Fire safety should be a key consideration in the design of all HVAC installations as fires can endanger the life of occupants of a building. Fire resistant ducts are the best way to ensure fire safety in HVAC installations as the ducts have the ability to keep their integrity for a given time period and to not promote flame spread during a fire.
It is vital to develop safe, durable and reliable fire protection solutions for ventilation systems as a fire can easily spread from the point of origin via ductwork especially in ventilation and smoke extraction.
Fire protection in smoke extraction ducts
Fire protection of metal duct is the best way to ensure fire safety of both ventilation and smoke extraction ducts in building. KIMMCO-ISOVER offers solutions with Stone mineral wool that provides fire resistance to metal ductwork while meeting thermal and acoustic requirements.
Two main approaches exist in order to avoid or minimize the risks of a fire:
- Passive methods (where fire spread is contained or avoided by the correct choice of building materials)
- Active methods (using specific devices in order to stop or reduce the potential risks of a fire).
Insulation can play an important role in passive fire protection of buildings.
In order to evaluate the fire behavior of an insulation product or system, two main properties have to be considered:
- Fire reaction of a product
- Fire resistance of a construction system