Fire protection in ventilated facades (VFL-FB)
Europrofil VFL-FB is a ventilated facade profile with integrated fire seal. The fire seal consists of a strip of expanding graphite compound that expands significantly even at low temperatures. The graphite strip expands to approximately 25 times its own thickness and can easily cope with unevenness in the air gap or in the ventilated facade.
VFL-FB is a safe, secure, and cost-effective solution for preventing the spread of fire in the air gap behind the facade material where you want to keep the ventilated air gap open.
Advantages of VFL-FB
- Effective fire protection for ventilated facades in Nordic conditions
- Extensively fire tested for up to 45 minutes in various construction materials; tests were conducted at RISE in Sweden.
- Effectively expands and seals air gaps up to 50 mm and is forgiving of unevenness in the substrate
- All-in-one: battens, fire protection, protection against flash fires and rodents
- Tested with both plasterboard and wind barrier/insulation
- The graphite tape is age-resistant and insensitive to moisture.
- Europrofil's ventilated facade battens with built-in fire protection are a convenient and quick solution on the construction site.
A common solution is to install VFL-FB at each joist edge as a replacement for a traditional VFL. As long as the installation instructions are followed, the job is done. This saves time and money and reduces the risk of incorrect installations. Europrofil's fire-resistant facade battens must be installed with fasteners spaced no more than 600 mm apart.
Designing ventilated facades
The expansion strip takes up minimal space so that ventilation through the facade profile is unobstructed.
In the event of heat generation, the expansion band expands and restricts the air flow.
A solution developed in collaboration between Europrofil and FireSeal
The fire seal, or expansion strip as it is actually called, is manufactured by FireSeal, which has extensive experience of fire seals in the offshore and shipbuilding industries, among others, and guarantees a first-class, well-tested, and documented fire sealing product. Test reports and approvals are available and can be ordered from Europrofil.
The fire seal consists of an intumescent tape that expands significantly even at low temperatures and is therefore forgiving of unevenness in the air gap. The graphite material is activated and expands if it starts to burn and the temperature exceeds 140°C. This means that ventilation is maintained while the air gap is fire protected. The intumescent strip expands significantly, up to 50 mm, and completely seals the air gap in the event of a fire, while the perforation in the profile prevents flames from passing through the air gap in the early stages of the fire, before the graphite in the intumescent strip has had time to expand fully.
The solution has been third-party tested at RISE test laboratories (Research Institutes of Sweden) in accordance with standard EN1364-6;201x, up to the equivalent of EI45. Tests have been carried out for use and installation in ventilated vertical air gaps in facades. The intumescent tape, Fire Barrier from FireSeal, has been assessed in several environmental assessment systems such as Svanen, Sunda Hus, Byggvarubedömningen, and Basta.