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Posted By Robert Weiland
In our office we have several wooden doors which could be useful being open. However there is a fire risk if we wedge them. I have heard about Fire Door retainers which could be applied in this situation and require little hassle to install.
Could anyone help me on this or point me in the right direction ?
Thanks for reading this
Rob
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Posted By fats van den raad
Robert
Try this little gadget.It is activated by the sound of the fire alarm. It runs on batteries, tests itself, fails in a safe position when the baterries run out, is relatively cheap and any maintenance dept. should find it easy to install. I have several of them and they work a charm. all that is required is an alarm sounder in the near vaccinity of the door.
http://www.chubb.co.uk/c...er/navId/00000200a00j007
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Posted By Robert Weiland
That's great cheers
for your quick responses. This forum is really a great help.
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Posted By Kenny McGillivray
Robert
Please be very careful. Door hold open devices as they are termed require a Building Warrant in Scotland. They also cause no end of problems for your fire risk assessment. Some Fire Authorities do not accept them. What if the sounder doesn't sound. What if the alarm fails etc etc. They are also set off by the vaccum cleaner and other noises
Think again!!
kenny
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Posted By Kenny McGillivray
Robert
I meant vacuum cleaner!!
Kenny
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Posted By fats van den raad
Kenny
Life is full of "what if's", part of why we do risk assessments and implement control measures.
There is no difference in the "what if's" of this system and the "what if's" of any othwer door closer system, such as electro mangnetic catches and automatic closers. What if they don't operate?
That's exactly why I test my fire alarm on a weekly basis, actuating it from a different call point every week, and why the system has sounders on 2 seperate circuits. I have different types of automatic closers on my site, and thus far, these sound operated ones have given me no grief whatsoever, wich is more than can be said for some of the other systems.
And if the vacuum cleaner activates it.... SO WHAT?????? The door closes.....Big deal.
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Posted By Merv Newman
I'm glad I watch this chat show. I had never heard of the battery operated type of door closer. You live and learn.
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Posted By Kenny McGillivray
fats
Yes life is full of what ifs, but I have been plagued by the Fire Brigade and Building Control hitting me with all these questions and I was warning Robert of the problems that I have faced. Incidentally I have fought off all concerned by doing a risk assessment showing the benefit of the devices in this case and these devices are still in place and working well.
Not much point of a forum if we can't share experiences and help each other avoid the pitfalls before the you know what is thrown at us
regards
kenny
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Posted By Stuart Nagle
Have fitted these devices - some two years ago now - and they work well.
In respect of fire risk assessments, the two kitchens in our offices have fire doors that were previously always found 'wedged' open regardless of the "Fire Door Keep Closed" sign on the glass panel. So the fire risk assessment showed an improvement and action taken.
To overcome fears of staff, a sign was erected in each kitchen informing staff what they were, how they worked, how to secure them open, how to disengage and close the door and advice as to how they were activated and that activation could occur if persistance noise of more than 14 seconds occurred (e.g. kitchen dishwasher, mobile phones on person ringing etc). This was also followed up by a 'round robin' email to all staff in the office and a mention at fire training sessions...
Everyone gets on with them ok. Yes they do activate without the fire alarm sounding on occassions, but staff have no problems over this and simply open the door and re-engage them (by simply pressing down on the unit with their foot when the door is in the fully open position).
One woman was concerned that the device locked the door shut when the device was activated, so the personal touch in showing her how they worked (by using the mobile phone ring to activate the door) and showing this was not the case, and opening and re-engaging the device, removed her fears and she's fine...
Personally I think they are a good investment (about £70.00 each at the time as I recall). When the battery fails the unit closes the door and the little light on the unit stays on as opposed to flashing. Two small batteries power it - cheap and effective.
Stuart
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Posted By fats van den raad
Kenny
Maybe the FB attitude towards these items stem from ignorance. I have had two occasions now where local FB watches have visited our plant for familiarisation and on both occasions not one of them knew anything about the devices. I must admit that they started to throw a lot of "what if's" at me as well but eventually the only argument that was left from one fireman was "what if the power fails and the main alarm panel battery fails wich means you have no sounders and it's the middle of the night, then the doors won't close!!" He seemed pretty proud of this piece of reasoning, untill I told him "Wich is why, since the site is closed at night, all fire doors are closed by the supervisors that lock up at night"
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Posted By Ian Forster
Try www.screwfix.co.uk part No 37858. I've used them myself and are pretty good, or plan B, a lot of cabling for door release magnets, I'd go plan A
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