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Smoke Ventilation Product Advice

Most large buildings contain sufficient air to sustain a substantial fire, so the well known domestic advice to shut all doors in the event of a fire does not apply.

In fact the exact opposite applies. The greatest immediate danger to the occupants of a large building in the event of a fire comes from the smoke rather than the heat of the fire. Even a small fire can rapidly fill a large building with smoke to an extent where people escaping the building cannot see to find the escape routes and can be overcome by smoke inhalation.

The recognised method of addressing these problems is to provide a smoke ventilation system with automatically operated roof ventilators.

There are two types of smoke ventilation systems and it is important not to confuse the two.

Smoke Clearance Ventilation Systems

These are installed in the corridors and stairwells of hotels, blocks of flats and the like and in enclosed or underground car parks. Their purpose is to ventilate the affected spaces which may become completely smoke logged following a fire. They are intended to clear the smoke to facilitate access. They are not specifically intended to offer protection to occupants escaping the building. Escape routes should normally comply with building regulation requirements to facilitate escape before smoke becomes life threatening.

Life Safety Smoke Ventilation Systems

These are intended to provide a level of protection to people escaping the building. They are typically installed in shopping centres or malls, retail and private warehouses, public and industrial buildings and the like where due to the design of the buildings the escape routes to outside are complex or escape distances are greater then those recommended in the building regulations.

Such systems are designed so that the expected quantity of smoke is vented from the area leaving a layer of clean air below. Within this clear layer people are able to pass and exit the building safely.

Smoke ventilation systems do not generally have any influence on the size of a fire in the building and they are therefore often used in conjunction with water sprinkler systems which can often contain the fire to a predetermined size.

All smoke ventilation systems must have a provision for air inlet, which allows replacement air to enter the building. This air inlet may be at low level but large buildings may be divided into high level smoke zones with fixed or operable smoke curtains, so that adjacent zones away from that affected by the fire may be used as the air inlet.

The above is a brief overview of the basic principles but it must be appreciated that the design and specification of smoke control systems is a complex subject and as such expert advise should be taken.

More Smoke Ventilation Product Advice:

> Fire Engineered Systems
> Building Control & Fire Brigade

Without Ventilation

Smoke fills building

Eventually the building construction collapses

With Ventilation

Smoke and heat escape in a controlled manner

There is a clear layer below smoke. Building structure escape routes protected from smoke and heat

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Bovema manufacture and install Smoke Ventilation Systems, Natural Ventilation Systems, Powered Ventilation Systems and Bespoke Specialist Applications.

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