DIY fire alarms.

[ss]

Can someone explain the process for the DIY part below..

.........."Any costs will be the responsibility of home owners and landlords. The cost of the alarms will vary according to what you currently have in place and the alarms you choose to install We estimate that the cost for an average three bedroom house which requires three smoke alarms, one heat alarm and one carbon monoxide detector will be around £220.

This is based on using the type of alarms that you can install by yourself without the need for an electrician for installing a hard-wired alarm".............

[Theo]

Depends what kind of alarms they're talking about - basic alarms are £10-20 each, fancier ones with lifetime batteries and radio interlinking could be more in the £40-60 bracket. Installation is basically put a couple of screws into a joist, installing the battery (if any) and holding down a button to pair them (if linked).

Theo

[spuorgelgoog]

2 moke alarms and a heat alarm £90. CO detector £16 battery powered, stick them to the wall/ceiling.

The Scottish Govt tried to "sell" me similar things for free, made by Fire Angel (which get really bad reviews in Which for a large number being faulty) but as I already have 5 smokes, 1 heat, 1 CO, all AICO, all hardwired and interlinked with a locator switch, I declined.

Owain

[ss]

I should have mentioned it is the new scottish legislation that requires all houses to be hard wired with smoke /fire alarms by Feb 2021. I have 4 battery in my house but I dont understand this part......

..."This is based on using the type of alarms that you can install by yourself without the need for an electrician for installing a hard-wired alarm"

[ARW]

It seems the law applies to both private and rented accommodation.

but it does not say they have to be hard wired.

[ARW]

I believe it was AICO CO detectors that failed the Which tests (on a sample of 3)

[Graham.]

It would help if you included some context, but it's this:

The DIY process as you put it seems to be that you go to B&Q, buy the requisite number of interlinked alarms, and screw them to your ceiling.

[spuorgelgoog]

That was the 208 at £21.

I got the EI261ENRC which was a bit more expensive.

Although it's discontinued now and its replacement isn't hardwire interlinkable.

Anyway, the presence of a box on the wall keeps surveyors happy. I don't expect any will have a CO tester along with the damp meter.

Owain

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Why would I need three and why a heat alarm and a co2 alarm? I guess it could be so if you had a family and gas central heating or gas anything.

Luckily I do not. I noticed that in a flat where the fire service had installed free smoke alarms they were held to the ceiling and walls simply by self adhesive pads. I'd have thought that rather insecure. However I copied this idea, and its certainly stuck very weell. Brian

[Martin Brown]

Unless things have changed very recently due to Covid restrictions the local fire brigade go around pensioners houses installing fire alarms for free when they have nothing better to do.

It is much more cost effective than having to put out a domestic fire.

Typically (for historical reasons) one over the TV in the living room and one on the on upstairs landing. TV's haven't really caught fire much since the valve era (when it was all too common).

[Andy Burns]

Don't breathe near it ...

[williamwright]

Plaster ceiling fixing is OK. Undersized hole (6mm or make it with a

0.25" screwdriver) brown plug, tap the plug in, 1.25 or 1.5" No 6 woodscrew.

Bill

[Robin]

FTAOD the CO doesn't have to be interlinked in Scotland. They do have to be ceiling and hardwired or "lifetime" battery.

[tim...]

It specifically says that they don't have to be

"You can install tamper proof long-life lithium battery alarms or mains-wired alarms."

[tim...]

main living area, upstairs landing and downstairs landing, as required by the regs, would be a typical installation.

because the regs require it, if you have a kitchen. And who doesn't?

required if you have gas heating or an open fire.

size of house is relevant factor, not size of family

That's' good to know

I have concrete ceilings which are a bugger to drill into

(not that I'm subject to the regs, but changes could be made to English ones - I'm frequently being nagged into having a CO detector - one day it will become mandatory)

[No Name]

In my case, I have 4 CO alarms, 2 heat detectors and 10 Smoke detectors all mains powered and interlinked.

The two heat detectors are in kitchen and loft. The 4 CO detectors are above gas boiler in kitchen, near to woodburner in lounge and in the bedroom above and loft above that (proximity to chimney stack)

The smoe dets are in lounge, dining room, hall, 5 bedrooms, landing and garage.

Its also all connected to the house alarm system as a 24 hour zone. The house alarm cann remotely signal to me if I am out of the house.

[Dave Liquorice]

Less chance of false alarms with heat alarms in/near kitchens.

CO ...

In the room with a gas boiler in case the professional servicing it fups up the combustion settings and damages the room seal allowing CO into the room.

In the room with a woodburner/stove, damaged seals allowing CO into the room. A stove/wood burner needs a decent free air supply, without which the draw for the chimeny might not maintain a negative pressure in the stove. Wind direction dependant...

[Dave Liquorice]

Open fire? Not a stove/woodburner?

[Dave Liquorice]

16 devices, ouch at say 7 W each > 112 W. 980+ kWHr/year or best part £150/year. 5 W each is still >£100/year...

Seems a bit OTT to have a smoke detector in each bedroom unless you're smokers and smoke in bed... We have boiler room, kitchen, snug (wood burner), 2 on the landing (split level with a dividing beam). They are there just to wakes us up and get us out in the event of fire.

By the time the fire brigade turn up, single pump, retained fire fighters, it'll be over 10 minutes from the call, house likely to be "well alight". Only water available is the water the pump carries. No hydrant within miles, though there is a water main Wash Out a couple of hundred yards away but I doubt that they have enough suction hose to reach that. Next nearest pumps will take 30 to 40 minutes to arrive. Houses literally burn down around here...

[Davidm]

On Wed, 14 Oct 2020 08:36:52 +0100, Martin Brown

and around here they have been supplying and fitting the Fire Angle ones, whose 10 years batteries seem to fail after 1-2 years (I've had

4 like that).

Can anyone recommend an alternative?