Fire door retainers are crucial to hold open fire doors legally and safely. The Shuttle fire door retainer combines great technology with unbeatable value and this article looks at its key features.
It is a simple question that we often get asked… What exactly does a fire door do?
Put simply it is a crucial piece of the fire protection jigsaw. Its role is to act as a defence against fire spreading uncontrollably throughout a building by seeking to resist and compartmentalise the fire. By attempting to keep the fire under control it hopefully allows more time for the building to be evacuated and for escape routes to be kept clear.
All of this sounds great… so what’s the problem? In office buildings the main problem is people’s convenience. People become frustrated at forever having to open and close the door so they start to prop the door open. The trouble is that propping open a fire door, whether it be with a wedge, a book or even a fire extinguisher(!), is very dangerous. In the event of a fire it would mean that the fire door cannot do its job and the fire could become uncontrolled very quickly.
The main danger is an obvious one… an increased risk to life. In addition, for the building manager or the person responsible for fire safety, this could lead to serious consequences as the building’s fire protection systems were not being used correctly. It could also lead to the building insurance being invalidated. Too often people don’t think about these consequences but it really is a huge issue. Check out the guys and girls at Fire Door Safety Week who do a fantastic job of trying to raise awareness of this issue.
Shuttle fire door retainer: The solution
Luckily this problem has an easy and relatively inexpensive solution… fire door retainers. These products are designed to hold open fire doors legally as their mechanisms mean that when the fire alarm sounds, the fire door retainer is released so that the fire door can shut into its correct position. At Fire and Safety Centre, we offer a couple of alternative products, just follow this link to our fire door retainers to browse.
One of these products, the Shuttle fire door retainer, is brand new and we’d like to tell you a bit about it. The number 1 key feature with this new product is its fantastic listening technology. Historically, certain fire door retainers have worked by releasing when there is a sustained noise over a certain decibel level. The slight drawback with this is that they are known to release when people are doing things like hoovering… This can be pretty inconvenient. However, the Shuttle fire door retainer works by listening and remembering the sound of your particular fire alarm. By doing this, it only releases upon the sound of that fire alarm, thus eliminating the frustrating ‘false’ door releases.
As well as this great feature, the Shuttle fire door retainer is a sleek, slimline design which attaches easily to doors with no fuss or hassle. It has extremely good battery life and it has a fab LCD display allowing easy control and operation of the unit. You also get the peace of mind that it complies with British Standard EN1155 and it comes with a handy USB port so that the manufacturer can easily issue software upgrades for users to install.
Look around your office and comply with fire door law
So, the Shuttle fire door retainer is a great value product which will allow your business to hold fire doors open legally. It is brand new to the market and it is sure to be hugely popular.
Take a look around your office, if you see any doors being held open with a wedge, a pot plant or something similar, have a read of this article and give us a call on 01724 281044. For a relatively small amount of money, you can get peace of mind and ensure compliance with the regulations.