Fire Door Maintenance, Replacement & Repairs

Inspection and maintenance are two sides of the same coin: the former process identifies the necessary corrective actions, and the latter process carries them out.

Fire-resisting doors should be incorporated within a planned programme of regular inspection and maintenance as part of the overall fire safety management strategy. A well implemented preventative maintenance programme not only helps to ensure longevity of the doors but also pre-empts malfunction and defects before they occur.

Should a fire resisting door require repair it is important that the remedial works reinstate both the operational function of the door as well as its fire performance. All too often, well-intended repair works that are carried out by personnel without a sufficient level of knowledge result in a detrimental impact on the fire resistance performance of the door. Fire door maintenance, repair and replacement tasks are highly specialised and should only be carried out by competent persons with access to the manufacturers' supporting documentation.

Maintenance work on fire doors is divided into the following categories:

Servicing
Undertaking scheduled preventative maintenance tasks on components that pre-empt malfunction and defects in accordance with the applicable manufacturer’s recommendations.

Repair
Making good any minor damage to the surface of the leaf or frame in strict accordance with the recommendations of BS 8214 and approved repair techniques.

Remedial & Adjustment
Correcting any defects due to installation errors or wear and tear issues such as loose fixings or seals, excessive closing speeds or opening forces, alignment gaps, etc.

Replacement
Replacing any element of the assembly which cannot be repaired due to degradation, excessive wear and tear, or major damage, etc. Components must be replaced with identical products that are approved for use in the tested configuration as supported by the manufacturer’s technical documentation and in accordance with the manufacturer’s installation instructions.

It is essential that fire door maintenance technicians should have the prerequisite training, knowledge, skills, and tools required to carry out fire door maintenance in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations and the relevant guidance provided in BS 8214:2016.

The following general maintenance procedures should be applied.

Hinges

Hinges bear the mass of the door, the whole load being applied to metal pivot devices. They should be checked for wear in the pivot pin. Also ensure that the fixing screws are tight and all are effectively holding. Light lubrication might be required by local conditions. Hinges on doors in frequent use will wear quicker than those only opened for inspection or access to service ducts etc.

Door closers which include hold-open devices or a back-check facility can impose substantially increased stresses on hinges and their fastenings. Any changing gap sizes could be as a result of wear/damage to hinges or pivots or an indication that fasteners are loosening or damaged. Adjustments and/or replacement of worn or damaged components should be made at the earliest opportunity.

Floor Springs

Where floor spring or pivot devices are installed, careful inspection of the lower pivot should be undertaken to remove debris and any corrosive liquids deposited by inappropriate human use. The upper pivot should not show signs of wear, and indicated wear must be rectified to prevent the door jamming at critical times.

Self-Closing Devices

Self-closing devices are designed and fitted to suit different uses: for instance, young persons or strong air pressure. Each type and make of closer will need servicing in differing ways but pivoting arms and terminal fixings should be checked for tightness and lubrication added as appropriate. Terminal fixings into the door and frame are subject to stress and should be carefully checked.

Self-closing devices increase the loading on door hinges and their rate of wear. For closers without back-check it is normal to allow for this by assuming the effective door mass to be 20% greater than the actual door mass. For back-check closers the effect is much greater, and the effective door mass is calculated to be 75% greater.

Opening and closing pressures should be checked and fire or smoke seals inspected to ensure they are not damaged and do not impede the smooth opening and closing action. Hydraulic units should be checked for loss of liquid which would indicate a failing device. Where floor springs are used, it is important that the door is in alignment with the frame, or in the case of pairs of doors, alignment of both.

Closing and latching speeds should be checked and adjusted as appropriate. Doors normally held open by approved devices should be inspected to ensure that the hold open action has not stressed the device. The correct opening travel should be checked to ensure that doorstops are not over-stressing the arm assembly.

Door Retainers

Door retainers should be checked to ensure that no residual electromagnetic energy impedes the immediate release of the doors. A periodic check should be undertaken in conjunction with fire/smoke alarm testing.

Co-ordinators

These devices are used to close rebated sets of doors in the correct order to provide an effective seal. The maintenance schedule should include a check to ensure that each part is securely located and the screw fixings are tight. Any pivoting parts should be checked for wear and any protruding arms checked for straightness. The function should be checked over the full range of door openings and all parts lubricated as required.

Locks, Latches, Bolts and Furniture

The wide range of products makes it impossible to be specific in maintenance needs. All fittings should be examined and checked for secure fixings; moving parts should be lubricated as defined by the manufacturer. Bolts, rods and other protrusions should be checked to ensure they are straight and undamaged. Bolts for locks and latches should be checked to ensure they are fitting centrally into their respective keeps. Parts liable to corrosive influence should be washed, lubricated and protected. Moving parts that pass through braces or shackles should be examined for wear that might cause intermittent jamming or rusting.

Seals

Smoke and fire seals should be examined to ensure they are unbroken and secure in the door; that the gap in the door has not moved out of tolerance or the door moved out of square so as to prevent an effective seal. Worn or damaged seals must be replaced with the appropriate product.

Panic and Emergency Exit Devices

Moving parts should be inspected for signs of wear and replaced as required. Lubrication should be used where indicated; screws and all fixings should be tested to ensure they are secure. Electromagnetic and electro-actuation devices should be tested with power off to ensure their continued availability following power cuts. Security devices should be tested for correct function, particularly that they do not impede the correct operation of the door. Floor sockets, whether easy clean or dust-excluding, should be checked and cleaned out.

Door Leaves And Door Frames

Any major repairs needed to a fire door leaf or frame should only be carried out by experienced professionals and specialist advice should be sought before the work is undertaken.

BS 8214 provides the following critical recommendations:

“It is not easy to repair doors and maintain the interactive behaviour of the various component parts, except for minor repairs, which should only be undertaken with the approval of the door manufacturer. When any other damage is detected, the complete door leaf or door frame should be replaced. It is important to ensure that the replacement door is able to provide the same level of fire resistance as the damaged door and, if intumescent seals are fitted in the frame, that the new door is compatible with the fitted seals.”

BS 8214 provides the following critical recommendations for Double Leaf Doors:

“In the event of damage that necessitates the replacement of one leaf of a double door, both leaves should be replaced with a new matching pair, since it would be virtually impossible to ensure that a replacement single leaf would be of identical construction to that being removed. Any difference in construction is likely to cause different movement when exposed to fire, severely reducing the likelihood of the doors maintaining their integrity.”

BS 8214 provides the following critical recommendations for Door Leaves with 60 Min Fire Resistance:

“Doors leaves designed to provide fire resistance periods greater than 60 min should be replaced, not repaired.”

BS 9999:2017 states that fire doors should be inspected at least every six months:

In particular, it should be ensured that:

Heat-activated seals and smoke seals are undamaged.

Door leaves are not structurally damaged or excessively bowed or deformed.

Gaps between the door leaf and the frame are not so small as to be likely to bind, or so large as to prevent effective fire and smoke-sealing.

Hanging devices, securing devices, self-closing devices and automatic release mechanisms are operating correctly.

Newly occupied buildings may require more frequent checks in the first year of use. Doors where traffic is high are likely to be more susceptible to damage and should be checked more frequently than other doors in the building, e.g. a door dividing a corridor on a busy circulation route will be used more frequently than a door to a service cupboard.

There are various types of intumescent seal, all of which can react differently. Where such seals are obtained from a source other than the fire door manufacturer, it is essential that the intumescent seal to be used is of the same formulation, dimensions and configuration as that in the door manufacturer’s fire test report.

There a number of different types of smoke seal available, and again the manufacturer’s fire test report is expected to identify the most appropriate type for each specific fire type and configuration.

Failure of fire-resisting door assemblies under test is very often due to burn-through at the clearance gap between the door leaf edge and the door frame. Doors should be hung to give an equal gap across the head and down both jambs. A typical gap to achieve good fire performance is between 2 mm and 4 mm. With the exception of metal fire doors, it is recommended that all fire doors including those of 20 min fire integrity are fitted with intumescent seals or combined intumescent and smoke seals. Certain smoke seals might require a larger gap in order to operate without causing significant frictional increases, but the gap should remain within tested tolerances.

The intumescent materials that have been used to achieve a particular performance in test conditions should be present in the finished assembly to maintain the stated performance. This includes any additional intumescent protection used in conjunction with the element of building hardware.

Generally the optimum performance from narrow strip intumescent seals is achieved when they are fitted into the leaf or frame of a conventionally sized, latched, single leaf, single swing door at the mid position of the leaf thickness. Interrupting intumescent seals at building hardware positions can have a detrimental effect on doors intended to provide 30 min fire resistance. For doors intended to provide fire resistance of 60 min or more, it is essential to adhere to the door manufacturer’s specified materials and configurations.

When it is necessary to fit seals on site, either in the frame or the door edge, it is important to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations precisely for the type and mode of operation of the door concerned. Intumescent seals are normally fitted into a groove and can be a friction fit, self-adhesive, glued or mechanically fixed. Care is necessary when fitting self-adhesive seals to ensure that the groove is dry and free from dust or sawdust to ensure a good bond. The self-adhesive action deteriorates at lower temperatures, and additional mechanical fixing might be necessary if the seals are fitted at temperatures below 10 °C. Seals may be surface-mounted if they are sufficiently thin, but such seals are more prone to detachment than those fitted into grooves.

It should not be assumed that seals that have been tested with timber doorsets will perform satisfactorily with metal doorsets, and vice versa, unless supported by independent test evidence.