I'm a member of a mailing list on "groups.io", the old yahoo.groups, used by owners of Harrison metalworking lathes to keep in touch and help each other out.
A member of the mailing list recently shared the bad news that he lost his entire workshop including some heavyweight lathes and milling machines, in a sizeable fire. Think 40 firefighters in attendance !
Fortunately he was insured but it is still massively disruptive.
It got me wondering, like probably everyone else, how safe is my own workshop ? what are the biggest risks ? what could I do to improve ?
As my workshop is the garage attached to our house, I realised that one of the obvious things I've overlooked is a smoke / heat alarm with some sort of remote that would sound off inside the house if a fire developed after I had finished and closed up the workshop for the day.
The answer seems to be the newer style smoke alarms that are radio linked so one goes off, all go off.
There are many end user complaints about the types that rely on a 10 year lithium battery only lasting 2 or 3 years in practice, with poor customer service and inadequate guarantees. The cost of remote type alarms is high if they have battery powered but achieve only a short life and not the 10 years claimed. I guess I need alarms that can be mains powered and have replaceable batteries for backup.
I don't want a google smart thing. Just not reliable enough, but I would be very interested in any recommendations please.
Thanks in advance.
A member of the mailing list recently shared the bad news that he lost his entire workshop including some heavyweight lathes and milling machines, in a sizeable fire. Think 40 firefighters in attendance !
Fortunately he was insured but it is still massively disruptive.
It got me wondering, like probably everyone else, how safe is my own workshop ? what are the biggest risks ? what could I do to improve ?
As my workshop is the garage attached to our house, I realised that one of the obvious things I've overlooked is a smoke / heat alarm with some sort of remote that would sound off inside the house if a fire developed after I had finished and closed up the workshop for the day.
The answer seems to be the newer style smoke alarms that are radio linked so one goes off, all go off.
There are many end user complaints about the types that rely on a 10 year lithium battery only lasting 2 or 3 years in practice, with poor customer service and inadequate guarantees. The cost of remote type alarms is high if they have battery powered but achieve only a short life and not the 10 years claimed. I guess I need alarms that can be mains powered and have replaceable batteries for backup.
I don't want a google smart thing. Just not reliable enough, but I would be very interested in any recommendations please.
Thanks in advance.
