What are test certificates, and when do you need one?

This page is the Selleys test certificates library — a searchable, downloadable list of certificates for Selleys products, with a search box, a "show more" control that reveals the list in pages, and tick boxes so you can select several documents and download them together as a single zip file.

The list is generated dynamically, so the documents shown are not fixed and this page does not reproduce them. Use the search box on the page itself to find what you need; if nothing matches, the page will say so.

What a test certificate is

A test certificate is evidence that a product has been tested against a published standard, by a testing body, with a stated result. It is a different kind of document from a technical data sheet or a safety data sheet:

Document	What it is	Who issues it
Test certificate	Evidence of tested performance against a named standard	A testing body
Technical data sheet	The manufacturer's statement of how the product performs	The manufacturer
Safety data sheet	The product's hazards, handling, storage and first aid	The manufacturer

That distinction matters when someone else has to accept your work. A data sheet is what you use to choose a product; a test certificate is what you produce when a certifier, a building surveyor, a specifier or a client asks you to prove that what you installed meets a requirement.

When you will be asked for one

Fire-rated work. This is the most common case. Selleys' Fireblock range is tested in accordance with AS1530.4-2014 for up to 240 minutes: Fireblock AC for internal perimeter and penetration seals in fire-rated construction, Fireblock PA for fire and acoustic rated construction in horizontal and vertical joints of 40mm width in construction joints and service penetrations, and Fireblock XT, fire and acoustic tested to the same standard up to 240 minutes in a 40mm horizontal and vertical joint.

Two things follow from those descriptions. The rating belongs to a tested detail, not to the tube — a joint width, a substrate, an orientation and a construction type are all part of what was tested. And the product on its own proves nothing if the installation does not match the tested detail. Read the certificate, not just the product name.

Specification and compliance work. A specifier who has nominated a product by performance may ask for evidence that a proposed substitute meets it. On commercial jobs the certificates often form part of the operation and maintenance manual delivered at handover.

Using this page

1. Search by product name as it appears on the pack, or by the standard if that is what you are chasing.
2. Use "show more" to reveal further results — the list loads in pages.
3. Tick several documents to take them as a single zip, or use the control on each row for one certificate.

Reading a certificate properly

Check which standard and which edition it is against; what exactly was tested, since the specimen's joint width, depth, substrate and orientation define what the result covers; what result was achieved, because "up to 240 minutes" is a maximum across tested configurations rather than a number that applies everywhere; and whether the certificate matches the product you actually have — Fireblock AC, PA and XT are three different chemistries with different certificates. If you are unsure whether a certificate covers your installation, ask the certifier or Selleys rather than assuming. Fire and acoustic separation is life-safety work.

If the certificate you need is not listed

Not every product has one. Test certificates exist where a product has been tested to a standard; many general-purpose adhesives, fillers and sealants have technical data sheets and safety data sheets but no certificate, because there is no standard they are tested against. If your product has no certificate, its technical data sheet is the authoritative performance document.

Where you believe a certificate should exist and cannot find it, ask through contact us rather than substituting a similar product's document.

Related pages

• Technical documents
• Safety data sheets
• Fire rated sealants
• All products
• Contact us

Safety: the certificate is not the only document the job needs

Anyone on this page is specifying or installing fire-rated sealant, usually in volume — a floor of service penetrations, a run of head-of-wall joints. The certificate answers whether the system performs. It says nothing about what handling the product does to the installer, and across the Fireblock range that answer differs sharply between products certified to the same standard.

Product	Classification
Fireblock AC	Warning — skin sensitisation Category 1, H317 may cause an allergic skin reaction. That is the only classification it carries
Fireblock PA	Warning — skin sensitisation Category 1, H317. That is the only classification it carries
Fireblock XT	Danger — reproductive toxicity Category 1B, H360: may damage fertility or the unborn child; plus H319 causes serious eye irritation

H360 at Category 1B means the substance is presumed to be a human reproductive toxicant on the basis of animal evidence. The practical consequence is unambiguous: anyone who is pregnant, may become pregnant, or is trying to conceive should not handle Fireblock XT. Where the product is being installed in quantity, that belongs in the site risk assessment alongside the certificate, not left to whoever picks up the cartridge on the day.

That is a substitution question, and this page has already told you how to answer it. All three products are tested to AS1530.4-2014 for up to 240 minutes, and two of the three carry nothing worse than a skin sensitisation classification. But as the section above on reading a certificate says, "up to 240 minutes" is a maximum across tested configurations rather than a number that applies everywhere, and AC, PA and XT are three different chemistries with three different certificates. A swap made on hazard grounds still has to be checked against the joint width, depth, substrate and orientation the replacement product was actually tested in. Where that check passes, there is a genuinely lower-hazard product available for the same rated outcome.

H317 on AC and PA is not nothing either. Skin sensitisation is permanent once acquired and is built from repeated casual contact — which, on a floor of penetrations tooled by hand, is the working day. Gloves, and tool the bead.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about test certificates

What is a test certificate?

Evidence that a product has been tested against a published standard, with a stated result — as distinct from the manufacturer's own performance and safety documents.

How do I find one?

Use the search box on this page. The list loads in pages, so use "show more" if you are browsing rather than searching.

Which Selleys products are tested to a standard?

The Fireblock range — Fireblock AC, Fireblock PA and Fireblock XT — is tested in accordance with AS1530.4-2014 for up to 240 minutes.

Does using a fire-rated sealant make my installation compliant?

Not on its own. The rating belongs to a tested detail — joint width, substrate, orientation and construction — and the installation has to match it.

What does "up to 240 minutes" mean?

It is the maximum from a range of tested configurations, not a figure that applies to every installation.

My product has no certificate — is that a problem?

Not necessarily. Many products have no standard to be tested against; their technical data sheet is the authoritative performance document.

Can I use another product's certificate?

No. Certificates are specific to the product and the tested configuration.

Who do I ask if I am not sure?

The certifier for your project, or Selleys through contact us.