Fire doors are a fundamental part of a building's fire protection and must always have a self-closing system and can never be locked.
The mission of any fire door is to delay the progression and spread of the fire, allow safe evacuation, and facilitate both rescue and extinguishing.
To determine the classification of fire doors, manufacturers must evaluate their doors by subjecting them to a test according to the European specifications of the EN 1634-1:2016+A1:2018 standard.
The most commonly specified levels of integrity and fire resistance are E, EW, and EI, with the latter being the highest thermal insulation.
Thermal insulation is subdivided into two categories Ei1 and Ei2, with Ei1 being the most stringent and difficult to achieve in fire resistance tests. In countries like Spain, the most common standard is Ei2. As a general rule, if the degree of thermal insulation is not specified, it will always refer to Ei2.
- Resistance time in minutes.
Tests are conducted on complete sets, which include locks, electric strikes, door holders, door closers, maglocks, hinges, etc., for their correct certification as a whole.
The fire protection products from Openers & Closers have been inspected and certified in fire resistance tests, obtaining the CPR (Construction Products Regulation) code accompanied by the corresponding CE marking and the Declaration of Performance (DoP).
The CPR code is a harmonized standard for the marketing of construction products in the European Union and ensures the reliability of information regarding their performance. An annual production audit is essential to maintain the validity of the certificate.
At Openers & Closers, we have been specialists in door locking systems since 1989, and we have a wide range of certified products for fire doors, being pioneers in the use of MIM (Metal Injection Moulding) technology to design parts according to these requirements.
Certified electric strikes for fire doors require a complex certification process to ensure that the fire remains isolated and does not spread through the building, thus protecting people's lives.
Fire-resistant electric and electronic strikes not only have to perform their function in normal situations but must also be made with special materials to withstand high temperatures of up to 1,150ºC, ensuring that the door will remain closed in case of fire.
We are the only company to incorporate a thermo-expansive material inside the strike that allows the internal mechanism to be instantly blocked upon contact with high temperatures, providing a second layer of protection and preventing material contractions from releasing the door.
To check that an electric or electronic strike meets the fire protection grade, we must view the label code according to the EN 14846:2008 standard – “Building hardware. Locks and latches. Electromechanical locks and strikes. Requirements and test methods.” and validate that it meets building requirements.
- 0 – not suitable
- A – smoke control only
- B – suitable for 15 minutes
- C – suitable for 30 minutes
- D – suitable for 60 minutes
- E – suitable for 90 minutes
- F – suitable for 120 minutes
It should be noted that a fire door can never remain open in case of emergency, therefore only negative security maglocks (standard functionality) are suitable for installation, omitting those models with manual release lever or positive security (inverse functionality).
On the other hand, electromagnetic door holders also play a vital role, as they are mechanisms that allow the door to be released and closed in case of emergency to isolate the area and prevent the spread of fire. They are certified according to European standards EN1155 and EN14637.
Our priority is the safety of people, and therefore, we conduct a thorough control of our products to ensure they are properly certified according to current construction standards and approved according to the corresponding European standards.
At Openers & Closers, we guarantee the highest quality of our products.