FAQ Passive Fire Protection

Give us a ring. We need to know what substrate you need to protect and in what situation. We can then give advice on what products would be suitable to use, based on what fire test that best matches your situation. Nordic QVFR flame retardant coatings meet the demand on wood and wood based substrates.

Your fire consultant will tell you what protection you need.
Flame retardant products result in a surface that does not ignite easily. Look for a rating called B-s1,d0.
Fire protective products are normally intumescent: they react to a fire and form a protective crust. Look for a rating called EI30 (or EI60 etc, the number is the amount of minutes of protection you get).
In our coatings range you find both: Nordic QVFR is flame retardant, HW-series is fire protective.

Normally, no. All our products are suited to be installed by anyone who can read an installation instruction. Normal carpentry or decorating tools are all you need.

All our fire rated paints and varnishes are water-based and non- hazardous. They are tested for Indoor Air Emissions, to prove that they are as clean as we claim. As far as we are aware, Nordic QVFR Clear is the only water based fire rated varnish including top coat on the market.

With two coats of paint or varnish you can upgrade indoor wood to a fire rated status, either to B-s1,d0 or EI60. All our paints are designed to provide an invisible protection. With Nordic QVFR Clear flame retardant varnish with a matt finish, the impression is that you have just the bare wood.

There is a relationship between BS and EN.
BS refers to British Standard and EN refers to the EN organisations. The EN organisations are a regional grouping of the countries that are part of the European Union. The two EN standard bodies (CEN and CENELEC) are composed of representatives from each of the EU member nations. It is up to each nation in the EN system to publish each standard as it is adopted in that country. In the UK, the official editions of the EN standards are always published by BSI (the organisation that publishes the BS standards) as BS EN documents.
The temperature curves in the tests are slightly different and the results are called different things. What in BS terms is called Class 0 Class1 is for example called B s1, d0 in the EN-system. A fire consultant is allowed to use his or her sound judgement on what test can still be used.
Fire is fire and burns the same no matter what we call it.

From us you will always be able to get the following:

– Safety data sheet
– Technical data sheet
– Installation or application instructions

More importantly: we will always endeavour to give good advice on what product to best suit your need.
At the end of the process we can issue a Certificate of Supply, stating what fire rating you have achieved, with references to relevant tests. As the aim of passive fire protection is that the protection is invisible it can be useful to have a document to show what has been done.

We can often deliver overnight.

Normally not. We have tests on previously painted surfaces for our coatings.

As early as you can. We can give advice that might change the materials you choose. Some of our products have additional benefits, like sound insulation properties.

In order to keep the fire rating for the wall, you need to protect the hole created by the pipe or cables. Firoblok intumescent is tested to E120, EI90, according to the principles in EN1366-3.