Connected fire and smoke alarms. Scotland

[Sandyn]

For the few in Scotland. It will probably be delayed until Feb 2022 (was due Feb 2021), but it will be a legal requirement to have connected fire and smoke alarms in Scottish homes. I think it's a really good idea to have them, I put them in a few years ago, so my house already meets the requirements, but I don't see the majority of people bothering to do it any time soon, because of the cost. Local authorities will have to enforce it, so impossible to police. They need to visit the house to check and they can't do that.
What it will mean is that if there is a fire and you don't have the required system fitted, they will get you then!. It will also be a new tick box in the home report if you want to sell. It will be a requirement to get home insurance, so that will be the driving factor.


The requirements are :

• one smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes
• one smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
• one heat alarm installed in every kitchen

 

[flying haggis]

krankie will expect the westminster government to pay for each house to have them fitted

 

[Spectric]

Hi

A good start, England will follow eventually but should also include CO and all be interfaced so any one is triggered they all sound and this way you WILL know to evacuate.

 

[Sandyn]

Hi

A good start, England will follow eventually but should also include CO and all be interfaced so any one is triggered they all sound and this way you WILL know to evacuate.

Forgot to add that. CO also required:-
Where there is a carbon-fuelled appliance (such as boilers, fires (including open fires) and heaters) or a flue, a carbon monoxide detector is also required which does not need to be linked to the fire alarms.

 

[Steve_S]

You cannot have too many fire detectors. It staggers me how folks don't bother with them
Have a look at:
https://www.aico.co.uk/why-aico/technology/radiolink/Which I think will tick all the boxes when it comes to smoke + heat and CO.
I have them in my home, linked to each other and also hard wired back to a Cytech Comfort Alarm System.
Been using one - self maintained- for over 20 years
All seems to work when I test it (hope I never have to find out for real).
Makes mental note; Time for another routine test!

Steve

 

[owen]

Wireless interlinked alarms are handy in this situation, just steal power from the nearest light for each one and it saves any major rewiring

 

[Sawdust Sam]

I’m considering these, no wiring required

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08F2KD23G/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3IJAR138CEFO3&psc=1

 

[Droogs]

"If they want it then they can pay to put it in, otherwise GTF. And what are they connected to?. It is not going to be my internet connection, I don't even let the power company do that." Will be the response of the majority of the masses to that idea.

Not a good thing for me. I smoke a lot of meats/sausages etc in the kitchen, this will be impossible to do if i have all that fitted.

 

[Steve_S]

I smoke a lot of meats/sausages etc in the kitchen, this will be impossible to do if i have all that fitted.

Thats why you have a heat detector and not a smoke detector in a kitchen.
I smoke a lot of toast in my kitchen - really must get a better toaster - or stop gazing at the birds at the feeder

 

[Sandyn]

The connected alarms have mains, as usual and a single wire interconnect for activating all alarms.

There is no requirement in flats to have an interconnect between flats...That would be fun! and no requirements for alarms in common areas of flats, so in some respects defeats the point of having a common alarm.

I suppose what convinced me was years ago, late one night, my daughter said she could smell burning near the front door. I had a look and where the three phase comes in at the first termination, the wiring was smouldering and all the old termination equipment was slowly cooking.

Another incident....... I was wakened in the middle of the night by my son. 'Dad, there's a wee bit of a fire in the kitchen'. To my credit. I kept very calm. Went down into the kitchen which was thick with smoke. Son pointing at the oven. I went over and stupidly opened the oven door followed by a mushroom ball flame leaping out of the oven. He had left the grill on and forgotten about it. There was some fat in the grill pan, just waiting for some oxygen to put on a show!

I have three rooms with heat and smoke detectors. that was a planning requirement when I built an extension 15 years ago. I then extended the alarms into the main part of the house, so any problems in any part of the house, all alarms go off. I still have stand alone alarms on other rooms.

 

[Sandyn]

I smoke a lot of toast in my kitchen

Smoke cigarettes...a lot safer!

 

[Geoff_S]

And watch the price of them go through the roof.

 

[Doug B]

A good few years ago I installed connected smoke alarms at home as they seemed a good idea, I really hope the latest versions are an awful lot better than the 3 brands I went through before removing them & going back to battery operated alarms.

 

[Sawdust Sam]

"If they want it then they can pay to put it in, otherwise GTF. And what are they connected to?. It is not going to be my internet connection, I don't even let the power company do that." Will be the response of the majority of the masses to that idea.

Not a good thing for me. I smoke a lot of meats/sausages etc in the kitchen, this will be impossible to do if i have all that fitted.

the ones I linked above are linked together wirelessly via RF within the devices, there not connected to t’internet or WiFi.

 

[Doug71]

I had my electrician round yesterday replacing 2 of my linked alarms, I have 4 in all but the other 2 were replaced a couple of years ago.

In the last couple of weeks they have gone off 3 times in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. When I looked at them their best before date had expired (must have been in 10+ years) so thought best to get them changed.

The worrying thing was my 2 boys, 8yr old and 11yr old just slept through it despite one of the alarms being on the ceiling right outside their bedroom. I don't know how they didn't hear them because it is such a piercing noise, maybe because their bedroom doors were closed but I thought they were supposed to be closed in case of fire

 

[Droogs]

Thats why you have a heat detector and not a smoke detector in a kitchen.
I smoke a lot of toast in my kitchen - really must get a better toaster - or stop gazing at the birds at the feeder

my gaff is small, very small. My alarm goes off when the neighbour across the close (communal entrance and stairwell for Scottish tennements) burns toast

 

[Doug B]

My wife said she wanted a quiet peaceful Xmas this year so I’ve taken the battery out of & our smoke alarm

 

[--Tom--]

Put an interconnected set in my house, For a few hundred quid all in it’s good peace of mind and will send alerts to my phone too. Over their lifespan it’s under 50p a week.

 

[XTiffy]

I built a pair of holiday homes which BRs required mains linked alarms, with battery backup. The batteries (PP3) kept going flat (supposably last five years), with an annoying chirp, chirp. When I checked with the manufactures "why were they going flat after just a couple of years", they explained that the unit draws current all the time inspite of being connected to the mains. No not rechargeable batteries !
In my house though I have a heat detector in the kitchen a small puff of smoke must drift through to the (openplan) dining room smoke detector and sets the lot off, (dog not impressed).