Apreco continue to lead the way in the fire suppression market with annual testing of their pressure relief vents. The safety of building structures is of paramount importance to Apreco. Subsequently, their pressure relief vents undergo rigorous fire testing to the EWCL5 certification.
Apreco were the first manufacturer to obtain the EWCL5 for their pressure relief vents following numerous meetings and discussions with WarringtonFire.
Pressure relief vents
With no harmonized code available for fire testing of pressure relief vents available at the time, Apreco created a test protocol in conjunction with the EWCL5. As a result, the performance of these vents could now be evaluated as if in real-world scenarios.
The EWCL5 is a thorough and comprehensive audit of both Quality Management (QMS) and Factory Production Control (FPC). This is carried out by WarringtonFire prior to sampling and testing of the pressure relief vents. Annual inspections are then carried out to ensure that product integrity is continuously maintained.
Successfully tested construction
To obtain the EWCL5, manufacturers must produce products to a successfully tested construction
This scheme arms building owners and specifiers with the confidence that the products supplied are of the same specification as those which have been successfully tested. As part of the continued registration, the vents are retested every 5 years.
To obtain the EWCL5, manufacturers must produce products to a successfully tested construction, with a regular audit of the production process. The records of these products are then kept, enabling full traceability. WarringtonFire witness the production of these products at Apreco’s factory in the West Midlands, before labeling the product for testing. This ensures that the assembled product is the one tested.
Fire integrity tests
This gives specifiers a performance that has been verified by experts in fire safety – something that Apreco report is lacking in the industry. Certification for pressure relief vents has now become a global requirement, however, Apreco believes there is still a very difficult situation in some countries where manufacturers are supplying products that had not been tested.
Upon retaining their EWCL5 certification, Mike Hodges, Managing Director, says “This shows the continued hard work of the team at Apreco. This year not only did we undertake our QMS inspection, but this was also the year for product retesting, with revised and updated versions of both the IGV® and SGV® vents successfully completing the fire integrity tests.”