Room Integrity Testing

Testing room integrity

An Integrity test predicts how long fire suppressant agents take to descend to a given level in the room without having to release the gas itself.

This is done by sealing the room and testing the air pressure in the room – with our door fan equipment.

First the room is pressurised, readings taken, then afterwards to check those measurements the room is depressurised to take measurements to compare. The predicted retention time is calculated from these leakage characteristics and the enclosure and extinguishing system data.

A retention time of 10 minutes is the normal minimum period the suppressant agents are required to be retained for. Ten minutes is long enough for most deep-seated fires to be cooled so that re-ignition is unlikely. All room integrity tests conform to the guidelines set out in BS5306 and NFPA2001. It is applicable to all sizes of enclosure and all extinguishing gases, including IG55, IG541, FM200, FE25, HFC 227ea, FE25, Novec 1230 and CO2. After initial installation, integrity tests should be carried out at least annually thereafter.