Fire Curtains: Servicing vs Call-outs

After the installation of your Active Fire Curtain, you should not need any further assistance from the team here at Adexon until your 6-monthly scheduled maintenance is due.

Anything other than biannual maintenance would be termed a call-out.

But what is the difference between servicing and call-outs?

Scheduled Maintenance & Servicing- SMS

Scheduled Maintenance & Servicing, SMS, follows a biannual schedule, as part of a wider 2-year SMS package. This includes the replacement of Fire Curtain batteries, which is advised after 2 years to ensure that battery back-up will continue to deploy the curtain if mains power is lost.

These SMS visits are conducted by Adexon engineers and are a thorough test of every component in the Active Fire Curtain system, from the headbox, to smoke seals, the Fire Curtain fabric to the control panel, which build on the weekly visual inspections completed by the building manager.

This regular inspection ensures that fire protection equipment provides the protection specified and ensures that any wear and tear does not cause unnoticed damage that eventually impacts performance and functionality.

Trained and qualified Adexon engineers would visit you on-site and inspect every Fire Curtain in a number of categories, including, but not limited to:

• motor and electrical functions.
• Mains power checks, including the security of connections, potential damage to wiring, and possible damage or water ingress to the control panel.
• Battery backup systems include charging capabilities of the transformer and operation on battery backup alone to ensure batteries successfully hold charge
• Alarm systems.
• Curtain deployment and redeployment is unhindered, and fabric moves freely through the guide.
• Curtain fabric condition, checking for rips, tears, snags etc.
• Check the positioning of the curtain once at the top, middle, and bottom limits.
• Visual inspection of smoke seals, if applicable.
• Visual inspection of key components such as the bottom bar, side guides, headbox, etc.
• Physically check the barrel ends and bearings are secured to the endplates.
• Check electrical accessories such as switches, key retracts, obstruction warning systems, photocells, emergency release buttons, and sound beacons.

Your visiting subcontractor will then fill out an inspection survey for each curtain and this will be stored with us on our system, alongside the copy you will be given with your quote for further work if it is necessary.[1]

SMS Cost

SMS visits are pre-planned, are free of charge as part of the Scheduled Maintenance and Servicing package and will have no associated cost to the building owner or manager, unless replacement parts are needed.

Further works noted from an SMS visit have an associated cost, based on the package you require.

The Standard Package

First Fire Curtain: ￡395.00

Subsequent Curtains: ￡195.00

The Premium Package

First Fire Curtain: ￡495.00

Subsequent Curtains: ￡2855.00

The Deluxe Package

First Fire Curtain: ￡550.00

Subsequent Curtains: ￡365.00

In essence, SMS can be thought of as preventative, while call-outs can be considered remedial.

Call-Outs

Call-Outs would occur most often to fix a problem with the Fire Curtain system or repair a fault.

We also commonly see Call-Outs from companies that are between SMS packages for their Fire Curtain.

Typical problems we find with Call-Outs to Fire Curtains include,

• fire Curtains popping free from smoke seals,
• faulty batteries that need replacing, and
• non-functioning control panels.

The Call-Out Process

The building manager will find a fault with their Fire Curtain and will then contact our main office to report their findings.

The client will discuss the problem with their Fire Curtain with our main office staff, who will quote for the Call-Out, using the standard pricing format, see below for more information.

The client will accept and e-sign the quote and the engineer will be booked to come to site for a diagnostic visit. We endeavour to arrange this as quickly as possible, but engineer workload and demand will ultimately decide their availability.

This visit will fit into one of the following categories, which have individual costs:

Business Hours, Mon-Fri 07:00-17:00

Out of Business Hours, Mon- Fri 17:00-07:00

Weekends and Public Holidays, 07:00- 17:00

The client can decide at what time they wish for the engineer to visit site, based on their view of the urgency of the repair, taking advice from the Adexon main office staff to help them with their decision.

Your engineer will then arrive on site, on your specified date. If a simple repair can be carried out on site, with no necessary parts, this could be the end of your Call-Out experience.

However, most repairs will require specialist parts, which will mean that a return visit will be necessary. If this is the case, your Fire Curtain will be left in a safe manner until the return visit is arranged, which will be planned with our main office staff.

The speed of the return visit will depend on:

• Engineer availability, and
• The timescale for ordering replacement parts. For example, if specialist parts will need to be manufactured before they can be delivered for use, clients may experience a short delay.

The client will then be issued with another quote detailing work expected to fix the fault, the cost of associated parts, and the charge associated with the visit categories, for example during category 1 office hours.

Once this quote has been e-signed, you will receive a date for your repair and necessary parts will be ordered.

The engineer will then return to site on the allotted day and complete the repair, ensuring the Fire Curtain is fully recommissioned before they leave site. The Fire Curtain is then ready for use. [2]

Call-Out costs

Call-Outs differ from Scheduled Maintenance and Servicing, SMS, in two ways,

• If they are unplanned, while SMS visits are always pre-planned, and
• the charge associated with the visit will differ, as SMS packages cover the cost of engineer visits, while Call-Outs are chargeable to the client.

As such, it is easy to see why the pricing of the two differs.

As is the case with all Call-Outs, the price will vary dependent on the requirements of each repair, the location of the site, and the time at which the Call- Out will be completed. The latter can be summarised into the following categories:

Business Hours, Mon-Fri 07:00-17:00: from ￡275.00

Out of Business Hours, Mon- Fri 17:00-07:00: from ￡355.00

Weekends and Public Holidays, 07:00- 17:00: from ￡425.00

Travel costs are charged at 60p per mile to and from site, from the closest of our Adexon office sites, regardless of where the engineer is travelling from, which keeps the associated cost to the client fair and competitive.

Adexon offices:

• Main office, Huyton, Merseyside,
• Powys, Wales, and
• Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

Prices for parts for individual Fire Curtain systems will vary depending on the age and specification of the Fire Curtain on site, but will always come from reputable, reliable sources, well-known to the office staff for their dependability and safety. [3]

SMS and Call-Outs require very different services from engineers and office staff, and as such are priced differently.

The importance of an SMS package cannot be overstated, as regular 6-monthly visits from Adexon engineers will ensure that general wear and tear faults are picked up quickly and are rectified, which may mean that the client never has to access Call-Outs.

However, it is reassuring to know the option for Call-Outs is available, so the Active Fire Protection you choose to install can continue to save the lives of building users, for many years to come.

Do you need a Call-Out?

Reach out to us via our office main line or use our enquiry form today! _________________________________________________________________________

[1] Image from Pexels.com, courtesy of Ksenia Chernaya

[2] Image from Pexels.com, courtesy of Pixabay

[3] Staff image of a Fire Curtain stalled above an interior door at St James’s Market,