What are Fire Door Retainers?
Fire doors can be found in office buildings and are made to stop fire spreading in case a fire breaks out, that’s obvious right? But do you know the best way to use them? In the summer months, in particular, people like the air to flow through a building so a fire extinguisher or just a normal door wedge is often used to hold open office doors. However, doing that is not only wrong, but also against the law.
This is where the fire door retainer comes in. They don’t just legally prop open your door, but they also have amazing features that will help you if a fire starts!
Fire Door Retainers come in different styles and at Fire and Safety Centre we have ones that can be installed on the bottom of your door, along with a base plate to assist with propping the door open. We also have one that is attached to the upper part of the door allowing for easy opening as well as closing on the sound of the alarm.
Fire Door Retainer Features
- One feature that the Dorgard, Dorgard Smartsound and Shuttle Fire Door Retainers share is the ability to easily and legally prop open your door. Installation is easy on these products and can take as little as 5 minutes.Once installed, to prop open your door all you need to do is get your door in line with the baseplate and just push down on the release and make sure the stopper is secure. To close the door just lift the release, the stopper will then retract, and the door will close.
- The Freedor Fire Door Closer is located at the top of the door and as well as working with the alarm it also makes fire doors easier to open and is a great product for buildings where people with disabilities live.
- ALL our Fire Door Retainers meet the relevant guidelines, meaning you have one less thing to worry about when risk assessments take place!
How do they work?
Our Fire Door Retainers are wire free and designed to work in tandem with your fire alarm system. The Dorgard will close the door based on hearing a certain volume/frequency, whereas Dorgard Smartsound and Shuttle Fire Door Retainers are trained to recognise the particular sound of your fire alarm. To make sure that your Fire Door Retainers are working correctly test your fire alarm once a week to see if there are any problems with it.
Final Thoughts
Fire Door Retainers are an absolute necessity for your workplace and are underestimated by many people who don’t fully understand just how helpful they can be and why every business should have them. They will help with your daily lives in the office with air flow and movement of people. In doing this they will not compromise on safety as they allow fire doors to do their job. At a good price you can’t make an excuse for not purchasing one!
If you would like more information on fire door safety, be sure to check out Fire Door Safety Week as they dedicate a week in late September to give you all the information you need and best practices for fire doors.
You can also check out our previous blogs on Fire Door Retainers. Take a read of the regulations that fire doors need to work and check out our article on the problems with holding a fire door open.
If you have any further questions on Fire Door Retainers, do not hesitate to call us on 01724 281044 or get in touch via our live chat service. We are more than happy to help.
