SMOCLO - FIRE DOOR SAFETY DEVICE
When is a Fire Door not a Fire Door...when it’s open or ajar and not fully closed within the frame. When this happens, the fire integrity of the room is lost and the whole building becomes a potential danger to those people living within.
The problem.
Most residential type fire doors are designed to self-close using a variety of continuously sprung devices. These cause constant and irritating shutting and slamming, are often unsafe and restrict easy access or egress. Users get frustrated and annoyed with these mechanisms, which although intended to save lives frequently make life difficult.
This is especially true when shopping or children are being carried, trolleys or prams need to get through and most notably, when occupants have a disability, are wheelchair bound, are frail or infirm. As a result, these types of fire doors are habitually sabotaged. Fire extinguishers, waste bins or pot plants are used to hold the door open, wedging the door in the open position or disabling the closer completely also occur. Such actions render the fire door useless in the event of an actual fire, thus greatly increasing the rate and spread of potentially fatal smoke, toxic gasses and fire throughout the building.
Under the revised AD “B” “Fire Safety” of the Building Regulations (Vol 1) there is a greater emphasis on the requirements for mains-operated smoke detection systems for many types of dwelling as well as the use of protected stairways for emergency egress, especially in
properties with floors above 4.5m, such as townhouses.
The requirement for greater use of protected stairways therefore means that fire doors are required.
Smoclo is an easily fitted low energy fire door safety device, which is specifically designed to close a door only in the event of the smoke detector activating.
Performance
Smoclo’s discreet mode of operation completely eliminates the undesirable characteristics of regular closing devices because its closing mechanism only operates on receipt of an electronic alert signal from the smoke detection system. It is almost totally concealed
as it is fully integrated into the head of the doorframe. These factors combine to entirely remove the motive for sabotage, which means the door remains as originally intended – as a fire door.
SmoClo has been tested and passed BS EN 1634 to 30 mins (WFRC 139990) and is therefore suitable for ½ hour fire doors. SmoClo is suitable for door sizes up to 2100 high, door widths from 700 to 900mm and door weights up to and including 50kg.
Because Smoclo effectively replaces the top doorstop only there is no interruption of the intumescent within the door frame and no additional intumescent is required. The gentle but firm closing action reduces the potential for trapped fingers and eliminates the associated problems of constant closing.
Once activated, Smoclo maintains compartmentation until the alarm is deactivated, at which point it reverts to its former swing free function, making it easy to test.
