Fire doors – extensively tested for emergency situations

Why was the IG-Sicherheit community of interest created?
IG-Sicherheit was founded in 2004 by five Swiss companies, all active in the field of wood processing. The members are the door and veneer workshop Baumann + Eggimann AG, interior design company Märki AG, Schreinerei Meier AG, door manufacturer Pius Schuler AG and my own carpentry and joinery business, Bleisch AG. The initiator was Pius Schuler, who drove forward our shared desire to be able to carry out fire protection tests ourselves as companies and also offer them to customers. We also wanted to produce our own fire doors. Our basic goal was to become independent of the market and thereby optimise the value chain in the manufacture of standard-compliant fire doors.

Which procedures must be followed during preparation?
We now carry out the fire tests ourselves together with the fire protection experts from Glas Trösch in Buochs in the canton of Nidwalden, because they run an independent certified test bench. The first step is to clarify with SIBIZ (Swiss Institute for Testing, Inspection, Certification) which element is to be tested. For this, we send the test specimen description and all plans for the test setup. The exact objectives of a test are defined by us. SIBIZ checks everything and determines what must be installed for the relevant test. They often specify very demanding products, such as multi-point locks or locking systems.

How is the actual fire protection test carried out?
First, everything is set up, which can take up to a week. The times required for the doors to acclimatise must also be taken into account. Once the doors are in place, they are exposed to fire from three burners from a furnace on the left and right. Temperatures of up to 940 degrees Celsius can occur here. Both the hinge side and the non-hinge side are tested, as they react differently. After the fire exposure, we stop the furnace and move the door away from the furnace to see the hinge side. The door is also sprayed down to stop the smouldering fire. Depending on the predefined objectives, the individual elements are tested first on some doors, followed by a test in combination with other elements.

What are the important factors in the fire protection test?
It is important to see how long the doors with their different components can withstand a fire. We divide the doors into different types. Type A must withstand 30 minutes, type B 36 minutes. The longest fire we had lasted 46 minutes. After passing this type B test, the width or height of the relevant door element may even be increased by 15 percent and, if desired, the entire surface of the door by 20 percent.

What are the biggest challenges in the tests?
Each test is different and each door behaves differently. There are also always weak points that make the test process more difficult. An example: Once, a test fell short of the required time by 10 seconds due to the installed glass. In the repeat test, the time was even 10 minutes short of the requirements. The test was not successful until the third attempt.

Who is involved during the test?
The test is carried out by members of IG-Sicherheit and SIBIZ, a test manager, Glas Trösch for controlling the furnace and the fitting suppliers who observe how the products react. In some cases, an architect and carpenter are also on site, but no more than ten people should be present in total.

And what happens after the fire test?
Once the fire test has been carried out, everyone involved discusses the weak points on the relevant door and what needs to be improved. SIBIZ prepares a test report, which we submit from IG-Sicherheit to VKF (Association of Cantonal Fire Insurance Companies). VKF checks the test report and, if everything is OK, assigns a certificate number that can be affixed to the tested fire element. We carry out three to four fire protection tests a year in total as IG-Sicherheit, as these are usually very complex and costly. We have already carried out 60 tests since IG-Sicherheit was founded and collected lots of empirical data. With our fire protection tests, we ensure that the doors are continuously improved and that both people and objects are protected as effectively as possible in the event of an emergency.