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Firestop – It does more than stop fires (when its installed right)

Firestop can serve a number of unique features that are not directly related to STOPPING FIRE. A properly firestopped residential property can reduce the noise from a loud neighbor. It can reduce the wandering smells from a bad cook. In hospitals it can reduce nosocomial infections. This is the idea that you go into a hospital with a broken arm and leave with a cast and the worst case of the flu you’ve ever had. It can also save your life, even when there isn’t a fire.

There was a case in Orlando FL where residents were very lucky. They were lucky that one family was smart enough to recognize something was wrong and go to the hospital. The neighbors were lucky that a nurse was alert enough to notify emergency responders to ensure other neighbors were not in danger.

So, what happened?

Construction workers left a generator running and the residents suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. According to NJSHAD around 500 people die every year in the US as a result of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. There was another case where a man decided to commit suicide by leaving his car running in his garage. His garage was attached to his house and his house was attached to the neighbor’s house.   His attempt to end his life also cost the life of his entire family and his neighbors young family.

The same way that a properly constructed and properly firestopped building can reduce the transfer of both sounds and odors, it can also reduce the transmission of deadly gases not only during a fire but also in a case such as these.

So, make sure your firestop is done right, install detectors and check the batteries regularly.

If you have any questions about your property and whether or not the firestop is being installed properly, don’t hesitate to contact us.

How Fire Rated Assemblies Are Tested

It’s a New Year, so I thought I would play around with a new medium. I have pulled up a few old videos from various training segments I’ve recorded in the past 5 years. Here is a brief general discussion about how rated assemblies are tested. There is so much more I want you to know about this, but this is not a bad start and it segues into some of the older blog posts we have shared.

In order to make this information practical, so you can use it in the field, please remember that knowing how assemblies are tested helps you understand how they fail when not properly installed. Think about the hose stream test when you are looking at applications with large annular space, with insufficient annular space or installations with just a smear of sealant. These are both critical to the performance of a firestop installation.  The various hyperlinks will bring you to different segments for further discussion if you are interested in learning more.

Please share this with anyone you think might benefit from this information.

As always, if you have any questions or even topics for future blog posts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.  We are happy to help when we can.

 

UPDATE: Jan 6

I want to give a HUGE shout out to RICK BARONE for making  a correction for me. This video clip was edited from one of the first classes I did when I started teaching again, and as with most things we are new at, there were errors.  I noticed it during editing a few months ago but forgot to comment on it when I posted it.  Rick says it better than I could so I will just include his comments here and say THANK YOU RICK.  I love when people support others to do better.

“You have some inaccuracies in the video…The time temperature curve is controlled by the test facility….If your test specimens furnace isn’t at 1000f at 5 minutes it will be because the lab tech didn’t maintain the time temp curve within the prescribe tolerance. The customer doesn’t fail, the lab must abort the test and rerun..usually at their own cost if they are a credible lab…but a nice start with a new communication vehicle..” Rick Barone 1/5/2017

Fireproof, Firestop and Fireblock (part 2 of 4)

This is the second in a four part series helping explain the difference between Fireproofing, firestopping and fire blocking. As the firestop blogger, of course parts 2 and 3 are on first through penetrations and rated joints. Check out the new blog post here. If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you again. Contact me here.

Firestop Classes in New Jersey

Hi everyone,

I am excited to announce the schedule for Rutgers Fall classes.  There are  heaps of great classes available in this program, but the ones I am teaching are:

Understanding the Requirements of Firestop Special Inspection- 1705.17

Special inspection (SI) of firestop is a requirement in NJ and since there is no licensing process the local jurisdictions (AHJ) are responsible for ensuring that the contracted inspector is actually qualified.  This class goes over the reporting requirements and a few ways to identify if your SI is up for the job.  Participants will even walk away with a few inspection tricks up their sleeve to try out on their next project.  This class is designed to help the AHJ’s keep the hacks out of their jurisdiction. While there are three slides specific to the NJ building codes, most of the information relates to ASTM E2174, ASTM E2393 and ASTM E3038 and the Chapter of the IBC as it relates to special inspection of firestop.

My favorite comment about this class last semester: “That changes everything!”

Classes will be on Friday, Nov 6 in Parsippany NJ & Thursday, Nov 16 in Cape May NJ

Inspecting Grease Duct Wrap-

We have a bit of fun in this class and do a hands on installation of grease duct wrap on an actual duct.  Okay, so its not a “real” grease duct, because I have to schlep it into the class room and screw it together.  It would fail the light test with your back turned. But the installation is real, the installers and inspectors are real, and the other materials are exactly what is used in the field.  We do an inspection and learn how the mock field installation would fail the required lab tests.  This helps the participants be able to take the technical information into the field more effectively.  Then we talk about some more complication installations, what to look for during inspections.  We end with a discussion of the various materials that are found in the field and this semester we hope to have samples of the factory insulated materials so we can add this to the discussion.

My favorite comment about this class last semester: (at our first break about 90 minutes into a 5 hour class) “I only signed up for the class because I needed the credits for my license.  I didn’t think there was really anything for me to learn here.  My class yesterday was great.  I expected to learn a lot, and I did.  I gotta say though, I’ve learned more in this class already, than I did all day yesterday. “

Tuesday, Nov 28 in Evesham NJ & Tursday, Dec 14 in Sayreville NJ

 

If you are interested in joining any of these classes, or having us present the class in your area,  please email us.

Inspecting firestop- Can you see the issue?

 

This is a 1-hour wall that separates an exit corridor from a condo unit. We are looking at it from the unfinished condo side and the firestop has been installed from the corridor side. From the corridor side of the wall, the installation looks good at a glance. The firestop is installed the full circumference around the cables. The cables are rigidly supported as required by the UL listing. The installer used an intumescent material that matches the submitted UL listed detail. When the wall is complete these MC cables will not penetrate the room side of the wall so technically this is a membrane penetration rather than a through penetration, but UL requires the same installation regardless of this fact. Bare in mind, this is changing and UL is requiring that membrane penetrations be tested separately, because they may perform differently than a through penetration. Stay tuned for more on these changes in the coming posts. Can you tell what is wrong with this installation? Better yet, can you explain why it is wrong and more importantly, two other issues. 1) What might the impact be in a fire scenario? 2) How might this improper installation impact the project over time?

 

 

Most UL listed firestop details will require 5/8” depth of sealant. I can tell you that the installer did not achieve even half of that. If you look closely, you too can see this just from looking at the picture. You can see that there are 2 layers of drywall. You can see an ever so faint line at the top of the opening where the papers from both layers of drywall are in contact. That means that the line between the two layers of drywall would mark 5/8” depth of sealant. As you can see, the installer did not even come close to achieving the required depth on this installation. Then, if you want to go on further to critique this installation, there is very little drywall between the hole on the left and the center hole. Furthermore, there is NO drywall between the center hole and the one on the right, so technically this is one opening. As such, most UL listed details will require that the cables be tightly bundled, which they are not. When cables are loosely laid together, there are a few problems. First, the installer can’t easily get sealant between the gaps around the cables; so this means the sealant depth is not achieved. Further, the gaps increase the risk of cables moving and the chance of the sealant pulling away from the opening or adjacent cables is increased which can lead to a failure of this installation in a fire scenario. These gaps are a weak point for both reasons.

 

Impact in a fire scenario: One of the steps in testing a firestop system is a hose stream test.  This portion of the test is designed to judge the integrity or durability of the installation because during a fire there is a lot of pressure in the room of origin and a lot of movement of the various elements in the building.  We want to know that the firestop system will have the integrity to withstand the impact of these things.  Every fire will be different, so no one can say for certain what dynamics any firestop application must endure, but if a PROPERLY installed firestop system is subject to a real world fire scenario we have a good idea of how it will perform. This installation is not a properly installed firestop system and while I can say it will definitely fail, I can say that this installation presents a liability for the firestop installer, the electrical contractor, the GC or CM, the owner, the buildings insurance company and the occupants of the building.   Don’t worry, the firestop contractor was required to remediate this particular problem on this project.  Please make sure they do the same on your project. For more information about the hose stream test check out these other blog posts as well. Here is one example.

 

Impact over life cycle of the building: There are a myriad reasons why the cables in this picture might be bumped, jostled or otherwise moved in a way that could dislodge the thin layer of firestop. However if the sealant is installed at the required depth of 5/8” and there is movement, the firestop material will likely still remain in the annular space of the opening. This means, it will be in the proper location so it can perform as expected, even if it pulls out of the wall slightly over time.

Red is Right?!?

The latest blog from ACS is carrying one the discussion of firestop history and the color evolution. Check it out here.  If you missed the initial discussion you are welcome to re-visit it here.

 

As always if you have any questions about firestop or passive fire protection don’t hesitate to email me.  Just go to our contact page here.

Understanding the Hose Stream Test- part 2

Hose Stream

Last post you read an excellent article from Chad Stroike of HIlti and this week I want to add a bit to it.

 

Imagine a room on fire. As the temperature mounts, the pressure inside the room will increase. We want to know that the integrity of the firestop system will be able to withstand the impact of this pressure increase. As the temperature grows metal elements through the walls and floors will expand and contract, twist and contort. They will be hot on one end and not on the other. Thin wires holding lights can snap, leaving the fixture to swing and slam into a rated wall. Furniture or heavy duct assemblies can crash into rated walls.   We want to know that the firestop installed in these rated assemblies will have the integrity to withstand these potential hazards without becoming dislodged. This is one more reason for this hose stream test on top of everything Chad mentioned in his article. If you haven’t read it yet, you can get it here.

 

Something I found interesting when I first learned about the hose stream test, is that it is done half way through the test. This means that a wall or floor is taken off the furnace half way through the duration of the test and immediately subjected to the hose stream test. Picture a concrete floor with pipes or ducts that are red hot. Now picture a 30-PSI stream of water hitting the red-hot pipes and smoking hot concrete assembly. You can imagine the steam engulfing the room and shrouding your vision, the steam hissing in your ear and the smell of smoke choking you. Then, after this segment of the test is completed, you would walk to the “non-fire” side of the assembly and look for signs of water breaching the concrete floor. If there is light coming through the assembly or any sign of water that may have penetrated the floor, then the test assembly has failed. If the assembly passes, this is just one step in the process because the assembly must be burned for the entire duration. This means that many rated wall, rated floor or floor ceiling assemblies are likely tested twice; once for the full duration of the fire test and then often a second time for the hose stream test. This may not be the case for concrete or block assemblies because they don’t degrade as rapidly in a fire and may survive the hose stream test even after the full duration on the furnace. Certainly for gypsum assemblies, the fire side is basically sacrificial. It won’t last long in a fire test, so UL’s requirement is that the hose stream test is conducted at the half way mark of the test (but not more than 1 hour). This means that a 1-hour fire test will have a hose stream test conducted after 30 minutes. A 2-hour test will have a hose stream test conducted after 60 minutes, as would a 3 or 4 hour test.

 

If you ever get the opportunity to witness the hose stream test, you should. If you are at all a geek like me, you will appreciate the impact it makes on the test assembly.

 

Next week, we talk more about scenarios where the hose stream can cause a test sample to fail.   Now that you have a better understanding of how firestop is tested, you can better understand why certain elements of the tested and listed details are critical to the performance of the assembly and critical elements to be inspected.

Rutgers Professor

I am excited and proud to announce that I will be teaching at Rutgers in 2017. There will be two classes- one on Grease Duct Wrap Installation and Inspection and the other on Understanding the Requirements of Third Party Special Inspection of Firestop. They did not accept my 2 day class on Firestop Inspection and the Common Mistakes because there are other people who already train on firestop. If you are interested in joining one of the classes, please let me know and I will send you the schedule when it is pulled together. Have a great weekend everyone and when you get back to work Monday, be prepared to make a difference!

New Definitions for a new understanding of firestop

You can Google all sorts of definitions you will need when you are talking about firestop. The problem is, now you now the meaning of the word, but you still may not understand the impact what that means in a fire scenario. This definitions section is going to focus on, not only the definition of the word, but also on the reason it may be important in a fire test condition. The hope is that this will help you take a closer look when you are inspecting these various elements of the firestop assemblies. We will give you a new word or a new concept every week and each one will be intended to change the way you may be inspecting firestop. If you know firestop it may not be a new word, but hopefully you will see the word in a new light. Let us know if we have changed the way you inspect.

 

INTUMESCENT-

Intumescent basically means to expand. So if you play rugby and catch an elbow in the mouth while getting tackled to the ground, your lip will intumesce and you will have earned your post game beer. (If you need to explain this to someone else, feel free to insert any sport analogy you wish as long. As it ends in some sort of facial contact and you will get the same image.) The difference with firestop is, that instead of a blow to the face as the catalyst for the expansion, we are looking at heat from a fire. Instead of blood rushing to the area to create swelling, we are dealing with a chemical reaction that causes the materials to enlarge, expand and fill any voids created by combustible materials or movement during a fire.

 

So intumescent material is all the same, right?

 

NO WAY!

Different sealants will expand at different rates and at different temperatures because they are made with different chemical combinations. A basic intumescent sealant will not expand any where near as much as a wrap strip. Some wrap strips will perform differently than others. In fact, some manufacturers have different grades of wrap strip. These will perform dramatically different. Some will require more material some will require less. Some will cost more and some are considerably cheaper.

 

When inspecting firestop it is critical that you make sure that the material shown on the tested and listed detail that was submitted and approved for the project, is the same thing that is being installed.

 

If you are the inspector you may think I’m crazy or you may be cringing thinking of all the paperwork you would have to carry. When I train installers I tell them flat out, that if they want to look better than their competition, they should post a copy of the submittal on every floor. Then when the inspector had a question, the answers were right there for them. When the installer had a question, they knew where to do for the answers as well.   Here is a hint- if your firestop installer doesn’t have a copy of the submittals on the floor where they are working, then this means they are not looking at the details. If they are not looking at the firestop details, how do you expect them to be installing something that conforms to these same missing details?

 

Next week we will discuss annular space- we will talk about the gap and when we are done you may have another reason to change the way you inspect.  If this was useful, let us know.