Fire & Safety
the floor to fit the furnace (4.5m x 3.5 m approx.) whilst following the material manufacturer’s construction guidelines for the fire rating required. The joists, floor board and plasterboard are assembled, with the apertures then cut and the downlights fitted. The downlights have to be spaced at recommended distances to give an account of real-life installations in a worst-case scenario. Once constructed, weights are added to the floor to simulate the weight
of furniture, etc. The floor is lifted into place on the furnace, with the heat thermocouples added to the required elements. The furnace is heated by gas burners, to over 1000⁰C and the furnace temperature is regulated and monitored during the testing. The temperate during the test can exceed 1,000⁰C.
Meeting the standards If more than one layer of plasterboard is fitted (e.g. the 90-minute fire test), the first layer can fall without being deemed a failure. The main contribution to an early failure is a hot joint on the floorboards. This is mainly due to vapours and heat build-up within the floor void exceeding 300⁰C where ignition is only required. The test can stop in the event of earlier failure - whether the required time has elapsed or until the floor construction collapses. At Scolmore we design our products to withstand
the rigorous testing that is necessary to meet the requirements of the BS standards governing their safety, and wholesalers should be using this information when advising their customers on the right products for the project they have in mind. With a Scolmore fire rated downlight they have the assurance that this is a quality product that has undergone all the
required and
Downlights and fire testing Our testing is carried out to strict BS standards and there are a number of building regulations that cover the testing of downlights: BS 476: Part 21: 1987 – Fire tests on building materials and structures. Methods for determination of the fire resistance of loadbearing elements of construction BS EN 1365-2: 2014 – Fire resistance tests for loadbearing elements. Floors and roofs BS EN 1363-1: 2012 – Fire resistance tests.
General requirements All our fire tests are carried out by independent testing specialists BRE (Building Research Establishment). BRE Global is a UKAS accredited testing laboratory. They can comprehensively test, predict and assess the fire performance of products and materials to British, European, Marine and International fire-test standards. BRE Global operates one of the largest fire research and testing laboratories in Europe.
Their facilities include a state-of-the-art Burn Hall (one of the largest in Europe) capable of staging 10 MW (9m x 9m hood) calorimeter fire tests, and a large custom-built facility for fire resistance tests of floors, walls, beams and columns. BRE tests our fire-rated downlights under real world conditions. This starts with the construction of
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rigorous testing and is a reliable and safe product
to use. Some manufacturers will
state that their products have a 90 minute fire rating. However, that doesn’t always mean that they will meet the requirement for 30 or 60 minute ratings. Each rating has its own test, so they should have passed all three tests to ensure the full rating requirement. Scolmore has produced a CPD training module –
‘Downlights and testing for fire rating’, and this is available for delivery on request.
scolmore.com At Scolmore we design our
products to withstand the rigorous testing that is necessary to meet the requirements of the BS standards governing their safety, and
wholesalers should be using this information when advising their customers.
April 2019 electrical wholesaler | 25
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