Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Every day I find a new excuse to avoid reading and writing about smoke doors. I swear I'll get back to them, but as construction gets rolling again we're getting really busy.
Sortie D’Urgence. Briser et Presser.
This is a new one. Translation: "Emergency Exit. Break and Press."
Retrofit Dogging Pin
I've seen lots of creative ways of dogging fire exit hardware, but this one gets an "E" for Effort (along with an "F" for Fail). These devices are on fire doors in a hotel ballroom, and while someone went to great lengths on this modification, these doors are supposed to be self-latching to compartmentalize the building during a fire. The doors also had kick-down holders, so they're not self-closing either. :-(
Afghanistan
It's been almost a year since I started keeping track of which countries have visited this site, and the count currently stands at 110 countries. WOW! The visits from new countries has slowed dramatically since there are already so many on the list, so I thought it might be fun to post a door photo from each new country as they're added.
Tiny Closer
I think these are about the tiniest closers I've ever seen. One was obviously not enough to get the bathroom door closed, so another one was added. The door still wouldn't close, so the closer was flipped around and mounted the opposite way. The door STILL wouldn't close, AND the sound of the closers was horrendous! (video evidence below)
TJ Bracket
When someone wants to install an electromagnetic lock on the pull side of the door, I feel like it's my civic duty to warn them that the installation will not be pretty. I was finally able to get a photo of this application in the T.F. Green Airport today, so I'll be able to use it as descriptive evidence in the future.
Dutch Door
I know I'm supposed to be talking about smoke doors but each of those posts takes quite a bit of research time. I'm headed out of town tomorrow for a meeting about fire door inspection, so I'll get back to the smoke doors later in the week.
Please Do Not Sit
My old buddy George Nimee used to tell a story about a school custodian who put black grease on the top of all the closer arms in the school. When the kids jumped up and grabbed the closer arm their hands would get all greasy, they'd wipe their hands on their shirts, and the custodian would know who'd been hanging on the closer arm. Ingenious!
FDAI Speed Dating
Tonight I attended the local DHI chapter meeting, where I was one of the presenters in a "cracker barrel" style presentation on fire door assembly inspection. It was kind of like FDAI speed dating. We had 6 tables, each with a different topic and 1 or 2 presenters per table, and the attendees cycled through all of the tables to hear a 10-minute presentation on each topic.
Construction Zone
I know you're probably anxious for me to get back to the smoke series, but it's Mothers' Day so I'm going to take one more day off. Instead I'm posting the photos below, which I took yesterday at the local college campus center. Our school was using their function room for a fundraiser, and this door was the emergency exit for the room. On the other side of the door is a construction zone, and neither door was operable.
Bear Break
I'm working on the next post about smoke but this has been an extremely busy week.
Smoke – NFPA 80
NFPA 80 - Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, is a document which most of us in the hardware industry began studying in our earliest hardware school courses and refer back to throughout our careers. This standard is THE publication on fire doors, and is referenced by all of the codes and standards used in the U.S. that have anything to say about fire doors. You'd think that because of the close relationship between fire doors and smoke doors (some fire doors ARE smoke doors, after all) that NFPA 80 would have something to say about smoke. As it turns out, not much.