Exova Group Limited (Exova), recently acquired by Element Materials Technology (Element), is offering to help save clients time and money with a smoke leakage test now available from High Wycombe site, a new tri-service test, comprising fire resistance, acoustic and smoke control testing.
The company’s High Wycombe laboratory has been undertaking fire resistance testing since 1974 and acoustic testing since 2011. The introduction of the smoke control testing rig in late 2017 further expands the service for clients, helping them to reduce costs and turnaround times.
All three tests can be performed on the same sample, and testing can be completed in only two days, or alternatively multiple samples can be tested over one day, depending on rig availability.
The site smoke leakage test to the following standards:
- Smoke Testing: EN 1634 Part 3
- Acoustic Testing: BS EN 10140-2
- Fire Testing: BS 476 Part 22
- Fire Testing: BS EN 1634 Part 1
EN 1634 Part 3 is a smoke control test for door and shutter assemblies, openable windows and elements of building hardware. The test determines the leakage of cold air from one side of a door assembly to the other, controlling the passage of smoke in case of fire.
Lee Grant-Riach, Senior Technical Officer at Element, says: “The acoustic laboratory team has built a rig with a 3 meter by 3 meter partition for supporting the sample. Controls from the weather rig power the fans, while pressure transducers and flow meters help to record pressure and leakage rates. Leakage over the perimeter length of the opening element is used to determine the results.”
Positive and negative pressures are taken at 10 pascal (Pa), 25 Pa and 50Pa. For a pass, leakage cannot exceed 3 cubic meters/hour/meter at 25Pa.
Rob Veitch, EVP Fire and Building Products, Element, commented: “We offer our comprehensive fire resistance, smoke control and acoustic testing package on one contract, with one project manager and one sample. Customers benefit from reduced costs across the board, enabling overall efficiency in addition to convenient access to our expert team.”
BS EN 10140-2 measures sound insulation, BS 476 Part 22 determines fire resistance of non-loadbearing elements of construction and BS EN 1634 Part 1 tests fire resistance for doors, shutters and openable windows. These tests can be booked individually or as a package deal.
