Proper Maintenance Of Fire And Smoke Dampers

By Author: James Nicholas
Total Articles: 3
Comment this article

Preventing fire once caused is a difficult task. So instead of that always thinking about how to avoid fire is more important and proper safety measures should be taken for the same. Fire can be caused due to many reasons but it causes heavy damages and even lots of deaths to people.

Fire Dampers are passive fire protection systems which are designed to close when there is a rise in temperature. Fire Dampers are useful to stop the spread of fire caused inside the ductwork and also are used to prevent transmission of flame where air ducts penetrate fire barriers. And smoke dampers are needed for installation in ducts and air transfer openings that are designed to resist the passage of air and smoke. Fire and Smoke dampers are mostly used in ventilation or air-conditioning ductwork.

It basically looks like a curtain which immediately shuts down when fusible links start melting. That means whenever there is a rise in the temperature, fire damper will close automatically which will actually help fire to not increase through the barrier.

When a fire damper is being installed, proper measures and testing should ...
... be done. Operational testing is to be performed for the verification that the damper is working properly and whether there is a full access to it and its components. Also verification should be done that all the devices are properly placed. All this testing done should be then documented having all details about the fire damper and its installation.

Each fire damper should be compulsorily tested and inspected within the period of one year after its installation and then onwards every four years if used at home. If it is at hospitals, than it should be tested and inspected after every six years.

When this inspection is carried out, the following points should be verified that whether it is tested and inspected or not:-

1] Inspection of all external components of each damper for overcoming physical damages. This is important to prevent the obstructions stopping proper functioning and labeling. Defective and missing parts should be known and replaced.

2] Cleaning and Lubrication of the damper track for verification of proper sealing of the fire damper.

3] Removal of fusible link before testing and inspection for ensuring full closure and lock-in-place if so equipped. If that fusible link is damaged than it is important to replace it with the link of same size, temperature and load rating.

4] There should be no rust, damaged frames or blades, bent, misaligned, defective parts when the inspection is being done.

5] The damper should not be blocked from closure. And also the latch, if provided should be checked properly.

6] The damper frame must not be penetrated by any foreign objects that can affect operations of fire damper.

7] And the most important thing is all the inspection details should be documented properly with all tiny details included in it.

The inspection and testing of Fire and Smoke dampers is very necessary regularly to make sure that it will work properly during fire and life safety event where it is needed to work properly the most. Regular testing should be done so that the system should be always ready when the unexpected event happens.

Brand Services, LLC offers all Fire Protection Services for all passive fire and safety needs which includes Fire and Smoke Damper inspection, fire door, fire stopping and facility maintenance services by its trained, certified and experienced technicians.