Today’s Wordless Wednesday photo, taken in a wastewater treatment pump station and sent to me by Macan Deve Engineers, is a classic!
And because I promised to explain these photos for people who are newer to the code requirements for doors and hardware, the sign says that these doors are fire doors, and fire doors have to be closed and latched to do their job, and these doors are permanently blocked open. Yikes!
You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.
To me appears doors lead to an exterior area.
May be rated, but possibly not needed, and just a few other problems if they are required to be…
Especially the top two portions
Guess you could call them Dutch doors????
Hi Charles –
Yes, there are definitely other problems with these doors if the rating is required.
– Lori
Correct me I I am wrong; but since it is on the exterior, and does not contain hazardous materials, it is not required.
Hi Tim –
I don’t know for sure, but wastewater treatment plants are often considered high hazard occupancies. We also can’t tell from the photo whether there is a hazard that would prompt the fire rating.
– Lori
I think it is very common in the Sewage Water Room. Once the pipe was lay, it cannot be removed, even when fire inspector comes.
Regardless of the sign on the door says, that is not a fire rated door label. I am curious, do these doors need to be fire rated? They appear to be an exterior door and normally exterior doors are not fire rated but I am far from an expert on the location of fire rated doors. Which code and section would apply to require them to be fire rated? Additionally the hoist rail and power leave an opening at the top of the door would prevent them from being fire rated even if they closed and latched properly. This appears to be as the doors were originally installed and the large hoses were placed there later.
Additionally the two halves of the “Dutch door” appears to be a straight path through not stepped or typical of the couple fire rated Dutch doors I have seen.
Hi Greg –
There are some instances where exterior doors would need a fire rating – typically based on the percentage of openings in the wall or the proximity of other buildings. I can’t tell from this photo whether the rating is actually required or not.
– Lori
While the signage states these are fire doors, it appears likely that these are exterior doors and there are pretty limited instances where a rated exterior wall and door is required.
I agree that there are limited circumstances where exterior doors are fire rated, but I think these could be a candidate. I would need to see more of the building to know.
– Lori
I wonder how they weatherstrip around the opening in the door panels for the rail & copper tubing?
Looks like the top of the door has been modified to accommodate the steel I-beam and adjacent piping. Also, it appears that hardware on the bottom of the right side upper door is missing. Add in the signage that appears to be screwed to the door. If these are truly rated fire doors these items would seem to be a bigger issue. How long have the floor level piping and cords been in place? Is this temporary work, as it appears no leave, dirt, debris build-up and the ropes show no signs of weather/sun damage, or is it a permanent “new” change? No data provided. Just curious to learn more as you normally provide great details and explanations.
Hi Dean –
Often when photos are submitted to me – and sometimes even when I take the photo myself – I don’t know the whole story. I have no data on this one, I posted it for the irony…a door with fire door signage permanently (or semi-permanently) kept in the open position.
– Lori
So when exactly is a fire door not a fire door???
From what is seen in this photo there is a strong inference that a rated fire door assembly may not actually be required in this wall opening. More commonly than not, a wall opening to the exterior will not be protected by a rated fire door assembly unless there is some sort of exterior fire exposure that could possibly threaten to enter the interior of the building through an unprotected opening.
Further confusing the appropriate protection of such wall openings is a common practice in certain sectors to specify rated fire door assemblies in certain instances based upon personal bias that fire door assemblies are built “stronger” than other door assemblies and can “take” more abuse / wear and tear than non-rated doors.
Next someone with perfectly good intentions applies a fire door sign because they spot a fire door label. Then the fire inspector comes to visit and the next thing the facility knows citations start getting written. Before long everyone starts to believe this assembly is a required fire door… and a very expensive snowball starts rolling downhill…
Having said that, enough is not known in terms of does this opening serve as a means of egress from this space? If it does that would open more than another can of worms for this facility, especially if someone mistakenly identifies this opening as a means of egress.
More likely than not, this opening was designed and built to be a communicating opening for the infrequent movement of large equipment.
Would also be a great photo to use in an OSHA training course!
Hi Larry –
I was just thinking that I need to do some posts on when exterior doors need to be rated. 🙂
– Lori
This is a monorail door. This type of opening cannot be fire rated as the monorail cut out in the frame and door would allow fire to penetrate the opening. It is definitely not a well-maintained opening.