Did you know?: Fire Testing

We thought you would enjoy some hot facts about fire testing:

1. Furnace temperatures reach 1,000°F in five minutes, 1,700°F in one hour, and up to 2,000°F in four hours.

2. Fire-rated walls require the application of a fire hose stream of 30 to 45 psi for up to five minutes.

3. Heat transmitted through a test specimen must remain below 250°F above the initial starting temperature at the average of all critical locations, or below 325°F above the initial starting temperature at any one location.

4. Protection of structural elements must be such that the elements remain below an average temperature rise of 1,100°F.

5. Fire tests of load-bearing walls and floors must be tested with up to 100% of their full design load applied.

6. Flame-spread tests (or tunnel tests) require an induced draft of 240 feet/minute (2.7 mph) inside the chamber.

7. Interior finish materials are tested in the corner of a test room using a 30-pound wood crib that generates temperatures up to 1,200°F.

8. Combustibility of materials is determined by submerging into an environment of 750°C (1,382°F).

9. Fire testing expansion joints require movement cycling up to 500 times prior to fire exposure.

10. To achieve a fire rating, assemblies are tested containing specific materials. We are testing an assembly, not individual materials.

11. Our wall furnace has 50 gas burners; our floor-ceiling furnace has 80 gas burners.

12. In NFPA 285, the temperature must stay below 1,000°F at any one of specific exterior face thermocouples and shall not reach 500°F above ambient 1" from the interior surface of the test assembly within the second-story room.