Fire Retardant Q&A

Fire Retardant Canopys That The Fire Marshal Will OK

Question:  I sell products at a local swap meet.  Recently the fire marshal came by and told me I have to have a Fire Retardant Canopy.  Do you have any fire retardant plastic that I can use to make a canopy that the fire marshal will approve?  I need to provide proof that it meets the necessary specs.

Answer:  Yes, we have several options for you.  All of these recommendations have the words, "fire retardant" printed right on the film. The Dura-skrim products all meet or exceed the NFPA 701 Test, Method 2 (Large Scale Requirements) in addition to the CPAI Section 6 and 7. It also meets or exceeds Class "A" Wall and Ceiling Finish category as given in the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code 101, Section 6-5.3  You may chose Dura-Skrim 2 FR, Dura-Skrim 10FR, or ASFR-6 which is an anti-static fire retardant film. We can also issue you the Fire Retardant Certificate, certifying the plastic has passed the necessary fire test.  We have had customers who didn't need an entire roll, so they sold the plastic to other vendors and got theirs for free!

Fire Retardant Rope...Does it Exist?

Question:  I can't find Fire Retardant Rope. Will your Fire Retardant Safety Strapping work?

Answer: It's not an easy task finding fire retardant rope, according to a number of our customers.  While we do not offer traditional ropes in Fire Retardant versions, we have a series of Safety Strapping products available in FR that can often be used.  Our most popular is a ¾" polyester strap with a 2950 pound break strength.  One of our largest customers has tested this strap to pass the FAR 25.853a FR standard, which is the one required for interior items in airplanes.  Stocked coils are ¾" x 250' and ¾" x 1650'.

The Safety Strapping can be used as a substitute for rope for many applications.  We actually designed it to take the place of steel banding, but those looking for Fire Retardant Ropes have found this to be pretty handy!

What makes your plastic "fire retardant"?

Q:  I see all over your website you have a lot of fire retardant plastic sheeting. What do you mean by "fire retardant", and how is that possible?

A: Plastic sheeting by nature is highly flammable. This can pose a fire threat where ever it is used. A simple thing as a spark can catch the plastic sheeting on fire. When we add various fire retardant additive packages to the polyethylene, this retards the fire. The plastic will still burn but at a much slower rate, with less heat. Plastic sheeting that is fire retardant just means that a product that was once a significant fire hazard, is now not such a threat to its environment.

Please watch the video of a flame placed under a piece of Fire Retardant Plastic and Non Fire Retardant Plastic.

Burning question: Black Polyethylene vs. Clear Polyethylene

I was recently asked if black polyethylene burned hotter than clear polyethylene.  I thought this was both a very good question, and kind of interesting.  Pretty sure I knew the correct answer, I decided to contact a couple of engineers in the polyethylene industry to confirm my suspicions.  Since carbon black is the substance used to make black polyethylene black in color, and making black poly Fire Retardant is the most difficult of all the colors, one might just think that black polyethylene burns hotter than clear or other colors.  According to a Sr. Engineer with Raven Industries -The truth is that the color additives, including the carbon black do not affect the burning temperatures of the poly.  I doubt we will get this one on Mythbusters any time soon, but still feel like this was a worthwhile question, with a bit of a surprise answer. By Lee Hinsley

 
 
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