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Housing - Renovation: Recommended smoke alarms?

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    • CommentAuthorShevek
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2016 edited
     
    Posted By: cjardThese Honeywell Gent alarms don't appear to the have the permanently-on LED lights that others have:
    https://www.gent.co.uk/downloads/products/specification_243.pdf

    Problem with these, I think, is that they don't have integrated sounders.
    • CommentAuthorShevek
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2016
     
    ugh, another mistake I've made is not to run wiring for remote switches. Does anyone know of any hard-wired interlinked alarms that can all be turned off by simply turning off one alarm?
    • CommentAuthorsnyggapa
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2016
     
    Ours are made by Ei. Hush one and they all shut up, you hush by pressing a button on one alarm so you need to be able to reach them

    Steve
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2016
     
    Posted By: snyggapayou hush by pressing a button on one alarm so you need to be able to reach them

    And in my experience BCOs are pretty hot on making sure the alarms are on the ceiling. Possibly you could fit an extra one somewhere more convenient.
  5.  
    Can you mix wired and wireless on the ei? Maybe a single wireless base would be enough to link to your switches.

    Seriously though - with quality Kit false alarms are not a problem.
    • CommentAuthorShevek
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2016 edited
     
    oh great, thanks guys. You can get wireless remote switches but was trying to avoid because one of my co-owners is paranoid about such stuff. might have to make exception here.

    http://www.safelincs.co.uk/ei-electronics/ei450-wireless-alarm-controller/

    maybe I'll get some if we start having false alarms
    • CommentAuthorShevek
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2016
     
    Posted By: snyggapaOurs are made by Ei. Hush one and they all shut up, you hush by pressing a button on one alarm so you need to be able to reach them

    Which ones are these Steve? I phoned Aico and they said their alarms don't do that and I'd need the remote switch.
    • CommentAuthorsnyggapa
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2016
     
    Looks like you are right, manual says

    On interconnected Alarms, pressing the Test/Hush
    Button on the one sensing smoke (i.e. the one with the
    red light flashing every second) will silence all alarms.
    Pressing the Hush Button on any other Alarm will not
    cancel the alarm

    I guess that I have always push the one causing the alarm. Although, I guess logically you should go to the alarm that is ' Alarmed' just in case it's not a falsie!

    Note they are very good and don't really false alarm, it's mostly to do with lighting the wood stove badly...
    • CommentAuthorrhamdu
    • CommentTimeJun 21st 2016
     
    <blockquote><cite>Posted By: Shevek</cite>You can get wireless remote switches</blockquote>
    you can get wired remote switches (if no one in the thread has already mentioned that!)

    e.g Kidde https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/KDREMTH.html
    Aico https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/EI1529RC.html

    They cost £20 plus, but perhaps worth it, to have clearly marked, non-fiddly controls in an accessible position.
    • CommentAuthorwookey
    • CommentTimeNov 3rd 2022
     
    Has anyone found mains smoke alarms with reasonably low power consumption? They all seem to use at least 0.4W, many twice as much, and I've seen reports of 15-30W, although that may be inaccurate power meters. But 0.4W is 3.5kWh/yr, whilst my existing battery alarms will run for 5 years on a PP3, which is about 5Wh, so that's 1Wh/yr or one 3500th the power consumption. And you'll have at least 2, maybe quite a few more.

    Switching to mains to improve reliability and reduce hassle would be OK, but it's not worth that outrageous power consumption. What is it doing with 400mW when clearly the sensor takes microamps to run? OK, powering an LED but that doesn't need 400mW either, it needs 10. Somebody must make one that actually paid attention to this?
    • CommentAuthorTimSmall
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2022
     
    As far as I know the mains alarms are exempt from power consumption efficiency standards for electronic equipment because they're "safety equipment". Kidde were particularly bad I think.

    I think you can get some radio interlinked types with "sealed for life" batteries - they just use a single high capacity lithium primary cell, and that lasts lifetime of the detector.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2022
     
    Posted By: TimSmallI think you can get some radio interlinked types with "sealed for life" batteries - they just use a single high capacity lithium primary cell, and that lasts lifetime of the detector.
    I know when we did ours, the building regs were for a mains-powered, wire-interlinked system and ours also uses the five-year lithium batteries as a backup although I don't recall whether that was a requirement. Dunno what the requirements for retrofit are, nor whether the regs have changed since.
    • CommentAuthorTimSmall
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2022
     
    I know that Scottish regs were changed to allow "life time sealed" battery CO alarms instead of mains ones. Last time I looked at England + Wales regs mains powered smoke alarms were needed. These only applied to new builds and loft conversions tho', if you're just "voluntarily" installing alarms you could do whatever you liked. I think Aico allow you to mix and interlink battery, wireless and mains alarms in a single system - so you could perhaps have the "compulsory" alarms wired, and add any extra voluntary alarms as battery / wireless.

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