Bit about planning/build regulations...

[Andrew Scott]

Hi all, Bit of advice if you dont mind. Had the council in today to do some work to the house. To cut a long story short, they want to move the mains powered smoke detector from the hall into the living room so that it is within 7 metres of the kitchen? Is this some new law? It'll look ridiculous.

Secondly, any ideas if theres a law or other planning restriction on having a bedroom directly next door to a kitchen?

I have Googled for this, but I'm not sure what the best search string would be and am not getting many results.

Any help appreciated!

Andy

[Ian Stirling]

Might installing a fire alarm into the kitchen, and linking the existing one woek? They probably won't pay for this though.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Cant this sensor be mounted on the wall above the door leading to the kitchen?

[Andrew Scott]

I thought about this earlier today, and had a look at where the cables could run, and its looking like a good option. Cable could run via a conduit through the rear bedroom, into the loft and into the upstairs smoke detector. Might turn out to be the best option to keep the council bods happy, in fact I could probably just do this job myself. I do also believe that upto 12 detectors can be joined together, so possible if using this method, the one in the downstairs hall at present could stay there as well, if the council supply a new one for the kitchen.

The detectors are Dicon 670MBX if that helps any.

Cheers for that suggestion

Andy

[Andrew Scott]

Probably, the guy said it was because there was two doors between the kitchen and the detector in the hall. I think the guy is just making things up really. I like the idea of sticking it in the kitchen now. I thought about it earlier, but dismissed it for a reason, dont know why now. might remember later.

Cheers, Andy

[Owain]

There's a very good guide to siting smoke detecors on the TLC website in Tech Info section. Also any s/d instruction leaflet should have details.

No, but there are restrictions on having rooms accessed through other rooms for means of escape. Bathrooms etc aside, if the room does not have direct access to the main escape route (hall, etc) then a secondary escape route (fire door or window) must usually be provided from the room.

Owain

[Owain]

Lots of false alarms?

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

They will go off in the kitchen rather regularly with any sort of hot fry pan and burnt toast smoke...I set mine off in the landing when doing some plumbing with a tad too much flux..

[Andrew Scott]

Yep, that was the reason. I've countered it though by thinking that once the council leave I will replace the 670MBX's that they seem so content on using with a 680M, which is a heat alarm, and is compatible with the

670MBX's already installed. However I have Googled for this product and can;t find it sold anyplace, and its probably a lot more expensive as well. I'll see how it goes, failing that I'll just take the damn thing down completley once the council have signed it off.

Andy

[Andrew Scott]

Spoke too sonn, just found the 680M at cef.co.uk for £31, which is fine, bit more expensive than the normal ones which are about £12, or given to you by the council. Dunno if that site is trade only or not though, shall find out!

Andy

[Andrew Scott]

Surely the Heat detectors won't do this. The kitchen is a fair size, nor huge, but not tiny either, and the detector will be going at the side farthest away from the cooker, so I'm thinking this should work allright. The Dicon website recommends the heat detectors for the kitchen, and of course if I put the heat detector in the kitchen, I will leave the smoke detectors in the up/down hallways.

But your'e right, a smoke detector in the kitchen, or for that matter the living room, just wouldn't work, especially with me around, I like everything burnt to a crisp, gets rather smokey when cooking bacon as I stick it in a frying pan with no oil and let it cremate in there for a good

25 minutes :-s have a habit of doing this at around 3AM when I get in from the nightclub as well, don;t think the rest of the house would be impressed!

Cheers, Andy