Fire test on the eFilm heating film for radiant ceilings

Two subjects that get confused

Electrical safety and reaction to fire do not answer the same question. The first says what happens if the product itself fails. The second says what happens if a fire that started elsewhere reaches it. A heating film has to answer both, and they are two separate files.

What the electrical side covers

A carbon film heats by resistance across its whole surface, with no localised hot spot. It is the connections that raise questions over time, not the web itself. Our conductors are tinned copper for that reason: oxidation at the connection is the commonest failure mode on older installations.

What the fire side covers

That is what this sequence is about. The film is put to the flame on both faces, and it is treated through the mass so that it does not sustain combustion. It is fitted above the occupants, and that is the whole reason for the treatment.

Replacing a failed older installation is described in this job under a roof. The flame retardant treatment is presented on the flame retardant heating films page.

What a heating film is worth after thirty years

We have replaced installations more than thirty years old whose films had failed. In almost every case it was not the carbon web that had degraded but the connections and the joints, oxidised. The web itself does not move: it is a carbon deposit, it does not rust and does not fatigue. The whole service life therefore comes down to the metal that feeds it.