🏗️ Reaction to fire test of building products excluding floorings (and products indicated in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/364) exposed to the thermal attack by a single burning item (SBI) — specimen of two perpendicular wings on a trolley, propane sandbox burner in the corner, test room (3,0 × 3,0 × 2,4) m, exhaust of 0,50–0,65 m³/s with measurement of temperature, pressure, O₂, CO₂ and light attenuation; results FIGRA0,2 MJ, FIGRA0,4 MJ, THR600s, SMOGRA, TSP600s, lateral flame spread LFS, PN-EN 13823

Construction PN-EN 13823

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The PKN catalogue card of PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12 (English version) has no scope field in Polish — it gives the title, the introduction of EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 [IDT] and the replaced editions. We read the text in the sample of SIST EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 (the text of EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 without changes) from the cover to 4.7.1 (page 13, thermocouple for the ambient temperature); we do not have Clauses 5–10 (specimen, conditioning, principle, test procedure with observations, results, test report) or Annexes A (normative — calculations of FIGRA, THR, SMOGRA, TSP), B (precision), C (normative — calibrations), D, E (normative — drawings), F and G — we know only their titles from the table of contents. We also downloaded the sample of SIST EN 13823:2020 (without amendment A1).

ACCORDING TO THE TEXT OF EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 (foreword, introduction, Clauses 1–4.7.1, table of contents). The standard was prepared by CEN/TC 127 “Fire safety in buildings” under a standardization request of the European Commission and EFTA; the document includes Amendment 1 approved by CEN on 8 May 2022 and supersedes EN 13823:2020; text altered by A1 is marked with tags (in the part we read: the burner switch response time “determined in the step calibration”, widening the backing board of the long wing by the width of the air gap, the opening of the hemispherical probe facing the incoming flow). Introduction: the classification of reaction to fire of building products excluding floorings is established by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/364; warning — fire testing can be hazardous, toxic or harmful smoke and gases are produced; hazard assessment, removal of smoke, written instructions and training; propane installation: equipment approved for propane, remote ignition (pilot flame or glow wire), leak warning and a valve cutting off the gas supply when the ignition flame goes out, nobody present in the test room during burner ignition, burner switch and main valve operated from outside the room; when extinguishing an intensively burning specimen a second operator ready to intervene and available extinguishing means are recommended. Scope (1): reaction to fire of building products excluding floorings and products indicated in Regulation 2016/364, exposed to the thermal attack by a single burning item (SBI); calculations — Annex A, precision — B, calibrations — C (normative) and D; note: the method was developed for essentially flat products — families of linear products (pipes, ducts, cables etc.) can need special rules. References (2): EN 13238, EN 13501-1:2018, EN 60584-1:2013, EN ISO 13943:2017. Terms (3): calcium silicate backing board; specimen (may include the mounting technique, an air gap, a substrate); substrate; THR600s — total heat release from the specimen in the first 600 s of exposure to the main burner; LFS — lateral flame spread on the long wing (details in 8.3.3); TSP600s — total smoke production in the first 600 s; FIGRA0,2 MJ and FIGRA0,4 MJ — maximum of the quotient of the heat release rate of the specimen and the time of its occurrence with a THR threshold of 0,2 MJ or 0,4 MJ (A.5.3); SMOGRA — maximum of the quotient of the smoke production rate and the time of its occurrence (A.6.3); sustained flaming (EN ISO 13943:2017). Facility (4): test room, apparatus (trolley, frame, burners, hood, collector, ducting), exhaust system and instruments; design drawings in Annex E, nominal dimensions unless tolerances are given in the text; the air entering below the trolley should be fresh. Room: inner height (2,4 ± 0,05) m, floor (3,0 ± 0,05) m in both directions; walls of building blocks (e.g. cellular concrete), gypsum boards, calcium silicate boards or other boards of class A1 or A2; trolley opening at least 1 470 mm × 2 450 mm, windows facing both specimen planes, an additional door; distance of the long wing surface from the wall (2,1 ± 0,05) m; total area of openings (except the air inlet under the trolley and the exhaust opening in the hood) not more than 0,05 m²; left- or right-orientated arrangement. Commercial propane of at least 95 % purity. Trolley with the two perpendicular specimen parts and the burner in the corner; air inlet under the trolley floor with perforated plates (open area 40–60 %, perforation diameter 8–12 mm); periodically check the L and C profiles with a spirit level (molten material must stay in the gully) and the level of the platform in front of the burner. Exhaust duct of inner diameter (315 ± 5) mm, insulated with 50 mm mineral wool, with a section containing guide vanes and an orifice (opening 265 mm) and the “general measurement section” (pressure probe, four thermocouples, gas sampling probe, light attenuation system); mass of the duct without probes about 250 kg. Two identical sandbox burners — main in the trolley and auxiliary on the frame: right-angled triangle with sides of 250 mm and height 80 mm, layers: 10 mm void, pebbles 4–8 mm up to 60 mm, sand 2–4 mm up to 80 mm (rounded river stones); top edge of the main burner (25 ± 2) mm above the U-profile, auxiliary burner at a height of (1 450 ± 5) mm; a triangular grid tilted (45 ± 5)° over the main burner when previous tests on the same type of product were terminated because of material on the sand bed. Shield of the auxiliary burner (370 ± 5) × (550 ± 5) mm. Mass flow controller 0–2,3 g/s with an accuracy of 1 % of the reading in the range 0,6–2,3 g/s, calibrated annually (note: 2,3 g/s corresponds to 107 kW at the effective heat of combustion of propane of 46 360 kJ/kg). Burner switch — does not supply both burners simultaneously except during switching, response time 9–12 s, operated from outside the room. Calcium silicate backing boards (EN 13238) of thickness (12 ± 3) mm: short wing at least (570 + specimen thickness) mm × (1 500 ± 5) mm, long wing (1 000 ± 5) mm × (1 500 ± 5) mm. Exhaust 0,50–0,65 m³/s (normalized to 298 K). Measurement section: three type K thermocouples (0,5–1 mm) at a radius of (87 ± 5) mm, 120° apart; hemispherical probe with a 0–100 Pa transducer, ± 2 Pa, 90 % response time up to 1 s; paramagnetic O₂ analyser (at least 16–21 %, response time up to 12 s, noise and drift up to 100 ppm over 30 min); infrared CO₂ analyser (0–10 %, linearity 1 % of full scale, response time up to 12 s); white light attenuation system — lamp (2 900 ± 100) K supplied with direct current stable within ± 0,5 %, beam at least 20 mm, detector matching the CIE V(λ) curve within ± 5 %, 90 % response time up to 3 s, purging of the side ducts not more than 5 l/min. A type K thermocouple (2 ± 1) mm at the trolley opening measures the temperature of the incoming air — here the sample ends.

STATUS (PKN catalogue cards as of 02.10.2026). The card of PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12 (English version, published 23-12-2022, 103 pages, price group XA) has no “Withdrawn” heading: Building and Building Structures Sector, KT 180 Fire Safety of Buildings, ICS 13.220.50, 91.060.01 and 91.100.01, “Introduces: EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 [IDT]”, “Replaces: PN-EN 13823:2020-11 – Polish version, PN-EN 13823:2020-11 – English version”. The card of PN-EN 13823:2020-11 (Polish version, 100 pages) has the “Withdrawn” heading: withdrawal date 23-12-2022, “Replaced by: PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12 – English version”; it itself replaced PN-EN 13823+A1:2014-12 (Polish and English versions). The PKN search for “PN-EN 13823” (02.10.2026) also shows the editions of 2002, 2004 and 2010.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, data up to 17.09.2026, read 02.10.2026). The number 13823 appears in 11 records at 7 laboratories: AB 008, AB 023, AB 053, AB 054, AB 1280, AB 1501, AB 1777 — each in a test item (marked “N”) and in the table of assessment of performance according to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (“EN 13823” for the essential characteristic “reaction to fire”). In the current scopes on the PCA website (read 02.10.2026, issues from 16.07.2025 to 01.09.2026) the edition with year “PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12” is given by AB 053 and AB 1777, “PN-EN 13823+A1” without year by AB 008, the number alone without year by AB 023, AB 054, AB 1280 and AB 1501. According to the legend of the PCA documents, “N” is a test method used in activities relevant to notification under Regulation (EU) No 305/2011. The “Laboratories” tab (“PN-EN 13823”) shows 7 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the production server labcoda.pl on 02.10.2026. In the scope of AB 054 (issue of 25.06.2026) the part of the scope marked in bold italics was suspended at the request of the body — the line with PN-EN 13823 is not marked so.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (PCA entries). Building products excluding floorings — reaction to fire: heat release (FIGRA, THR600s), smoke production (SMOGRA, TSP600s), lateral flame spread, flaming droplets and particles (AB 008 — also asphalt shingles and corrugated sheets, AB 023 — structural and finishing products, AB 054, AB 1280, AB 1501 — insulating, structural and finishing products, AB 053, AB 1777); all seven laboratories have the test in the table of assessment of performance of construction products next to EN ISO 1182, EN ISO 1716, EN ISO 11925-2 or EN ISO 9239-1.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. Flow: the exhaust must maintain 0,50–0,65 m³/s under test conditions — with changes in fire output some systems need manual or automatic readjustment (4.5.1, note); the duct must be cleaned of soot at intervals. Analysers: response time of O₂ and CO₂ up to 12 s, noise and drift of O₂ up to 100 ppm over 30 min — checked according to Annex C (4.6.3). Burner: the grid over the main burner is required when previous tests on the same type of product were terminated because of material falling on the sand bed (4.4.6 f). Molten material: the L and C profiles are checked with a spirit level so that molten material stays in the gully (4.4.1). Backing boards: with mounting with an air gap the backing board of the long wing is wider by the width of the gap (amendment A1, 4.4.10). Edition: the 2020 edition without amendment A1 was withdrawn on 23-12-2022; the number without year in four scopes does not show whether the laboratory applies the edition with A1.

WHAT WE DO NOT STATE. We do not have Clauses 5–10 or Annexes A–G: dimensions and mounting of the specimen wings, number of specimens, conditioning, times and sequence of burner operation, rules for observing LFS and flaming droplets, conditions for terminating the test, formulae for heat and smoke release rates, FIGRA, THR, SMOGRA and TSP, calibration procedures or precision data — so we do not state any of these numbers or formulae; this standard does not give the reaction to fire classes — classification using data from reaction to fire tests is EN 13501-1:2018 (referenced in Clause 2).

Method principle

A specimen of two perpendicular wings (short and long) is placed on a trolley in the test room and exposed to the flame of a propane sandbox burner in the corner; the combustion gases are collected by a hood, and in the exhaust duct temperature, pressure (flow), O₂ and CO₂ concentrations and white light attenuation are measured; from these measurements the heat and smoke release rates and the indices FIGRA, THR600s, SMOGRA and TSP600s are calculated, and lateral flame spread and flaming droplets are assessed visually.

Applications

• Building products excluding floorings — data for reaction to fire classification according to EN 13501-1; 7 laboratories in PCA scopes
• Assessment of performance of construction products in notification under Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (mark “N”)
• Essentially flat products — insulating, structural, finishing, shingles and corrugated sheets; linear products can need special rules

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12 (wersja angielska; EN 13823:2020+A1:2022 IDT)

Title (PL)

Badania reakcji na ogień wyrobów budowlanych — Wyroby budowlane, z wyłączeniem posadzek, poddane oddziaływaniu termicznemu pojedynczego płonącego przedmiotu

Title (EN)

Reaction to fire tests for building products — Building products excluding floorings exposed to the thermal attack by a single burning item

Step-by-step procedure

1. Facility

   Room, trolley, frame, duct and analysers according to Clause 4; calibrations according to Annex C. PN-EN 13823+A1:2022-12 current (PKN cards as of 02.10.2026).

2. Specimen

   Two wings (short and long) with backing boards, mounting according to Clause 5 and conditioning according to Clause 6 (EN 13238) — outside the part we read.

3. Test

   Trolley in the room, exhaust 0,50–0,65 m³/s, auxiliary burner, then switching to the main burner in the specimen corner; recording of temperature, pressure, O₂, CO₂ and light attenuation (Clause 8 — outside the part we read).

4. Observations

   Lateral flame spread on the long wing (LFS) and flaming droplets or particles according to 8.3 (outside the part we read).

5. Results

   FIGRA0,2 MJ, FIGRA0,4 MJ, THR600s, SMOGRA, TSP600s according to Annex A (we do not have the formulae); classification according to EN 13501-1.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Fire tests are hazardous — toxic or harmful smoke and gases are produced; hazard assessment, removal of smoke, written instructions and training (introduction)
• Propane installation: equipment approved for propane, remote ignition, leak warning, cut-off valve when the flame goes out; nobody in the room during burner ignition
• When extinguishing an intensively burning specimen — a second operator ready and extinguishing means available

Frequently asked questions