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Our house 15 years ago came with three smoke alarms on each landing, all wired together. The connectors have a brown wire, a blue one and a white one - assuming the white is the one that ties them all together.
They need changing now, of course, so what do I need to get? There are wireless ones that talk to each other but I'm not sure I need wireless since I already have the wires. Although I might want to put a heat detector in the kitchen too and perhaps others in other rooms. But this could get expensive.
Any tips?
In Scotland it is now the law to have linked smoke alarms.
I have just had the following installed
3x smoke alarms (top and bottom of stairs, plus living space): Aico Ei650RF
1x heat detector (in kitchen)
The above are linked -
2x CMD (Carbon Monoxide detector) - in kitchen and next to boiler.
Not linked to smoke alarms.
All detectors are battery powered and certified for over 10 years (to 2034!)
Smoke alarms:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/aico-ei650rf-radiolink-smoke-alarm/542hr
Not sure exactly what the Heat detector is but it is linked to these.
CMD
Sparky quoted £265 for all of these - which appears to be cheaper than I could get them from Screwfix.
If you just want to replace the existing ones you need mains, interconnected and should be a straightforward swap. If you are lucky the same brand may literally be a case of remove old ones and clip new one to same base.
Adding a heat detector or additional smoke detectors and linking to the same wiring is almost certainly a PITA unless you are doing major rennovations. You could add a standalone heat detector, or go wireless. I'm not sure if any of the Wireless detectors can interface with a wired interlink (someone probably does - but I'll hazard a guess they will be really pricey!) - so maybe easiest to switch to all wireless if you want more sensors.
If switching to battery operated you can get 10 yr service life ones. Not sure if the forthcoming rule change in Scotland will create lots of "get compliant special offers" or wipe out stocks and put up costs. I think as there is no planned enforcement (except house sales, building warrant inspections etc?) then probably more likely to be the former.
Interlinked ones are pricey anyway aren't they? I mean they aren't a tenner...
Sparky quoted £265 for all of these
I can see a lot of folk not bothering with these, just on the initial outlay, however as it will be law (feb 2022, for compliance), I assume home insurance would be invalid in the event of a fire?
will prices go up (supply and demand), or down (lowest gets the most orders)?
"I assume home insurance would be invalid in the event of a fire?"
More that I would probably feel a bit guilty if my first born burned to death due to a fire in the kitchen (He sleeps in a room downstairs).
The interlinked bit is unnecessary - each alarm is loud enough to be heard by the neighbour across the road.
The interlinked bit is unnecessary – each alarm is loud enough to be heard by the neighbour across the road.
Maybe.. our kitchen is two floors below...
Any recommendations on brand? I might price up three sealed battery smoke detectors and a heat detector for the kitchen radio linked.
I put in some Nest units. I'm not generally a fan of home smarts and automation but I think it makes sense here. One in the detached workshop and that will set the others off, or if something happens when I'm out it'll let me know and I can head back or contact the neigbours. They are a bit pricey and only a 7 year life but the amortised cost isn't crazy. If you don't want smarts then wired should work with what you have but I'd check with a meter first.
No earth in the cable?
Usually you see 3 core and earth used, brown blue black and earth. The black used as the interconnect.
I'd be investigating the wiring to be sure.
https://www.aico.co.uk/technical_support/basic-alarm-wiring/
I had hard wired interconnected alarms at our last place. It was a hellish nightmare as one went bad after the next. You never knew which alarm had set them all off at 4:15am. The only indicator was the one setting them off would flash red when alarming the others wouldn't. Thing is they would stop faster than you could run round the house checking which one was flashing,
I ended up disconnecting the interconnect wire before giving up and replacing them all.
you need mains,
You need interlinked - but not necessarily mains powered. This the Scottish regs.
See my shiny new alarms after our fire at Christmas - battery but interlinked.
No earth in the cable?
I didn't check but I doubt these plastic devices are earthed.
Given smoke detectors in general only have a ten year life, having a ten year sealed battery isn't really a big deal is it?
Wife decided that after hearing about someone losing a pet in a fire, that our old alarms should be replaced with interconnected internet enabled ones. Two are mains powered and the extra one in the kitchen is battery powered.
I think they're Google nest. Even runs its own test every so often and warns you on your phone that it's about to happen.
defo upgrading to these! GF's parents have only just moved back into their house after a year of repairs. Everyone was out - so are ok - but obviously with no-one to hear the alarms by the time a neighbour spotted the fire and called the fire brigade, the house was ****ed.our old alarms should be replaced with interconnected internet enabled ones
You never knew which alarm had set them all off at 4:15am
I reckon they default to going off in the middle of the night - and on ours you need to poke a screwdriver in a slot to get them off. Not an easy task at 4 in the morning. I think I might have bust the heat detector by skiting it across the floor.
How do internet enabled/nest ones manage with no internet? One would hope they default to traditional beeping. Also they presumably need mains power? Do they communicate with each other without internet or power?
Just doing this now in our place. The old ones are Firex and the model is discontinued, but there's a newer model that's a plug-and-play replacement for £20 each. If you're replacing all of them, compatibility is probably less of a problem, although it'll save you swapping the connectors.
This page was quite useful for figuring out what's compatible:
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/replacement-smoke-alarms/
You never knew which alarm had set them all off at 4:15am
A happy side effect of replacing the alarms is that I now have the instructions that explain the subtle difference in LED flashing that allows you to answer this.
Ours are mains powered but I think they're interlinked wirelessly.
How do internet enabled/nest ones manage with no internet? One would hope they default to traditional beeping. Also they presumably need mains power? Do they communicate with each other without internet or power?
You can get mains or battery. Both last 7 years so no benefit to mains really. The internet bit is a bonus, they don't use it to talk to each other, just to let you know via the app if something is happening.
How do internet enabled/nest ones manage with no internet? One would hope they default to traditional beeping. Also they presumably need mains power? Do they communicate with each other without internet or power?
Nest use Zigbe and Wifi to communicate with each other. We have 6 of them, a mix of battery and mains. Where I couldn't easily access a nearby mains cable I went with battery. All the mains ones have battery back up which keeps them going for months without power. They talk via Wifi and if that is down they also use Zigbe (2.4 GHz IIRC). We also have one in our workshop which talks to the others over the LAN as the workshop is out of Wifi range, but has it's own Wifi network, which connects to the house Wifi network via CAT-5.
I've just had to replace the first two as the 1st gen only lasted 7 years before the CO detector expires at which point they start making a very loud and persistent beeping noise. New ones last 10 years.
Even though you have mains available, there's nothing stopping you just getting a load of wireless interconnected alarms - they can have very long-lasting batteries (mine claims 10 years).
I got a load of FireAngel ones - smoke and heat and CO detectors can all be made to play nicely with each other.
Nest ones rock. Rather than beeping there is a voice which tells you which room the smoke is in which is super helpful. I had one go wrong once and they had new one in the post to arrive with me the next day. Pricey but brilliant
Nest ones rock.
I really like the green ring thing when you turn the light off, if it glows green all the NEST units are OK and communicating, if you see yellow or red you can either push the button or use the App to see where the problem is eg lost mains power, lost wifi, batteries are low etc.
They whole UI is really well thought out. They even act as movement activated night lights (which you can turn off for bedrooms).
All detectors are battery powered and certified for over 10 years (to 2034!)
Given smoke detectors in general only have a ten year life, having a ten year sealed battery isn’t really a big deal is it?
I've been replacing Fireangel smoke detectors with sealed batteries that are "guaranteed to last ten years" every two years for at least the last six years or so. They're banking on you forgetting that they claimed to last that long when they start bleeping.
If you remember and contact them they're not at all surprised to hear they've packed up and happily post you a new one. But you can be pretty certain they won't last even close to 10 years.
Worth noting that Nest ones don't comply with the new Scottish regs if that applies to you.
We have hardwired alarms between the kitchen and both levels of the hall, just need another in the living room and we're compliant. Shouldn't be any more taxing than running a wire under the floor. Hopefully.
More annoyed it'll be before the 10 year replacement cycle tbh.