Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Apr 10, 2010 12:58 AM
Joined: May 3, 2008
Points: 827
http://www.latexgreen.com/fr.html

I was researching (yeah what is new) the Dunlop latex made by Latex Green and found something about fire retardants in the cores.  It of course doesn't say what they use.  Budgy do you know, or anyone else?

Re: Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Reply #4 Apr 10, 2010 4:16 PM
Joined: May 3, 2008
Points: 827
Thanks Budgy.  That is what drives me crazy the lack of information some companies leave us with.  Telling it is meets fire retardant requirements, but doesn't tell you how they met it.  I won't buy something that has such information, and you just blindly are suppose to trust they won't do anything to harm you.  Hah~
This message was modified Apr 10, 2010 by Leo3
Re: Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Reply #5 Apr 10, 2010 5:33 PM
Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 850
Because of the certification I am not overly worried.  The thing is their website is an international one, and has nothing to do with CFR fire code regulation.  If they used any CFC's or VOC's in the production of their cores they would automatically fail the certification test as the threshold for these materials is extremely low.
Re: Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Reply #6 Apr 20, 2010 9:35 PM
Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 850
Okay Leo and others.  I have finally recieved official clarification about what this is all about.

If you have ever seen gray coloured latex foam and wondered what that was?  This is FR latex, it is latex with graphite somehow added into the mix to make it naturally flame retardant.  Definitley not something you see very commonly...basically you would know if you had this latex based on the colour itself.  I have no idea what this would do to the feel of the product either....although typically speaking adding pure carbon to anything increases its strength as well as its brittleness...I could see this negatively impacting the elasticity of the end product.

Re: Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Reply #7 Apr 21, 2010 2:59 PM
Joined: May 3, 2008
Points: 827
Wow Budgy that is interesting, carbon huh?  Are they selling those in the US?  I am not interesting in the fire retardants, I don't smoke and if I don't wake up fast enough to run from a fire then I am not as light of a sleeper as I thought LOL.

Thanks for informing us of that information.

Re: Fire Retardants in Latex Green cores?
Reply #8 Apr 21, 2010 3:03 PM
Joined: Dec 17, 2009
Points: 850
i don't think ive seen anyone selling latex green's version of it...but I distinctly remember seeing one website in the US that was selling this type of latex...I believe there are several asian companies making this type of product now.  I think a lot of it stems from the way they use their latex cores there.  Most people in SE Asia that sleep on a latex bed probably have only a very simple covering to keep the cost down and also because they would maybe have a preference to sleep as directly as they can on the rubber.  They might have their own basic fire codes there to follow and using this graphite in the mix would allow them to do this very cheaply.  Lets keep in mind that latex is actually very flammable without something added...so it would give them some minimal protection.