How to protect installation passages against fire?

Technical installations passing through fire partitions must be secured in such a way as to prevent fire and smoke from penetrating into adjacent rooms.

In accordance with applicable construction law, buildings must be divided into fire zones. Installation passages, like fire zone separations, must meet appropriate fire resistance criteria. In case of fire, the main task of securing technical installations is to prevent the spread of fire and temperature increase in adjacent rooms, enabling evacuation and limiting the scale of losses. In order to meet the fire resistance criteria, in accordance with applicable regulations, installation passages must, for a specified period of time, prevent the temperature increase on the unheated surface of the partition, i.e. from the side of the room where the fire has not yet occurred (criterion I). At the same time, they must also maintain fire tightness (E), which means preventing hot gases or flames from penetrating to the side of the partition not affected by the fire.

Meeting all of these criteria means restoring the fire resistance of the fire separation at the point of its penetration, ensuring that the fire does not spread to other zones, limits the scale of losses, and most importantly, enables evacuation and the work of rescue teams.

How to choose?

Detailed requirements regarding installation penetrations are included in §234 and §232 of the regulation on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location.

Additionally, when developing and implementing an installation passage, other regulations regarding installations should also be taken into account, not only those directly related to fire protection departments. Examples of such regulations include maintaining the continuity of thermal insulation in heating installations or the safety of gas installations.

The proper selection of the appropriate method of securing the passage of the installation through the border of a fire zone or a partition separating a closed room of an appropriate class depends on several factors, which are:

• required fire resistance class,
• type of installation,
• installation dimensions,
• type of insulation in the installation,
• type of partition (wall or ceiling),
• the material from which the partition is made,
• partition thickness,
• additional aspects such as installation arrangement or access to the passage.

Knowing the data listed above, the most optimal solution is selected from the available range of ready-made products dedicated to a specific application.

MERCOR dedicated products

MERCOR offers ready-made systems dedicated to installation transitions:

- mcr PS collar system and mcr PS-25 clamps - dedicated to providing fire protection for individual installation passages,

- mcr Polylack Elastic system and mcr Polylack F, K, KG and mcr PS Bandage systems - dedicated to fire protection of combined installation penetrations.

Individual products within the system have special swelling and sealing properties, which effectively protect the installation passage in the event of a fire.

mcr Polylack Elastic can be used as a paint (for coatings) or as a filler (connecting material or filling gaps) for fire-retardant sealing of mixed installation penetrations of flammable pipes, insulated metal pipes, single cables or cable bundles passing through walls and ceilings.  In other applications, this mass also serves as a material for sealing fire expansion joints or holes when installing fire dampers such as mcr FID-Pro.

Fireproof collars mcr PS-25 are intended for fireproof protection of passages through walls and ceilings:

• flammable pipes with diameters up to 250 mm (PVC-U, PVC-C, PE-HD, PE, ABS, SAN+PVC, PP-R, PE-X/AL/PE-X, PE-RT/AL/PE-RT) in individual and combined bushings,
• non-flammable pipes (copper with diameters up to 89 mm, steel with diameters up to 159 mm) in flammable insulation (or NRO, but fusible) in combined bushings.

mcr PS fireproof collars consist of one or several layers of intumescent inserts placed in a casing made of galvanized steel sheet or stainless steel sheet. The casing is equipped with a clamp for fastening the ends of the flange and stabilizing it on the pipe, and with mounting brackets for attaching the flange to the partition. The number of mounting brackets is adapted to the size of the flange.  mcr PS fireproof collars are intended for fireproof protection of passages through walls and ceilings of flammable pipes up to a diameter of 400 mm.

mcr Dunaboard is a board made of rock mineral wool. Used as a material to fill a hole in a partition. Depending on the version, factory-coated with a layer of mcrPolylackF or mcr Polylack ELastic paint.

mcr PS Bandage is a fire-resistant bandage made of elastic tapes made of thermoplastic material on a fiberglass tape. It is used primarily to protect installation penetrations of non-flammable pipes insulated with flammable or fusible insulation. When exposed to temperatures above 140°C, it swells and closes the gap left by melted or burned insulation on the pipe.

mcr PS fireproof collars consist of one or several layers of intumescent inserts placed in a casing made of galvanized steel sheet or stainless steel sheet. The casing is equipped with a clamp for fastening the ends of the flange and stabilizing it on the pipe, and with mounting brackets for attaching the flange to the partition. The number of mounting brackets is adapted to the size of the flange. mcr PS fireproof collars are intended for fireproof protection of passages through walls and ceilings of flammable pipes up to a diameter of 400 mm.

Martyna Kostrzewa

Research and development manager

Construction fire protection department of MERCOR S.A.

Mateusz Chmurczyk

Product Manager

Construction fire protection department of MERCOR S.A.