Following on from a January CCN article, one competitor to Venture Tape product asks some tough questions of the premium-promoted product.
I read the CCN article (January page 14) with interest relating to Venture Tape and its parent company 3M, regarding its promoted #1599B ‘Fire rated duct tape’.
Our company, Precision Paper Coatings, is the only manufacturer of adhesive tapes in Australia and a major supplier of adhesive tapes to the HVAC industry.
We certainly believe it is time for Venture Tape and 3M to come clean with the HVAC industry and consumers or face the scrutiny of the ACCC.
AS4254-2002: Ductwork for air handing systems in buildings, calls for duct tape to be tested to a modified version of AS1635.10.1 and, if the tape passes, printed on the tape itself must be the manufacturer’s name and the words “Compliant with AS4254”.
If Venture Tape does not have an AS1635.10.1 test certificate, as required in AS4254.2002, for its #1599B printed duct tape, I ask why has it been promoting the product for the last seven years as meeting AS4254 and still continue to do so today?
A number of customers have asked Venture Tape for test certification to prove #1599B meets AS4254 but they have been given copies of UL181-9 burn certificates. On page 70 of AS4254 you will see that duct tape is specifically exempt from being UL Burn tested.
Industry members involved in duct work may be aware AS4254 is currently under review. Readers may be interested to know that Venture Tape and 3M were contacted by the AS4254 review committee back in December 2010 and asked for an AS1635.10.1 test report in relation to Venture’s #1599B duct tape. It never supplied one for the committee.
Wouldn’t you have thought if your company had the only product on the market that met a specific Australian Standard, and the Australian Standards review committee contacted you for a test report, to protect your market advantage you would move heaven and earth to get it to the committee? The test report costs just $180.00 and more than a year later they appear to have not done so. The question needs to be answered.
Why is Venture Tape, an ISO9001 certified company, able to sell #1599B to the HVAC industry as meeting AS4254-2002 if they are unable to supply the correct test documentation when requested?
Venture Tape has claimed to have an AS1635.10.1 test report for #1599B; the problem is it poses more questions than it answers.
In June 2004. Venture Tape submitted a sample of their #1599B to the Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA), a registered testing body, for AS1635.10.1 testing.
The AS1635.10.1 test calls for a one kilogram weight to be held up by a piece of the tape 12mm x 12mm for 25 minutes. Venture, however, requested a modified version of the test with twice the weight (two kilograms) being held up by a piece of tape 25mm x 25mm. Effectively, four times the area of tape holding up only twice the weight.
While one may ask “why the modification”, the major problem for Venture Tape is that even with this modification its #1599B failed four minutes early, at 21 minutes.
Why was the test method modified? I asked the AWTA and they told me they would only have done this at the customer’s request.
So why did Venture Tape request a modified test?
If this 2004 AS1635.10.1 test report showed #1599B could not even pass the modified test, on what test report did Venture Tape base their decision to continue to promote #1599B as meeting AS4254?
3M is one of the most trusted names in the industrial world and the owner of Venture Tape; #1599B sells for around twice the price of traditional PVC duct tape. Venture Tape and 3M must supply the correct test reports or take their product off the market and refund the premium their customers have been paying for the past seven years for a product they believed met AS4254.
In the absence of clarifying documentation I think the ACCC and other fair trading authorities should be called in to investigate this matter.
I have documents to substantiate the claims in this article and I am happy for anybody to contact me to obtain copies.
Our company had a roll of #1599B, sent from one of Venture’s distributors in Melbourne, to the AWTA for AS1635.10.1 testing in January 2011. A copy of this test report is available on request.