FIRESTOP SLIDE SHOW PAGE 8 OF 10

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History of Firestops in North America

Warnock Hersey Experience

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Firestop Products and Equipment

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Intumescent Products

Endothermic Products

Insulation Products

Caulking & Paint Firestops

Firestop Pillows

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Firestop Slide Show 1 of 10 Basics

Firestop Slide Show 2 of 10 Code

Firestop Slide Show 3 of 10 No Seal

Firestop Slide Show 4 of 10 Deemed-to-comply

Firestop Slide Show 5 of 10 Misinstalled

Firestop Slide Show 6 of 10 Re-entered

Firestop Slide Show 7 of 10 Faulty Spec.

Firestop Slide Show 8 of 10 Proper Firestops

Firestop Slide Show 9 of 10 Test

Firestop Slide Show 10 of 10 Smoke and Trays

Sample Firestop Listing

Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning; Boiling-Hot Pressure Washing

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Real firestops, bounded by ACTIVE certification listings, preferably by ULI and ULC, by a reputable firestop manufacturer, installed by speciality firestop contractors, using trained installers:

 Intumescent Sealant - small electrical penetrations

Intumescent Sealant used in small canned cable penetrations typically found about the perimeter of MCC rooms in large power distribution systems. 3M FireDam Spray in Head of Wall Joint

Really nifty new firestop system: Stuff in rockwool, spray on the water based sealant. Tested for operational motion too! Also check out generic drawings and issues in bldgjoints 1, bldgjoints2 and bldgjoints3.

 3M Fire Barrier Mortar @ Domtar Pulp + Paper Mill, Espanola, ON, Canada, installed by Achim Hering

Firestop mortar - the only one on the planet with 2 hour T ratings on bus duct! Certified repair procedures. Easy to re-enter and re-seal.

 Rockwool Insulated Pipe Penetrations, Rockwool Packing with Self-Levelling Silicone Firestop Sealant on Top.

Firestop around rockwool insulated copper tubes. 

A few words about sleeves and pipe covering and firestopping:

About sleeves in general: 

While some manufacturers possess a great deal of listings involving sleeves of assorted descriptions, my personal leaning, from years of personal fire testing and product development experience, is towards unsleeved openings. Knock-out plastic sleeves are my preference. My reasons for this are purely physics-based, provided that the sleeve is not needed for the structural integrity of the wall or floor assembly, or for extra water protection, such as raised sleeving in service rooms. Due to the greater density of metal sleeves, compared to concrete or lighter assemblies, sleeves become a thermal bridge, conducting unnecessary heat through to the unexposed side. Also, as you may be aware from reviewing UL or ULC listings, the thinner the pipe, the faster the heat travels through to the other side. That's why it is more difficult, for the tester or firestop developer, to obtain T ratings (ability to stay below delta 140°C on the penetrant, 25mm from the firestop face and on the firestop, 25mm from on light piping, as opposed to heavier piping. For sleeves specifically, the metal - particularly at the bonding interface of the firestop - has to be cleaned of cutting oil, as well as inorganic matter. Due to the greater density of metal versus concrete, sleeves are more difficult for many products to bond to. Concrete is more porous and will more readily accept water based bonding systems, which seep into the concrete. Also, organic sealants (such as silicone and latex based caulking) are more likely to stay attached to concrete than metal, when the heat is on. Metal, even on the unexposed side of the assembly, is more likely to exceed the operating temperature of the sealant, than concrete. In summary: unsleeved penetrations, where the firestops are bonding to the concrete or blockwork, are a safer bet in terms of fire protection. You are more likely to maintain a smoke seal and fire seal longer with unsleeved penetrations, than with metal sleeved penetrations. Sleeving in drywall, of course, is a recipe for trouble. The treatment of the outside of the sleeve is an invitation for code violations, courtesy of the drywaller. Stud boxed openings work well here or simply smooth, round cuts after the fact. The listings must be kept in mind here. BOUNDING is the key to code compliance.

About terminating pipe covering at the firestop:

Insulated hot piping: Some insist that the insulation is terminated at the point of penetration. This is usually a a precautionary measure, in favour of simpler firestopping. While this makes my job easier on the jobsite, as a firestopper, it may be a long-term problem for the Consultant and/or the manufacturer. Depending on the heat and the heat-cycling of the penetrant, this may seriously shorten the life-span of some firestops.

As a member of the ULC Task Group 21, I have tried to enter the criteria of penetrant heat cycling into ULC-S115 fire testing, but so far, no manufacturers are prepared to go for this, as the added testing costs money and such details are simply swept under the purposely procured rug of passive fire protection. But the fact is that some firestops will have no difficulty being in contact with your hot water piping, whereas others will. There is no way to tell without standardised testing, which many seek to avoid in order to save money. And, unfortunately, there is no test standard in place to determine how well firestops will do and for how long, against this criteria. Some may shrivel and crumble, whereas others may do really well. You won't know until the fire comes because on site, the culprit detail is hidden from view by pipe covering and the damage will occur after commissioning. Therefore, in case of a fire, and a failure, and the subsequent investigation, some fingers would probably point in the Consultant's direction as the responsible party. There is an easier way out. 3M, for one of several examples, has oodles of firestop listings, which permit assorted pipe coverings to go right through the firestop. That way, the firestop is shielded and the insulation works better.

Type of pipe covering - Important

Now, if you want to make life particularly easy for everyone (especially yourselves), and add safety to this project, simply specify rockwool pipe covering as much as you can. Rockwool actually does better in fire and hose stream testing than everything else. Calcium Silicate crumbles more and is totally gone up to 1" deep into the firestop after the test though it does pass. Fibreglass can totally disappear and in some cases requires expensive intumescent wrap strips to surround the pipe covering to expand where the melted and crumbled fibreglass has disappeared. There are listings, where the fibreglass pipe covering can penetrate the seal without intumescent wrap strips but this is not a general rule. I have seen fibreglass pipe covering both pass and fail in tests. On a construction site, you don't have the advantage of the product developer's installation. Better be safe than sorry - stick to rockwool. Foamed organic coverings for refrigeration piping: They all require intumescent wrap strips - more cost. Better to use rockwool with an external vapour barrier. Organic foams, other than the black foamed rubber type: SKULL and CROSSBONES - keep away from your buildings at all cost. This stuff can spontaneously ignite even at a fair distance from the unexposed side. The only safe refrigeration insulation, other than rockwool, is foamglas. You can burn that till the cows come home and there are plenty of listings with it. Just make sure your installed configurations are bounded by the certification listing - like with all firestops. From my unique perspective (I know you engineers have more criteria than I do, but here is my point of view for what it's worth...), if I were the consultant, I would stick to Roxul (Milton, ON) or Fibrex (Sarnia, ON) pipe covering. Rockwool pipe covering is made in Ontario, competitively priced and readily available. I have used both in fire testing and with various jacketing materials (plastic, aluminum, stainless, canvas & mud - all did well) and even unjacketed and NEVER had a failure. In fact, I always had high T ratings and no smoke emissions. If rockwool fits the bill for the other criteria you seek, as an architect or engineer, you make the whole job safer and lowering your personal liability exposure by sticking to this. Fibrex and Roxul compete fiercely with one another. I don't believe there would be any negative cost impact by going to this safer method.

Chilled or otherwise Cold Piping:

This is where one is more likely to find engineers insisting on running the pipe covering through the fire separation and the firestop, uninterrupted. No sweat - literally. This practice is governed by the desire to have continuous vapour barriers - a valid concern. Stick to listed systems that permit this method and all is well.

 Sequence of Mortar Installation in Tunnel Cross Barrier

The above sequence is a creative measure to provide a cross barrier in a service tunnel - mostly built with firestop mortar. Rockwool and silicone systems were used around the moving pipes.

 3M Plastic Pipe Device in oversized Opening, narrowed with 3M fire Barrier Mortar

Here we see a fix to a mistake. The plumber here had purchased a load of 4" diameter sleeves, which he used on plastic pipes from 2" through 3" diameter. Plastic pipe penetration firestops are usually tested with very tight annuli (clearances about the penetrant). Where the openings were too large, they were filled in with firestop mortar. In some cases, the plastic pipe devices were inverted, such as in the firestop on the very right hand side. Only the blue firestop mortar is immediately visible, whereas the PPDs are fixed to the underside of the slab on the bigger plastic pipes. There is also a metal pipe penetration, left of the plastic pipe penetration furthest to the right. What you see on the bottom is rockwool. A 5" topping of firestop mortar sits on top of this. All of these applications are covered by testing and certifications.

 Marine (Pourable) firestop: DIH Kaltvergußmasse; BC Superferries

Here we have a $500.00 per ft² (material only!) firestop on board a ferry. Marine firestops are pricey.

 Mortar Firestop in Germany, c/w intumescent cable coating for improved T ratings

Double, triple and quadruple protection. This used to be common practice in Europe. Suspenders for the belt! A firestop mortar, about 8" thick, plus intumescent cable coating up to 1m on both sides of the opening. A great way to get T ratings. Cable coating is a separate animal though. It lowers the potential flame spread along the cable jacketing. Here is an example of cable coating:

 

 Vimasco Type 3i intumescent cable coating @ US steel mill. 15 year actual life back-up, weather resistant and highly flexible.

FIRESTOP SLIDE SHOW PAGE 8 OF 10

Next

(ULC fire test)

Back

(effects of unco-ordinated specs)

Firestop Page

Main Page

Glossary

Comments

Main Site

Firestop Site

Code Evaluations AVAILABLE!

Glossary of Fire Protection Terms

3M Fire Barriers

Vectorising Drawings and Maps; Paper to CAD

Circuit Integrity Fireproofing

Bounding

Code Req's for Firestops

Essay on Performance Based Codes

Master Spec. Section 07840 Firestopping

Related Sections to 07840

Penetration Seal Drawings

Building Joint Drawings 1

Building Joint Drawings 2

Building Joint Drawings 3

History of Firestops in North America

Warnock Hersey Experience

Firestop Trade Jurisdiction

Achim Hering Bio

Man Made Mineral Fibres

Fire Protection Industry Links

Firestop Products and Equipment

Firestop Mortar

Firestop Silicone Foam

Intumescent Products

Endothermic Products

Insulation Products

Caulking & Paint Firestops

Firestop Pillows

Firestop Devices

Firestop Slide Show 1 of 10 Basics

Firestop Slide Show 2 of 10 Code

Firestop Slide Show 3 of 10 No Seal

Firestop Slide Show 4 of 10 Deemed-to-comply

Firestop Slide Show 5 of 10 Misinstalled

Firestop Slide Show 6 of 10 Re-entered

Firestop Slide Show 7 of 10 Faulty Spec.

Firestop Slide Show 8 of 10 Proper Firestops

Firestop Slide Show 9 of 10 Test

Firestop Slide Show 10 of 10 Smoke and Trays

Sample Firestop Listing

Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning; Boiling-Hot Pressure Washing

ULC           UL

T O S

(Theory of Survival)

DIBt

TU Braunschweig iBMB

CONTACT