Tuesday 19 August 2014

What You Need to Know about Fire Collars and Pipe Sleeves



Whether you are constructing a new single family home, a multi-family block of units or a commercial structure, you have got to be concerned about fire safety.  Structure fires are relatively uncommon in the UK, but that is due to strict legislation and diligent fire safety audits rather than a simple lack of fires.  And, that means that any builder, developer or landowner needs to understand and comply with the current regulations.  It is simply necessary when it comes to the health and safety of human life.

Fire Safety Legislation

Buildings in the UK are regulated by an ever updated list of building codes.  Each area of the build is covered with a separate code which is assigned a letter.  Fire safety laws fall under Part B of the building code legislation.  This relates to both the safe evacuation of people from a building in the event of fire and the containment of fire into individual compartments.  This not only enables evacuation but also allows the fire brigade to extinguish is as quickly as possible. 

Part B of the UK building codes is necessarily strict.  It dictates both the materials that can and should be used and the tests that must be passed before a building can be certified.  Without the certification from a fire safety inspector, a public building can be closed without notice and owners may even be liable for fines.  Because it is such a tightly regulated area of construction, fire protection and insulation is not usually a job for DIY teams.  Of course, that’s not to say that it isn’t possible, especially given the latest fire protection products, but as certification is required, it is always best to consult the professionals rather than having to redo the job. 

Insulating Walls and Floors

Insulation deals with the containment side of Part B in the building regulations.  And, in principle, insulating individual compartments within a building is relatively easy.  Solid insulation applied to walls and floors maintains a high level of fire and smoke stopping properties.  And, this is even easier when it applies to brick or concrete structures, as opposed to timber framework.  With technological advances in materials and fire safety in general, it is relatively easy to create a firewall that can withstand extreme temperatures without crumbling under pressure.  However, not all walls and floors are solid.  There are plenty of gaps and holes that construction teams and fire safety specialists must cover adequately to provide the type of protection that saves lives. 

Typically, the cavities created through walls and floors are filled by pipework that channel water, gas and electricity through a building – and connecting one building to others nearby.  While this ensures efficient service delivery to residents and businesses, it can also compromise the level of fire protection in these areas.  As a result, additional fire safety measures must be undertaken wherever compartments are joined to one another.  This means insulating pipes in such a way that, should a fire break out, fire and smoke cannot travel to another compartment via these pipes. 

Without this step, containment becomes compromised, rendering the entire building unsafe.  And, although pipes can be re-routed, fire safety products now make it easy to install high levels of protection without spending a fortune. 

Working with Pipe Collars

For many years, builders worked around the problem of compromised fire safety through the use of pipe collars.  These are attachments that must be fitted over individual pipes, or a collection of pipes fit through a single larger pipes.  Because fire can strike in any compartment, at any time, collars were required on both sides of the wall or floor.  The main (and indeed only) exception to this are pipes that travel through the bottom layer of solid concrete which has been poured directly over the ground.  In this instance, pipe collars are only required on the above ground side. 

When a building employees pipe collar, they are protected in the event of a fire breaking out in a compartment or group of compartments.  Once triggered by heat or flame, pipe collars expand, forcing a closure in the pipe and effectively blocking the spread of fire (provided the wall or floor has been adequately treated.  But, while pipe collars were the prime choice in fire safety for many years, new technology has rendered this item superfluous. 

The New Ultra Universal Pipe Sleeve

Where pipe collars previously needed to be applied on both sides of the wall, often requiring the cut back of other insulation, a new product which can be applied during building has made this task easier – and more cost effective.  Ultra Universal Pipe Sleeve is a superior product that offers protection to plastic and metal pipes up to 168mm in diameter.  And, it does not require the cut back of other insulation.

Ultra Universal Pipe Sleeve is sold in sheets that are made to be easy to tear. Builders must simply tear a piece that covers the complete diameter of the pipe, and that is at least as long as the aperture through the wall.  This is then wrapped over a pipe.  Overhang in a wrap is fine as long as it still fits through the wall.  However, even 1mm too short could create problems.  Insulation is held in place with special tape and then fitted through a fireproofed wall (or floor).  As long as the pipe sleeve covers enough of the pipe on both sides of the wall to apply a sealant, the job is very nearly done.  All that remains is to use a fire sealant.

In the event of a fire, Ultra Universal Pipe Sleeves will expand up to 30 times its standard thickness to force the closure of the pipe.  This process creates a solid char rendering it rather impossible for fire to pass through a protected wall.  With the containment side of the Part B building regulations adhered to, builders can move on to the other part of the equation – evacuation.  Fortunately, that too is becoming easier as more knowledge is gained, and fires take longer to spread (if they can do so at all). 

For more information about Universal Pipe Sleeves then please visit the SIG Technical Insulation website -
http://www.siginsulation.co.uk/show_prod.asp?ProdID=3046&CatID=22&SubCatID=43

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