FIRE DUCT SYSTEMS
Smoke kills more people in a fire than heat, flames or structural collapse each year. Often, smoke disables so quickly by reducing oxygen level or replacing it with other toxic gases causing respiratory danger to its victim, either by suffocation or damaging the respiratory tract (National Fire Protection Association, 2019). Exposed to the smoke that kills, it is difficult for people to reach the exit on time and they are usually overcome by the rapid spread of smoke.
The fire protection industry operates in a strictly regulated environment with special standards, qualifications and demonstrated competence for work. There is a need to balance active fire protection and passive fire protection systems.
Duct fire protection systems are part of passive fire protection systems. The fire duct system is designed to transmit smoke, hot gases and flame from area to area and to supply combustion air to the fire area. For that purpose and reason, it is essential to provide fire protection to the duct system to ensure safety and security of the building and property. The standard set by the fire service aims to prescribe minimum requirements intended to:
- Limit the spread of smoke through the duct system inside or outside the building.
- Limit fire through duct systems in the building.
- Allow the air duct system in the building to be used for additional purposes, ie. emergency smoke control.
- Duct ventilation system intended exclusively for smoke evacuation, which aims to preserve its integrity and cross-sectional area within the fire area in order to enable maximum quality smoke extraction during a fire.
The ducts are used for smoke removal and must meet two requirements according to the standard by which they can resist the predicted smoke temperature and meet the fire resistance requirements if the ducts pass through a fire barrier. Fire ducts are needed to prevent fire, inside or outside the duct, from reaching another compartment and prevent fire from penetrating the duct. By using only a 1.2 mm thick base duct, the ducts become potentially more dangerous.
When there are no air spaces behind them, the danger is especially great in the case of ventilation ducts, because the lateral spread of flames causes the main fire to spread by radiating through the ducts into a potential compartment. Therefore, for safety reasons, it is necessary that the ducts are fire resistant inside and out.
Compliance with safety
As an important component or system that ensures safety in the smoke control system, the design of fire duct systems must be tested by an accredited laboratory according to the required standards, and must be certified by the local competent service. Smoke control is determined by the Law. Where used for fire and smoke control, ducts shall be tested in accordance with A.S. 1530.4 and BS 476: Part 24 or its equivalent for external exposure to fire (duct A) and internal exposure to fire (duct B). Test criteria include structural adequacy, integrity and isolation.
Eko-dim & AT&TC Propokan Pro Group fire protection system
Our system offers consultants, designers and contractors an effective way to protect the smoke exhaust and ventilation ducts. Provides fire resistance of 120 minutes with the use of locally produced galvanized ducts (rectangular and circular cross-section) protected by a fire-retardant coating. The system was tested in the ILAC and MRA accredited laboratory FIRES in accordance with international standards EN 1366-1, EN 1366-9 and EN 13501-4, and the application on the territory of Serbia was approved by the competent Ministry.
APPLICATION:
- Smoke and heat extraction systems
- Kitchen systems for smoke and fumes extraction
- Pressure equalization systems
- Ventilation systems
PROPOKAN EKODIM protection with expanding coatings offers numerous advantages over other fire protection systems, and it’s especially important that it is an environmentally friendly system based on materials that do not pollute but protect the HCFC environment. The application of this fire protection system provides protection of the load-bearing duct carriers, and this was not achieved with any other protection systems. When a fire occurs, the most important thing is that the ducts maintain their INTEGRITY and STABILITY in order to allow the smooth flow of smoke, and thus justify their function.
Fire-retardant, expanding coatings are water-soluble, their application is quick and safe for people and the environment, and the protection results are extremely effective. Unlike other fire protection systems, this system achieves more effective results in a much shorter time.
The Ekodim Propokan protection system guarantees 120 minutes of protection in case of a fire. It saves space without overloading the construction of the duct, as with other systems. It can visually fit into any ambience, because it is possible to apply paint in the desired shade RAL over it. This protection system saves work time, which is 60-70% shorter than other protection systems. Finally, an equally important item is the price of this protection system, which is lower than other fire protection systems.