Question:  When adhesive smokeseal is installed on a fire-rated frame, the silencers are not installed and the silencer holes are left open beneath the gasketing.  NFPA 80 says that rated doors and frames are not allowed to have any open holes.  Are the open silencer holes a problem?

Answer:  The open silencer holes will be covered by the adhesive gasketing, so smoke transmission in the early stages of a fire will not be an issue.  The gasketing should keep the door properly aligned in the absence of silencers, so the door will latch properly.  When a fire door assembly is tested with silencers in place, the silencers would eventually melt away leaving open holes, and the assembly successfully passed the test in that condition.  In my opinion, having gasketing in lieu of silencers with open holes beneath the gasketing,  does not negatively impact the performance of the fire door assembly.

What do YOU think?  Agree or disagree?

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