In the present study the behaviour of four intumescent systems for steel was investigated experimentally. The main purpose of the study was to determine the behaviour of the systems during different fire scenarios including standardized furnace testing, tests in cone calorimeter and ad hoc tests including ceiling jets and fire plumes. The experimental campaign shows that two of the investigated systems did perform very poorly in the furnace tests compared to what they were designed for, despite being the systems having the best swelling in the cone calorimeter tests. This highlights the importance of adhesion at high temperature for this type of systems. Since adhesion is crucial a more relevant evaluation for this type of systems ought to be a test where the flows around the specimen can be characterized and controlled, i.e. a ceiling jet or a fire plume scenario. This is especially important as steel protected with intumescent systems are often used in large open spaces where local fire plumes and ceiling jets are expected.Key words: intumescent paint, steel, alternative exposure