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Engineering Dictionary

Fire Dampers

Fire dampers are components installed in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to prevent the system ductwork from spreading a fire from one area of a building to another. Fire dampers are typically a sheet of metal fins that drop into place to seal off a duct in the event of a fire. The dampers can be passive, dropping into place when the heat of the fire causes a retaining clip to melt, or active, controlled by an automatic fire safety system in which sensors and control systems are used to detect a fire and close the dampers.