They may seem like any other ordinary doors in a school, hospital, office complex, or other business, but fire doors are an extremely important device to stop fires from spreading. These doors also prevent smoke from quickly filling up and spreading throughout an entire facility. They preserve a business’ inventory from being damaged or destroyed. And most importantly of all, they can help save people’s lives.
How Fire Doors Work
Fire doors typically are used to section off portions of a large building. You will often see two doors side by side in a wide hallway. Normally these doors are held open electronically with electromagnets. Should the fire alarm go off, power to those electromagnets also is cut off, and then the fire doors will close themselves automatically. Once they are closed, fire doors block the fire and smoke.
How These Doors Are Constructed
Fire doors are made using a combination of many different materials, including:
- Timber
- Steel and Aluminum
- Fiberglass and glass that has been specifically fire rated
- Seals designed to withstand smoke and fire
- Gaskets and weather stripping
- Metal hardware such as the door’s hinges and handles
Fire Door Ratings
These doors are required to be capable of withstanding the extreme temperatures present during a fire. During testing, a sample door is exposed to temperatures nearing 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The door is rated according to how long it can withstand the high temperatures, and fire doors may be given ratings of 20, 24, 60, 90, or 180 minutes. Depending on their rating, some fire doors are also tested to determine how well they can block smoke from taking over a hallway.
Temperature Rise Fire Doors
Some fire doors, such as those in stairwells, are classified as temperature rise doors. These doors are also tested to see how well they can prevent heat from being transferred from one side of the room to the other side. During testing, temperature ratings are taken from the side of the door that is not on fire, and that testing measures how hot that side of the door becomes during a 30-minute time period. The temperature rise doors are rated in degrees Fahrenheit: 250, 450, or 650. The best rating is 250 degrees Fahrenheit as that is the designation of a door that permits the lowest degree of heat from reaching the opposite side of the door.
Contact Us
When you need to have a fire door installed, contact the professionals at American Door, LLC.