Smoke alarms. Heat alarms, CO Detectors are you ready?

[highlandjambo3]

I had mine done in 2018 (Guesthouse), I couldn’t find (couldn’t be arsed to look 😂) any real regulations so I asked the electrician to be more specific with the requirements so, he did send through a pile of stuff just to back up his installation.  I needed one in the kitchen area, one downstairs and one upstairs within 2m of all bedrooms which thankfully was only another 1 as my 3 letting rooms are all next to each other.
 

They were installed, tested and described as “10 year battery wireless interlinked system BS 5839-6: grade FLD3” as described in Scottish regulations - fire safety guidance”…….£150 fully fitted and tested with certification from an electrician, which I thought was a decent deal.

 

The main change is the interlinked element, previously it was hard wired but, wireless interlinked has made this much cheaper.  
 

Fit them yourself, it’s easily done however, one thing that is missed out and is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT is a testing regime……at least put a reminder on your phone to test the system once per month (whether you actually do this or not is meh).  Guaranteed that god forbid you ever do have a situation your insurance company will ask how often you have tested your alarms…….you don’t really want to give them any reason to forfeit any claim.

[Harry Potter]

46 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

I was in a meeting a couple of weeks ago and it is normal that at the start of the meeting for someone to mention somety safety related.

 

What someone brought up was a guy who has a wood burner in his living room during the night heard an alarm. It was something he did not recognize, he went downstairs to investigate and saw it was his CO alarm. He assumes it was false as he assumed all smoke etc would go up his chimney, however it was during those strong winds we had a few months ago. Luckily his wife said no let's go outside and phone the fire brigade. When the fire brigade arrived they checked the CO levels and they were more than double the levels that kill. What had happened was the strong winds ended up blowing some of the CO back down his chimney.

thats scary and shows the importance of a CO detector. i have a co alarm next to boiler and smoke alarms.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

14 hours ago, SupaJT said:

Something to be aware of is that regardless of whether you get hard wired or sealed battery alarms, they both would need to be replaced every 10 years or so. The sensor degrades over time apparently.

 

Hard wired are cheaper, but you need to pay to get them installed. Sealed battery more expensive, but you can fit them yourself. Amazon sell magnetic pads, £8 for four which make it easy to put up. 

 

If you're planning to stay somewhere for more than ten years might be worth getting them installed but imagine the saving would be marginal, especially when you consider the extra hassle. 

 

Yip, that's something which they haven't advertised that much, if at all, and I'll bet you many people won't be aware of that they need changed every 10 years or so.