Vision panels for fire doors are an excellent choice for your commercial property for many reasons. From aesthetics and lighting to practical and safety purposes, having fire-rated vision frames fitted in the fire doors in your building will open up your space and help keep its occupants safe.
What is the purpose of a vision panel in a fire door?
Vision panels not only allow lots of lovely light to flood through your building, open up otherwise claustrophobic corridors and make your doors look more attractive, they hugely improve your building’s fire safety.
Glazed vision panels for fire doors make it possible to see what’s on the other side of doors while the doors remain closed. An excellent safety feature, fire-rated vision panels mean a fire can be assessed while safely looking through a closed door. Door vision panels are also common in potentially hazardous environments, such as laboratories.
A sound solution for doors in busy areas, too, such as restaurants, bars and clubs, vision panels help reduce the risk of potential collisions from either side.
Should fire doors have vision panels?
Glazed vision panels can be aesthetically pleasing and extremely practical in fire doors. But if your fire door features a vision panel, it should, like all its other door hardware, be fire rated.
Vision panels for fire doors feature fire-resisting glass that can withstand the heat of a blaze for at least 30 minutes before it begins to soften. Non-fire-rated, ordinary glass, in contrast, will quite quickly crack in a fire and fall out of its frame.
Along with the fire-resisting glass, a crucial element of a fire-rated vision frame is using the correct material to secure its glass, commonly known as glazing tape. Care should be taken to ensure the glazing tape used is as equally fire rated as the door and glass, for instance, most intumescent glazing tapes have a fire integrity of at least 30 minutes — providing critical additional minutes of safety in the event of a fire.
A fire-resistant glazing system keeps the glass secure and provides additional safety during a fire.
What are the requirements for vision panels for fire doors?
If you have entrance or internal doors with door leaves wider than 450mm, approved document M of The Building Regulations states they must have suitable viewing panels, providing a zone of visibility between 500mm and 150mm from floor level. It also advises that fully glazed doors or doors with vision panels be used in entrance doors, doors in corridors and passageways in public buildings.
Fire-rated circular vision panels
Our top-selling clear glass Slimport circular vision panels not only make any door look great, but they have undergone extensive fire testing and provide an impressive duration of up to 240 minutes integrity in a fire (depending on door and glass type used). Our clear glass circular vision frames' flush-fitting design creates clean lines, improved safety and enhanced aesthetics.
Slimport clear glass circular vision panels for fire doors are ideal for your fire-rated doors. Take a look at our range of fire-rated products or call us on 01785 282 910 to talk to one of our knowledgeable team.