“Thermal Barriers and Ignition Barriers” Q&A Forum Debuts on SprayFoam.com

(July 30, 2010) - Mike Kiser, President of Flame Seal Products, Inc., was recently enlisted by SprayFoam.com to moderate a new Q&A forum on the site focused on “Thermal Barriers and Ignition Barriers”. Kiser is considered a leading authority in water based intumescent coatings technologies. In fact, as the inventor of the world’s first “super-intumescent” technology in 1994, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most qualified experts in the field. He has shared his knowledge and expertise with fire protection organizations around the world in order to help develop an understanding and awareness of this relatively new and often misunderstood technology.

“I am extremely excited about this opportunity to communicate with a broad spectrum of people in the spray foam industry.  I hope to help clarify some of the confusion and misunderstanding that exists regarding fire codes, fire testing, intumescent coatings, and of course thermal and ignition barriers. I also welcome ideas and suggestions from everyone in the SPF industry, as I expect to learn a lot from this experience as well.”

Over the past few years, intumescent coatings have become increasingly popular as a form of passive fire protection, especially applied as a thermal and ignition barrier over spray foam insulation. However, there are still many misconceptions about these coatings. One of the causes of this confusion is that pre-existing fire codes were not written to include such materials. To make matters worse, the fire officials who administer these codes at times have had difficulty determining the regulations that should apply to such coatings. Recognizing this growing issue, Kiser volunteered to help address this deficiency in the fire codes in order to further advance “understanding and awareness” of intumescent technologies.

Mr. Kiser became intimately involved in these codes as well as the associated organizations. He became an active member of the International Code Council (ICC), studying the IBC, IRC and IFC documents as they relate to specific industries. The first industry he targeted was spray foam insulation because, as a participant in that industry, he had witnessed a high level of confusion regarding the fire codes and intumescent coatings, specifically thermal barriers and ignition barriers.
 
In his early efforts to help simplify these issues, Kiser helped clarify the wording in ICC’s AC377 document regarding thermal barriers in order to make it easier to understand.  Although these changes were a good start, Mike points out that there is still much more to do in order to properly educate the industry about these topics.
 
“I have always sought to bring clarity and uniform understanding to complex issues such as this and have often been told that I am able to describe these complex issues in a way that makes them easy to grasp. I hope that this ability will allow me to be effective in a larger forum and bring understanding to a greater number of people.”

Mr. Kiser has begun to consult with fire code officials and fire marshals across the nation with the goal of helping to create a uniform and consistent understanding and interpretation of the codes, particularly how they relate to the SPF industry.  Kiser describes his mission as follows: “The people trying to work day to day within the spray foam industry need to be able to understand these issues, as well as count on the officials to be consistent in their interpretation of the codes.” Mike is currently planning to sponsor educational breakfasts and seminars for fire officials, with these specific goals in mind.

Mike says that the “Thermal Barriers and Ignition Barriers” forum on SprayFoam.com is a logical next step in these efforts. It will allow him to openly communicate with the SPF industry at large, sharing his knowledge and experience as well as learning from those in the industry.  It is his desire to broaden his reach in order to help everyone in the industry understand these difficult issues from the perspective of an expert in the fire retardant field.  He believes this process will benefit everyone in the spray foam business.