If 20-minute rated specially tempered glass cannot pass the fire hose stream test, are there special issues I should address?
While we supply such a product, we are concerned that such products are frequently misused, or used in a way that will not allow them to perform properly. One need only walk through a number of commercial building projects to see that fire sprinklers are widely used as a method to suppress fires. That is good. However, one can easily imagine what will happen if water from the sprinklers impacts hot glass (fire-rated or not), that cannot withstand the thermal shock of the fire hose stream test. For that reason most building code areas in the United States limit the use of 20 minute fire-rated glass to 20-minute rated doors. Such doors are sometimes allowed in 60 minute fire-rated corridors. If 20-minute rated glass is extended to sidelights, transom lights, and borrowed lights, then we may have effectively reduced the entire wall rating to 20 minutes.
While we supply such a product, we are concerned that such products are frequently misused, or used in a way that will not allow them to perform properly. One need only walk through a number of commercial building projects to see that fire sprinklers are widely used as a method to suppress fires. That is good. However, one can easily imagine what will happen if water from the sprinklers impacts hot glass (fire-rated or not), that cannot withstand the thermal shock of the fire hose stream test. According to NFPA-80 (Fire doors and windows) and the 2003 IBC Section 715.3.3 (Door assemblies in corridors and smoke barriers) and Section 715.4 (Fire protection rated glazing), all glass in locations other than the 20 min. door itself (transoms, sidelites, window assemblies, etc.) require at least 45-minute ratings that can withstand the hose stream test.
