fighting with passive fire protection way.
In the last century, we have made many breakthroughs in both conservation methods with modern architecture and the level of cultural, economic and social awareness. In addition, we standardized all our breakthroughs and put the rules and methods in writing. Although the scope of fire protection is defined within the framework of different rules in different countries, basically a similar understanding has been adopted.
Basic expectation a fire resistant door is that it block flame and flammable gases at passage area. However, expectation is not limited to this. For this reason, fire resistant doors must be provide to the same rules in CEN countries and show fire resistance character.
We consider the subject academically, fire doors are tested in CEN countries according to the EN 1634 standard and classified according to the EN 13501 standard. Description of the classification rules, a fire door marked combining letters such as “E; I; W” and numbers that are expressing time such as “30; 60; 90; 120”. The letters can define as:
- E – Integrity: Prevents flame and flammable gases
- I – Insulation: Provides heat insulation
- W – Radiation: Prevents heat dissipation
A fire door classified as “EW30” is defined as a door that does not allow flame and flammable gases at passage area for 30 minutes and does not emit heat from the surface by radiation.
In order for a door to be called a fire resistant door in European standards, the basic rule is that it must meet the "E - Integrity" criterion and prevent the passage of flame and flammable gases for at least 15 minutes. Requesting other criteria may apply in some cases.
In addition to all rules, the fire resistant door has to be subjected to different evaluations within the scope of EN 16034 harmonized standard and/or other ones. If the exterior doors of the buildings that we use frequently in our daily life are fire resistant, they should be classified according to EN 16034 and EN 14351-1 standards and their performance characteristics should be determined. In other words, the fire resistant door cannot be evaluated only according to the EN 16034 standard, it must be defined by one of the other harmonized standards that will add character to it.