Re: Electric windows and opening in a fire?

["rb_ziggy" <rb.lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm sure I saw a programme recently - Horizon possibly - that showed
work by a fire engineer.  They had designed a 'smart' monitoring
system for very large/high buildings.  It was quite counter-intuitive.

A key issue seems to be the room temperature.  As it reaches a certain
temperature a 'flashover' occurs and the room virtually explodes in a
fireball due to radiant heat.  The system monitored temperatures in
floors/ceilings and in a fire situation opened windows and doors to
create a cooling draught.  Though I think it could also close them too
in the initial stages to prevent smoke spreading and create exit routes.

They showed how it gave extra time to escape and allow firefighters
time to deal with the situation - in big fires it also allowed the
fire crews to monitor the building and understand when structural
failure (9/11) would occur.

So, not necessarily true that opening a window causes a problem, as I
say, quite counter-intuitive.  Mind you, the degree of sophistication
was staggering.  Not really HA and not exactly cheap if I recall.

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Andy Davies" <dajdavies@...> wrote:
>
> I'm no fire tech but I reckon it could make it worse as it creates a
chimney
> effect - hot air escaping will draw fresh air (and hence oxygen) in
- isn't
> the current fire prevention advice to close doors if you find a fire?
>
> A friend's Mum died in a fire about 15 years ago, she fell asleep
smoking
> but because the doors of the room she was in were closed the room
burnt out
> but the fire didn't spread.
>
>
> On 28/05/07, Paul Gale <groups2@...> wrote:
> >
> > Just wondering what the combined wisdom is of allowing an
automatic velux
> > window to open in the event of fire/smoke?
> >
> > Obviously (?) opening if a smoke detector goes off may be OK but
how about
> > opening in the event of a heat detector being triggered? Could
that make the
> > situation worse? (i.e. providing a nice supply of oxygen to the
fire?)
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>