Radon Mitigation Systems Should Have Intumescent Firestop Collars Through Fire Walls
When you run a plastic pipe through a firewall, such as for a radon mitigation system, is fire-rated caulk enough? The answer is absolutely not! The garage is the #1 area a house fire occurs in. During a fire, that PVC pipe will melt leaving a hole through the firewall for oxygen to flow aiding in spreading the flame quickly throughout the home. How do you stop the fire from spreading? You have Intumescent Firestop Collars installed.
What the heck is an Intumescent Firestop Collar?
These are steel collars with a silicone strip that wrap around the pipe as they penetrate the firewall. When the PVC melts, the fire collar shrinks around piping and opening effectively sealing off the hole. A 3″ collar runs $12-$19. You can buy them for 1.5″ piping up to 6″. These Intumescent Firestop Collars are designed for fire rated for walls at 2-4 hours & for floors 1-2 hours.
Where Can You Buy Intumescent Firestop Collars?
Some of the USA manufacturers of this life-saving device are: Everkem out of Winston-Salem, NC http://everkemproducts.com, CSW Industrials (Metacaulk or Rectorseal) out of Houston, TX https://rectorseal.com, Sti out of Somerville, NJ https://www.stifirestop.com. You can see what they look like at these 3 websites.
The pic above is of a radon mitigation system missing the Intumescent firestop collar.