Fire Stopping

Every service passing through fire resistant building elements will react in a different way during a fire, so there is no single solution or product that will protect all services.

To ensure a wall or partition will provide the required fire performance, specifiers should consider:

• Fire resistant period
• Insulation requirement
• Wall, floor, linear gap
• Movement – vibration and thermal expansion
• Mechanical strength – load bearing

Chapter 7 of the Fire Protection Handbook provides examples of system specifications for a range of fire stopping products. Additional system details are available in the Technical Data Sheets.

Services must be tested in accordance with the test methods set out in appropriate standards. Tests are carried out in accordance with the general principles of BS 476: Part 20: 1987 or BS EN 1366-3: 2004 and BS EN 1366-4: 2006

It is of particular importance to note that for plastic pipe penetrations care must be taken before accepting test reports or assessments. Research has clearly shown that the different types of plastics behave in different ways under fire conditions.