By Healthcare Facilities Today

In a fire safety code Q&A on the FacilityCare website, Brad Keyes, senior consultant, Keyes Life Safety, discussed fire dampers in rated walls.

Q: Are fire dampers required in one-hour fire-rated walls if the facility is fully sprinkled? 

A: According to NFPA 90A (1999 edition), one-hour fire-rated barriers do not require fire dampers in fully ducted HVAC systems, unless the one-hour fire-rated barrier is a vertical shaft. If the air duct is an air transfer opening (meaning it is not fully ducted) at the fire-rated barrier, then the duct needs a fire damper where other openings are required to be protected as well. However, two-hour fire-rated barriers do require fire dampers in fully ducted HVAC systems. Being fully sprinklered or not has no bearing on the requirement for fire dampers. However, it does have a bearing on whether smoke dampers are needed.

Read the article.