prEN 14351, future harmonised standard for external doors and windows

The competent European technical committee maintains that the document has reached a stage of definition to enable outside distribution for the collection of comments.Part of prEN 14351 is destined to become compulsory to all effects.In fact, the document has been drawn up on mandate by the European Commission to be used, on approval and publication of its reference in the Official Journal of the European Communities, as a "harmonised" standard in support of directive 89/106/EEC on construction products. Observance of a considerable part of the specifications of the future EN 14351 will in fact ensure that products conform to the essential requirements of the directive, to enable the manufacturer to apply CE marking and issue products onto the European market. prEN 14351 will also include, in addition to the requirements for CE marking, a series of voluntary prescriptions.

The essential requirements of the directive are specified as follows for the case of external door and windows:

for the first essential requirement "Mechanical resistance and stability", the draft standard envisages load and wind resistance tests and, in the exclusive case of skylights, tests for resistance to snow and permanent loads;

for the second essential requirement "Safety in the event of fire", tests are envisaged to establish the performance in the event of external fires, reaction and resistance to flames, as well as functional tests on the opening/closing devices of emergency exit doors and on the control of the spread of flames/smoke;

watertightness, as well as conformity to national legislation regarding the emission of harmful substances, are characteristics that enable the guarantee of conformity with requirements no. 3, "Hygiene, health and environment";

"safety in use", essential requirement no. 4, is demonstrated through tests on impact resistance, verification of load-bearing capacity of safety devices for hinged or bolted doors, and tests to ensure correct operation of automatic opening/closing devices;

assessment of the sound-proofing properties enables specifications of the level of "noise protection", the fifth essential requirement in the directive;

especially important for all doors and windows is the sixth and last essential requirement; "Energy saving and heat retention" is tested by determining the air permeability of the door or window, the solar factor and the light transmission factor of the glazed section.

The above-listed properties must be guaranteed "for an economically viable duty lifetime".
According to the intended use of the door or window, the European Commission specified in the decisions of 25 January 1999 (1999/93/EC) and 22 June 1998 (94/436/EC) which systems for conformity certification should be adopted, as foreseen by the Directive, and in other words to what extent the third party notified body should intervene.

System 4, the most "bland" version, which envisages that the declaration of conformity is issued by the same manufacturer on the basis of initial type tests and control of factory production performed under the responsibility of the manufacturer, is foreseen mainly for doors and gates destined exclusively for movement within buildings.

Unlike the above, system 3 envisages that the initial type testing must be performed by a notified laboratory, and must apply to doors, gates and windows for all specified and declared use that is different from the limitations of flames/smoke and the use of emergency exits. Skylights are also subject to this system for a number of specified applications.

System 1 must be adopted when the intended use is to limit the propagation of smoke/flames, as well as in emergency routes, and envisages that certification of conformity is issued by a notified body, which intervenes also in the case of initial type tests and supervises the control of factory production.