Are Lift Doors Fire Rated?

Lift Doors in most instances are required to be fire rated. Typically, the fire strategy of a building identifies the landing doors as participating in the fire protection of the building and their required fire resistance.

The fire-resistance ratings are given by the duration, typically 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. Most manufactures nowadays supply automatic landing doors with a minimum of two-hour fire-resistance rating as standard.

Unlike other fire doors, lift doors are required to be tested from the landing side only. The methods for lift door fire testing are provided in European Standard BS EN 81-58:2018 and BS 476-22:1987. Most manufacturers have adopted BS EN 81-58 as the preferred lift door fire test method as it allows a door design to be recognised as acceptable in all European member states.

Test are carried by installing lift doors with their frames onto a typical concrete structure and attached to furnace opening (see Figure 1), to measure the integrity, radiation and thermal insulation.

Figure 1: Typical Lift Door Test Furnace

The technical documentation to prove compliance with the required lift door fire rating is supplied by the lift manufacturer/installer.

Any modification to the lift door away from the originally tested design such as change in lock system, door operator system, the addition of finish material is likely to invalidate the fire certificate.