Fire doors are passive fire protection elements that, thanks to their materials, prevent the fire from spreading rapidly through a compartment. In addition, fire doors offer quick evacuation for people inside the fire area. On the other hand, they resist high temperatures for a long time.
There are different fire door manufacturer on the market. They are best known are the metal swing doors. These must be of sufficient quality to withstand high temperatures without overheating, stall to fumes and gases. It helps to maintain your integrity and meet both requirements for a long time.
How do fire doors work?
The most common model of fire doors is operated by a non-friendly bar that is activated by pressing it and opening the door. However, there are also doors with knobs and key-operated locks.
Regarding this, it is important to know how to choose the model that best suits the space and needs of the building, always thinking about the safety of the people who are inside it and the easiest way to operate them to avoid crowds and possible consequences derived from these.
Today, fire doors already work with modern opening systems and automation that guarantee easy handling and safe and reliable service. Its automatic closure in the event of a possible fire will be functional even in a power cut in the building.
The importance of checking the watertight joints from time to time and the closing points of the installed doors are highlighted. It encourages monitoring of the glass so that any cracks can be detected in advance.
Likewise, the useful life cycle of fire doors at 20 years. Given the deterioration of the insulating materials containing these elements, maintenance must be continuous to guarantee maximum protection. These constant checks allow to verify through tests the fire doors’ operability and replace those elements that show signs of damage or corrosion.
The most common fire doors are the shaft doors, generally designed for the sectorization of large openings. Thus, its operation can be manual, automatic, or semi-automatic. Although, the most relevant thing is that when installing it, this process is developed by professionals who guarantee that gases will be prevented from passing from one room to another. The secret is a high-quality counterweight seal.
Types of fire doors
We can find two fundamental types of fire doors:
- Sheet one: It is the most common and made of two steel sheets filled with rock wool. This prevents high temperatures from passing from one sheet to another. This is what truly achieves high fire resistance.
- The guide door: this type of door is made of galvanized material and its installation will depend on the hole to be covered. Its resistance to fire is also very high.
Fire door maintenance
As important or more than selecting a quality fire door and adjusting to the type of space in which it will be installed, it is the constant review of its condition. For this reason, expert technical personnel must supervise that this passive protection element maintains its properties, without dents, with adequate anchorage to the hinges and checking that the wall of the clamping environment does not present any cracks.
Similarly, units such as anchor points, handles, intumescent gaskets or anti-panic elements must be thoroughly inspected. One point to take into account when examining the fire door is its ability to close itself without complications and with the appropriate speed. In addition, as an evacuation element, the door must be a safe evacuation channel, which must always be kept free of obstacles and elements that hinder the flow of the passage.
