Hi all,
60min fire doorset fitted on fire compartment wall, fitted with a mixture of blade smoke seals on both door leaf sides, with brush smoke seal along the top .
Apparently direct from manufacturer.
My question is do door manufacturers test with not only one type of smoke seal, but various smoke seal arrangements?
With the cost of testing with mixed smoke seals, is there any financial  benefit to the door leaf manufacturer? I know its down to confirmation test evidence of the doorset ,but is this a practice that fire door manufacturers generally test with not only one type of smoke seal but mixed smoke seals as well?

Any information would be beneficial

thanks

Thank you, that's really helpful.

I do think there may be valid reasons not to install super-loud sounders in locations where users cannot immediately easily leave.

It will be worth looking at the DIL switches to see if the volume can be reduced slightly, to prevent aural pain.

Can a fire alarm sounder be TOO loud?

I'm at a school in the UK, and there's a small staff bathroom (2.5m x 4m) that contains a toilet, cubicle shower and a sink. This room has a Banshee Excel sounder on the ceiling, positioned around 1 metre from the ears of a person using the toilet.

https://hbl.co.uk/app/uploads/2022/07/IS62-Banshee-Excel.pdf

The other day there was a fire alarm, and a person had literally just "committed" on the toilet when the alarm sounded. This meant they needed to spend 1-2 minutes finishing the "job" / cleaning up before being able to leave the room, during which time they were subjected to the full power of the alarm sounding 1m away from their ears.

They've subsequently pointed out that the sounder itself, at this close proximity and in this small a room, could represent its own risk of auditory injury and I think they may have a point.

The UK regulations recommend sounders are a minimum of 65db or 5db above ambient room noise (though apparently running water from showers can be disregarded).

I cannot work out what the sound level from this sounder would be at a 1m distance, for 1-2 minutes, and if this could indeed be dangerous. Can anyone advise?

I note that the RNID state that "for sounds of 110?120dB, even a very short exposure time can cause hearing damage."

Any thoughts appreciated!

If a block of a size, occupancy & layout where notional doors generally are acceptable in guidance - where a modern FD30/30S doorset would be expected even in an existing build I might be minded to take a more conservative approach.

Considering that they have been frowned upon in guidance such as that produced by the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers for over 30 years due to not being adjustable and prone to failure I was surprised the Government Guides didn't deprecate them, but they only specifically mentioned rising butt hinges.

Most fail the Section 10 basic checks as they fail to overcome the latch at either fully open or 15 degree open so get recommended to be replaced by an EN1154 closer anyway - for those that pass I still point out their issues and suggest phasing out as they fail.

What doesn't help is the fact that they can be found used on post 2000 & even post 2010 builds when you would have thought they should have known better than to fit them (even where an overhead closer cannot be fitted, there are EN1154 approved adjustable double cam/chain versions of the Perko they could use, but they stick to the cheap single chain version)