NFPA 285 Fire Test
Ceramitex has passed rigorous North American testing and we, at Elemex, continue to acquire testing that allows us to build in high-velocity hurricane zones and other strong weather areas.
Today we are going to look at the NFPA 285 test being performed on the Ceramitex facade system.
The NFPA 285 is the test for the Evaluation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Exterior Non-Load Bearing Wall Assemblies.
First, a wall is built that includes all of the components of the wall assembly. You can see that there is an opening in the middle of the wall which will be used to simulate a fire breaking out of a window and migrating to the building’s facade. The height measurements are noted on the surface.
Within minutes you can see the fire plume begin to exit the window, and at the 5-minute mark the exterior burner is ignited, which adds to the intensity of the flames on the wall assembly. Gas flow rates are increased throughout the testing period, to mimic a growing fire.
Gas flow rates and burner placements are critical for the uniform heat distribution requirements and temperature requirements specified in the testing standard.
The testing requires that the flame propagation is not high enough to ignite the floor above the floor of origin which prevents the assembly from acting as a chimney and causing fires that spread to multiple floors by way of the exterior of the building.
Conditions of acceptance include: flame height not exceeding 10 feet vertically or 5 feet horizontally from the center of the window head within the 30 minute time-frame, and temperature data during the test must not exceed the specified temperature.
You can see the full list of tests on our website and within the Spec Data sheet for all of our products including Ceramitex, Alumitex, Stonitex and Solstex.
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