Smoke & Fire Ventilation
Why do you need Smoke & Fire Ventilation?
- To remove Exhaust smoke and heat
- To contain smoke by maintaining buoyancy and stopping lateral travel by means of barriers and baffles.
- To attain a smoke free zone by ventilation and allowing for make-up air into areas where ventilation is being done.
- To assist with the immediate evacuation of a building.
- To allow the source of the fire to be pin-pointed.
- To help avoid flashover by extracting products of combustion and making sure that smoke does not get entrained back into the fire.
- To allow immediate fire fighting.
- Contributes to the reduction in damage to property.
When is Smoke & Fire Ventilation Compulsory?
- Any building with a floor area of over 500 m2 must be provided with smoke ventilation, this can be done with open-able windows, panels or other openings (Roof ventilators i.e. Ridge ventilators, Slope ventilators or Louvred ventilators).
- The ventilator equipment must be located on the roof or in the upper third of the wall of the building.
- The openings must be equal to 3% of the floor area or in the case of a D2 or D3 classification (Moderate Risk and Light Risk Industrial) be equal to 1.5 % of the floor area.
- Any building above 2500 m2 fitted with a sprinkler system cannot be equipped with smoke ventilation equipment that works with a fusible link. (New SANS 10400 regulations).
Rational Designs:
- Larger and more complex buildings will require most of the time that a rational design be carried out.
- A rational design takes into consideration a lot of factors from; the materials in the building, the potential fire size, escape times, clear layers for escape of the occupants of the building etc.
- Rational designs will 9 out of 10 times be carried out by a Fire Engineer or a Mechanical Engineer.
- Helm Engineering can facilitate rational designs with professionals.
