Stephen W.

Duda, PE, Fellow ASHRAE

ASHRAE-Certified HBDP, HFDP, BEAP
Engineering & Architecture
St. Louis / Miami / Indianapolis / Philadelphia / New York Senior Mechanical Engineer
Columbia, IL / Hamden, CT / Toronto Ross & Baruzzini, Inc.
sduda@rossbar.com

Understanding Fire & Smoke

Damper Application Requirements
ASHRAE St. Louis Chapter Tech Session
February 9, 2015

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Learning Objectives for this Session
1. Learn and understand the four different types of Fire-Rated wall
construction in the IBC.
2. Learn and understand the three different types of Smoke-rated wall
construction in the IBC.
(Hint: none of them is called a Smoke Wall no such thing).
3. Learn where an HVAC duct cannot penetrate rated construction at all,
not even with a life safety damper.
4. Learn where and when to apply fire dampers, smoke dampers, or
combination dampers.
5. Learn some tips and tricks to avoid applying unnecessary fire or smoke
dampers.

6. Learn the importance of delving into Chapter 7 of the IBC it is not just
the Architects domain.
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 Tech Session Outline
Introduction
Why Learn this Stuff
Codes Referenced
Fire-Rated Construction
Fire Walls
Fire Barriers
Shaft Enclosures
Fire Partitions
Smoke-Rated Construction
Smoke Barriers
Smoke Partitions
Hospital Corridor Walls
Design Tips #1 through #8
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 The Engineers Notebook Series
Established (in its current format) by Fred Turner, then-editor
of the ASHRAE Journal, beginning October 2013.
Rotating system of Four Senior Mechanical Engineers in the
day-to-day practice of HVAC Engineering; all ASHRAE Fellows.
Each author contributes 3 columns per year.
Steven Taylor (Taylor Engineering, Alameda, CA).
Stephen Duda (Ross & Baruzzini, St Louis).
Kent Peterson (P2S Engineering, Long Beach, CA, Presidential Member)
Daniel Nall (Syska Hennessy, New York City)

We hope you are reading it and are finding it useful.

This Tech Session is adapted from the July 2014 column . . .
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 Introduction
Why Learn this Stuff? It is in the Architects part of the Code!
Some HVAC engineers and designers are uncertain where to
put fire dampers and smoke dampers.
Even some Architects dont fully understand the differences
between partition types.
This leads some to specify fire and smoke dampers where
they really are not required.
Others may fail to specify fire and smoke dampers where they
are required, setting up a potential life safety hazard.
So we owe it to our clients and the Average Jane/John Doe
who occupy our buildings and trust our expertise.
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 Introduction
This Summary is based on the 2012 Edition of the
International Building Code.
The 2009 edition of IBC has the same requirements but with
different paragraph numbering.
Most jurisdictions in our region of practice enforce one or the
other of the above code editions.
NFPA 90A is also used for guidance.

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 Fire-Rated Construction
There are four types of fire-resistance rated walls.
Before you can know what type (if any) fire damper to use,
you first must know which of the four types of walls you have.
To learn about the 4 types, see IBC Chapter 7.

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 1. Fire Walls
Major separation walls between buildings or to divide one
building into separate buildings.
This is the most restrictive of the various types of fire-rated
walls, and is rather rare on most building projects.
Most fire-rated walls within buildings are not this extreme.
So dont refer to all rated construction as Fire Walls!!
A Fire Wall actually allows you to treat the spaces on opposite
sides of the wall as totally separate buildings.
Usually three to four-hour rated, and are usually structurally
independent.

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 1. Fire Walls
You cannot run a duct or air transfer opening through a Fire
Wall located on a property or lot line not at all not even
with a fire damper.
If you run a duct or air transfer opening through a Fire Wall
located within a building, use a three-hour fire damper.

2012 IBC Section 706

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 2. Fire Barriers
Medium-rating level of the various types of fire-rated walls.
Examples:
Exit passageway enclosures
Atrium boundaries
Stairwell enclosures
Separations between occupancies in a mixed-use building
Usually two-hour rated, but there are exceptions, so check
with the architect.

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 2. Fire Barriers
You cannot run a duct or air transfer opening through an exit
passageway enclosure or stairwell enclosure (not at all; not
even with a fire damper) unless that duct is for the purpose of
independent stairwell pressurization.
If you run a duct through other types of Fire Barriers, use a
1-hour fire damper.
Exception: If the fire barrier is only one-hour rated, and if the
building is fully sprinklered, and if the system is fully ducted
(not an air transfer opening), then you dont need a fire
damper.
2012 IBC Section 707

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 3. Shaft Enclosures
Usually two-hour rated.
Shaft enclosures are not required if all of the following are
true:
(a) fully-sprinklered building,
(b) not a hospital or prison,
(c) connects only two floors and no more.
In the above case, use a 1-hour horizontal fire damper at the
floor line.
Other than the above case, shaft enclosures are required
anytime a duct travels vertically floor-to-floor.

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 3. Shaft Enclosures
A 1-hour fire damper and Class I or II smoke damper (or
combination damper meeting both requirements) is required
at each penetration of a shaft enclosure.
If the shaft does not extend all the way to the bottom of the
building, some Code officials may allow you to place a
horizontal fire/smoke damper at the floor level where the
duct emerges from the bottom of the shaft.
Other Code officials will rule against this and will instead
require that the shaft be extended down into the ceiling
cavity of the floor below, so that your duct can emerge from
the side of the shaft with a vertical fire/smoke damper.
2012 IBC Section 713
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3. Shaft Enclosures

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 Design Tip #1
You can avoid the fire/smoke damper at the shaft penetration
if all of the following are true . . .
You have a vertical shaft with exhaust ducts entering the shaft
on every floor (such as in a high-rise hotel or dormitory),
You build steel sub-ducts that extend vertically upward into
the vertical riser by at least 22 inches,
And if there is a continuous flow of air upward to the
outdoors (e.g., the exhaust fan is on the roof and is always
on).
In some jurisdictions, the fan must be on emergency power
for this exception to qualify.
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Design Tip #1

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 Design Tip #2
In those cases where horizontal fire dampers at a floor
penetration are permitted . . .
Most manufacturers require that the damper be supported by
and framed with a concrete floor; the dampers are not listed
to be supported by gypsum board.
So you must coordinate with the structural engineer to
provide an opening in the concrete floor sized precisely for
the damper plus space for expansion and contraction as
required by the damper listing.

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 4. Fire Partitions
Minimum-rating level of the various types of fire-rated walls.
Usually one-hour rated.
Examples:
Corridor walls
Tenant-separation walls in a multi-tenant building
Walls dividing dwelling units in multi-family housing.
Note that corridor walls in most fully-sprinklered buildings are
not required to be rated at all (IBC 1018.1).

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 4. Fire Partitions
If all of the following are true, then you dont need a fire
damper (IBC 717.5.4, Exception #4):
A given fire partition is not more than one-hour rated
The building is fully sprinklered
The system is ducted (not a transfer opening)
Otherwise, in non-sprinklered buildings and/or in transfer
openings, use a 1-hour fire damper.
2012 IBC Section 708

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 Smoke-Rated Construction
There are three types of smoke-resistance rated walls.
Before you can know what type (if any) smoke damper to use,
you first must know which of the types of walls you have.
To learn about the 3 types, see IBC Chapter 7.
Most importantly there is no such thing as a Smoke Wall
the term simply does not exist within the context of building
codes.
It is important to use the correct terminology.

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 A. Smoke Barriers
Found in hospitals and prisons, and are used to completely divide a
building floor into two compartments.
A tell-tale sign of a smoke barrier on a hospital floor is to look for a
double opposite-swing door in the corridor; that door will be on the
smoke barrier wall.
In a hospital, every floor that features patient care or patient
sleeping rooms (as opposed to floors that are exclusively
administrative or educational) must have a smoke barrier that runs
straight (or reasonably close to straight) across the entire floor,
from one exterior wall to the other, that divides the floor into two
distinct halves.
Smoke Barriers are a more restrictive classification than Smoke
Partitions.
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 A. Smoke Barriers
A Class I or II smoke damper is required at each duct
penetration of a smoke barrier.
Smoke barriers are also automatically one-hour fire partitions,
so go back a few slides to determine a possible fire damper
requirement.
For HVAC reasons, architects must use the term Smoke
Barrier only where they truly apply. If the terminology is used
correctly, we can eliminate a lot of unnecessary smoke
dampers.
2012 IBC Section 709

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 B. Smoke Partitions
Used to enclose storage rooms, trash rooms, boiler and
furnace rooms, and similar rooms that have a higher-than-
average chance of fire.
These are not nearly as significant as smoke barriers.
Smoke partitions are intended to contain the smoke and heat
resulting from a fire just long enough to activate sprinklers or
smoke detectors quickly.

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 B. Smoke Partitions
A Class I or II smoke damper is required at each air transfer
opening in a smoke partition.
Nothing is required in ducted penetrations of smoke
partitions, and this is where I most often see over-
specification.
Ducted penetrations of smoke partitions do not require
smoke dampers.
2012 IBC Section 710

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 C. Hospital Corridor Walls
Corridor walls in a hospital are required to form barriers to
limit the transfer of smoke but are not smoke barriers.
Corridor walls in a hospital are actually considered smoke
partitions, not smoke barriers. This is another area where
some designers use smoke dampers unnecessarily.
No dampers are required in ducted penetrations of smoke
partitions, including hospital corridor walls.
2012 IBC Section 407.3

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 Design Tip #3
Do not put any dampers in Type 1 grease exhaust and clothes
dryer exhaust systems (IBC 717.5.3).
If your hood or dryer exhaust duct crosses a rated wall or
floor, then instead of a damper you must encase the duct
itself in a rated enclosure such as a fire-rated gypsum board
shaft or a listed/labeled fire-wrap insulation material.

Or use sub-ducts in lieu of dampers at vertical shafts (see

Design Tip #1).
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 Design Tip #4
Fire dampers are available in 1-hour and 3-hour ratings.
Those are generally the only two choices.
Use a 1-hour fire damper in 1-hour or 2-hour walls.
Use a 3-hour fire damper in 3-hour or 4-hour walls.

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 Design Tip #5
Fire dampers are available as static or dynamic.
Static fire dampers are only tested to close without air moving
in the duct.
Dynamic fire dampers are tested to close with or without air
moving in the duct.
I recommend you always specify dynamic fire dampers since
the cost difference is trivial.

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 Design Tip #6
Fire damper Frames:
Frame A means the blades, in the open position, partially
block the free area of the duct.
Frame B means the blades, in the open position, are
completely outside the free area of the duct.
Frame C is for round ducts.
These frame types apply only to curtain-type fire dampers,
not to multi-blade type dampers like most combination
fire/smoke dampers.

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 Design Tip #6

Frame C

Frame A

Frame B

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 Design Tip #7
Fire dampers and smoke dampers must be accessible for
service.
If reaching inside the duct is necessary (for example, to re-
open a closed fire damper) then you must provide a duct
access door and a ceiling access panel or an accessible ceiling
type.

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 Design Tip #8
If a fire or smoke damper placement will interfere with the
operation of an engineered smoke exhaust system (such as for
an atrium), approved alternate protection shall be used (IBC
717.2.1).
What I have usually done in this case is to specify a remotely
resettable fire/smoke damper addressable by the fire
department at a fire command center.
For buildings where engineered smoke control is required by
code, smoke damper open/closed status indication is required
for all dampers that affect the proper operation of the smoke
control system.
To be continued . . . at tonights 2nd Presentation.
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 Conclusion / Wrap-Up
Know the four different types of Fire-Rated wall construction
in the IBC and use the terms correctly.
Know the three different types of Smoke-rated wall
construction in the IBC and use the terms correctly.
There is no such thing as a Smoke Wall.
A ducted penetration (i.e., not a transfer opening) in a one-
hour fire partition in a fully-sprinklered building does not
require a fire damper.
Ducted penetrations (i.e., not a transfer opening) in a smoke
partition does not require a smoke damper.

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 Bibliography
ICC. 2012. International Building Code. Chicago: International
Code Council, Inc.
NFPA. 2012. Standard 90A Standard for the Installation of Air-
Conditioning and Ventilating Systems. Quincy, MA: National
Fire Protection Association.
Duda, Stephen. 2014. Fire & Smoke Damper Application
Requirements. ASHRAE Journal 55 (7), July issue. Atlanta:
ASHRAE, Inc.

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 Questions / Comments?

Stephen W. Duda, PE
sduda@rossbar.com

Thank you for Attending!

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