Maintenance of fire doors

Fire door maintenance

Maintenance is important

Maintenance in the production and trade of fire doors plays an extremely important role for the safety of the product and the user, as well as being an obligatory action to be carried out. During maintenance, the correct functioning of the closure is checked and, above all, all those actions aimed at preserving the initial characteristics of the fire door are carried out. In fact, effective maintenance ensures perfect conservation over time of all the accessories that make it up.

The doors must undergo periodic maintenance checks, which must be carried out at least twice a year.

Taking charge of the door

First of all, the maintenance technician in charge shall examine the site where the fire doors and/or windows requiring periodic inspection are located. This is the phase of taking charge of the door. Then the maintainer shall:
Check the condition of the installed doors;

  • Verificare gli interventi precedenti consultando le registrazioni sul libretto d’Uso e Manutenzione della porta;
  • Verificare la conformità della posa in opera delle porte;
  • Verificare la stabilità della porta in generale, tra cui tenuta e integrità dei sistemi di fissaggio;
  • Verificare che sulla porta non siano presenti alterazioni o modifiche non consentite dal produttore;
  • Verificare corrispondenza certificazioni cartacee della porta.

In order to carry out maintenance on fire doors, the maintenance technician in charge must have a document summarising all actions carried out during the work, which serves as an official report.

Surveillance

In addition to the physical maintenance, it is mandatory to carry out ‘surveillance’, i.e. visual maintenance to check that the fire doors and/or windows are in standard operating condition. This means that they must be undamaged and easy to access. This visual maintenance does not require a specialised technician, but can be carried out by normal personnel provided they have received appropriate instructions.

Visual maintenance on fire doors requires that:

  • The opening system of the door is intact and functions perfectly;
  • The gaskets are perfectly intact and show no damage;
  • The closing of the door is regular, so it must not show any alterations such as, cracks and holes and above all the main body must not be bent;
  • The door rotates freely without hindrance;
  • The self-closing elements are perfectly functional;
  • The automatic electromagnet locking device, if present, has an efficient device.

Periodic inspection

Ogni sei mesi è dunque obbligatorio effettuare la manutenzione su porte/chiusure tagliafuoco e/o finestre resistenti al fuoco. Tale controllo deve essere effettuato solamente da personale correttamente formato e specializzato, a parte per la sorveglianza visiva che può essere eseguita anche dal personale interno. La manutenzione è estremamente importante per verificare l’integrità della porta e la sua corretta funzionalità nelle situazioni normali e quotidiane nel luogo dove è installata.

Di seguito riportiamo tutte le operazioni che il tecnico manutentore deve eseguire durante il controllo periodico delle porte tagliafuoco. Tutte queste azioni da compiere obbligatoriamente sono regolate dal punto 7.7 della norma UNI 11473-1:

  • Verificare che la porta presenti il marchio di conformità, posto sottoforma di targhetta dal produttore;
  • Verificare la presenza di eventuali ostacoli inadeguati che vanno a minare il corretto funzionamento della porta;
  • Verificare l’integrità delle guarnizioni mettendo in evidenza eventuali danni e alterazioni non consentite;
  • Verificare il fissaggio di porta e telaio e presenza di eventuale verniciatura;
  • Verificare solidità e soprattutto continuità dell’ancoraggio a muro, delle parti mobili e riportare eventuali movimenti strani che si potrebbero verificare tra porta/telaio e tra le ante;
  • Verificare l’integrità in generale della porta e rilevare eventuali corrosioni, spaccature, cedimenti, distorsioni, opacizzazioni, incrinature, vetri rovinati ed altre eventuali alterazioni che danneggiano la costruzione originaria;
  • Verificare che le cerniere siano correttamente lubrificate, che l’asse sia in posizione verticale e che funzionino in modo opportuno. La coppia di attrito deve inoltre presentare il valore corretto previsto dalla norma;
  • Verificare che i vari dispositivi di apertura della porta funzionino correttamente controllando la lubrificazione dello scrocco, serratura e fissaggio, la forza di riaggancio dello scrocco della serratura, la forza e coppia di sgancio della maniglia, maniglione antipanico e piastra a spinta;
  • Verificare che la porta si apra con facilità e senza impedimenti;
  • Verificare la scorrevolezza generale della porta controllando perni, carrelli, cavi, pulegge, contrappesi e catene;
  • Verificare la corretta velocità di chiusura della porta e il relativo riaggancio;
  • Verificare gli elementi di autochiusura della porta controllando lubrificazione, braccio chiudiporta ed eventuali perdite di olio sullo stesso, allineamento delle ante e del telaio in riferimento al chiudiporta a pavimento, corretto funzionamento della boccola del perno del chiudiporta e valvola che regola la velocità di chiusura;
  • Verificare che la porta si chiuda correttamente verificando i tempi di chiusura della stessa e il relativo coordinatore;
    Verificare gli elettromagneti e i vari elementi termosensibili che fanno parte dei dispositivi di ritegno della porta tagliafuoco controllando lubrificazione, corretto fissaggio, tensione di alimentazione, buono stato del cavo di alimentazione, potenza assorbita. Controllare inoltre che il manuale elettromagnete si sganci correttamente e che non si presentino ossidazioni su ancora e magnete stesso.

Dopo che il tecnico manutentore incaricato completa tutti i controlli obbligatori sopracitati deve procedere con la stesura del rapporto di intervento. Successivamente si deve procedere all’aggiornamento del relativo cartellino di manutenzione.

Fire doors: routine maintenance

When there is minor damage to a fire door, ordinary maintenance of the product should be carried out by specialist personnel. This repair action, which can also be carried out during the periodic inspection, usually involves the replacement and/or repair of minor damage that can occur on fire doors. Then the technician should proceed with checking the functionality of the door by testing all accessories including opening devices, closing sequence coordinators, self-closing devices, retaining devices and hinges. At the end of the maintenance, the technician will draw up the intervention report.

Extraordinary maintenance

The last type of maintenance is extraordinary maintenance, which is carried out when the fire door suffers extensive damage that requires special equipment to repair. Even in the case of replacing entire parts of the door and above all work that cannot be carried out on site, we talk about extraordinary work on the product. At the end of the maintenance, the technician is always obliged to draw up the intervention report and, if replacements have been carried out, the new declaration of correct installation must also be drawn up.

Maintenance tag

All fire doors in regular use shall have a maintenance tag, which shall be issued and applied by the maintenance company. In the event of a change of service company, the maintenance tag shall be replaced with that of the current company.

Room requirements: escape routes and emergency exits

In addition to fire doors, it is also important that the rooms where they are located are safe and in accordance with the law. The relevant safety and security regulations must be carefully observed. These ensure that people can stay in the building safely and evacuate quickly in the event of a fire. Let us look at the main points together:

  • All escape routes and emergency exits must be totally clear to ensure 100% passability;
  • All employees must be able to evacuate the building at any time and from any room. It is very important that everyone is able to reach a location via suitable escape routes and avoid having to cross dangerous sites that could impede escape, such as boiler rooms, excessively narrow stairways or warehouses containing flammable material;
  • It is compulsory to put up safety signs that are clearly visible and allow everyone to leave the building by the shortest and safest route;
  • Emergency lights must function even in the event of an electrical fault and must therefore be fitted with the appropriate device.
  • They must be positioned along all escape routes;
  • If the building contains more than 25 people, there must be at least one additional emergency staircase. This applies to buildings that have undergone renovations or have been newly built, as people must always have easy access to the nearest emergency staircase;
  • Emergency doors must always be accessible, so it is strictly forbidden to lock them and prevent them from opening. The only exception is regulated by specific instructions from the competent authority. All emergency doors must be fitted with panic bars and be capable of being opened outwards;
  • As already specified, escape routes must always be clear to ensure a rapid exit, following the measures laid down by law, i.e. a minimum height of 2 metres and the width of two modules equal to 1.20 metres;
  • In addition to the emergency doors, the doors inside the building must also comply with certain precise rules, as well as being openable from the inside. The number and width of these doors are as follows:
  • Up to 25 persons per room there must be a door not less than 0.80 metres wide;
  • From 25 to 50 persons per room there must be a door not less than 1.20 metres wide;
  • From 51 to 100 persons per room there shall be one door of 1,20 metres and one door of 0,80 metres width;
  • In rooms with more than 100 persons there shall be one 1,20 metre door, one 0,80 metre door and one 1,20 metre wide door.
  • In the case of premises that can hold more than 300 people, reference must be made to the new DM implemented in June 2016, which has specific technical provisions in this regard.

The only case in which the total number of doors can be smaller is if the overall width is not less.

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