What are the 2 types of smoke curtain?

Smoke Curtain Styles and Applications

• Source.
• Elevator smoke curtains perform the vital function of blocking smoke from entering and exiting through elevator doors.
• Vertical smoke curtains are typically used to close off openings from standard doorways to larger atriums.

What is the difference between smoke curtain and fire curtain?

Smoke curtains are not usually full height but are set at a drop height to allow people to evacuate. A fire curtain provides complete fire separation between building zones. They are often utilised to protect open stairways as a protected means of escape.

What is an elevator smoke curtain?

An elevator smoke curtain is a protective barrier that traps smoke from entering an elevator shaft. Elevator smoke curtain installation can be used to eliminate the IBC elevator lobby requirement.

Are smoke curtains fire rated?

Performance of Smoke and Fire curtains The fire curtain is fire rated against the standard ISO fire curve, which exceeds 1800°F. If you try to use a smoke curtain in an application where a fire curtain is needed, the smoke curtain will not be robust enough to withstand the fire temperatures.

Can you escape through a fire curtain?

A fire curtain with a vision panel is perfect for lift openings and lobbies, as well as escape routes incorporating doorways and corridors. The benefits of having a vision panel in fire-resistant barriers are clear.

What is a fire curtain?

Although they’re an active system, fire curtains are used for compartmentation. In open plan and complex buildings, fire curtains compartmentalise space in the same way that fire doors do. They drop down and seal an area off, containing the fire from floor to ceiling, within the perimeter of the curtain (or curtains).

Where are fire curtains required?

For example, a fire curtain could be fitted in an open planned space. This allows open planned buildings to still meet the required fire safety regulations. They are commonly installed around lobbies and staircases, which tend to be essential escape routes during the event of a fire.

Where are elevator smoke curtains required?

The IBC requires buildings with elevator hoistways connecting three stories, to have a 1-hour fire-resistance barrier at the elevator shaft on each floor. When the elevator hoistway is connecting four or more stories, the barrier needs a 2-hour fire-resistance rating.

What is the purpose of a smoke curtain?

What are Smoke Curtains? Smoke curtains work in a very similar way to fire curtains. Both provide essential compartmentation, containment, and channelling from the effects of a fire. Fire and smoke curtains are installed to ensure safe evacuation in the event of a fire.

Where are fire curtains installed?

They are commonly installed around lobbies and staircases, which tend to be essential escape routes during the event of a fire. When placed in these locations, fire curtains seal off an area allowing occupants out and the fire services personnel in.

How can a fire curtain be activated?

A fire curtain is, in simple terms, a highly robust piece of fire-resistant material that remains discretely suspended from a ceiling, lobby or doorway, until it is lowered when the smoke or fire alarm within a building is triggered.

What are smoke and fire curtains?

Smoke and fire curtains are a useful and sometimes critical tool at helping to contain smoke and fire in a building. Automatic curtains can be deployed quickly to help block…

What are accordion fire curtains?

Accordion Fire Curtains enclose monumental stairways and make fabric 90 degree angles with no need for columns up to three hours. Curtains rate openings in corridors as an opening protective and are utilized for cross-corridor applications with accessible slot for area separation.

What type of smoke containment should be used for elevator doors?

ICC AC 77 listed for elevator door smoke containment to remove the need to pressurize the hoistway or have lobby doors on hold open. Curtains also rate glass up to two hours, and are used in lieu of static glass draft curtains per NFPA 13. US Smoke and Fire Corporate Video from U.S. Smoke & Fire on Vimeo.

What is the use of a curtain in a corridor?

Curtains rate openings in corridors as an opening protective and are utilized for cross-corridor applications with accessible slot for area separation. Curtains pass the UL 10B/UL10C/ UL 10D/ ASTME119 time temperature curve thus they are used as deployable smoke and fire barriers.