Resetting Manual Fire Dampers of the Curtain type is fiddly and, as stated in a report published in 2014 by Air Flow Inc of Milwaukee, “incredibly difficult”. Things haven’t changed much but read on to discover how IAQ have made resetting these dampers much easier.

What Air Flow Inc failed to point out in its report was that maintenance staff who are 1) likely to swear and curse when confronted with something fiddly and difficult and 2) are endowed with chubby fingers, should not be given the task. At least they shouldn’t be when a building is occupied and definitely not (as the example below shows clearly) while an important meeting is taking place in the building’s Board Room.

When asked about the incident at a prestigious City of London headquarters’ site, IAQ’s Director of Business Development, Brendan Day, said:

“…never underestimate the acoustic amplification and broadcast abilities of ductwork systems”.

It was during a Board Room meeting here that, according to an anonymous source “a presentation was interrupted by language most foul”. Our source went on to quote the words that were broadcast through a ventilation grill in the Board Room, “as though it were a Hi-Fi speaker”. The words were clearly heard and “drowned out those of the person giving a most important presentation”. For obvious reasons, I do not have the permission of the organisation or of IAQ to publish the words here.

I asked Brendan if there was anything that can be done to overcome the problem of amplification in ductwork systems. He said that unfortunately there was not and, the better maintained and cleaner the ductwork/ventilation system is the better the audio quality.

He also pointed out that Dampers must be open at all times, apart from when they slam shut to prevent fires and smoke spreading through buildings, which also facilitates the broadcast of sound through them. Brendan was able to offer a partial solution though, in the form of IAQ’s Fire Damper Reset Tool.

IAQ’s Fire Damper Reset Tool makes the resetting of Curtain Dampers far less fiddly and far less likely to cause the utterance of profanity by maintenance workers with nimble or chubby fingers. You can buy IAQ’s Fire Damper Reset Tools from its website. They cost £95 + VAT and are worth every penny, CLICK HERE TO BUY IAQ’s Damper Reset Tools.

Copyright Katy Coxall © for IAQ Services Limited 20th March 2023

CLICK HERE to watch a video of How to use IAQ’s Fire Damper Reset Tool

CLICK HERE to read Airflow Inc’s The Agony of Fire Damper Testing