Non-motoring > Smoke Alarms Legal Questions
Thread Author: MD Replies: 18
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 Tue 5 Jul 16 20:59 
 Smoke Alarms - MD
Good evening all,

I am aware that if one rents out a domestic dwelling then one is obliged to provide smoke and carbon monox' alarms.

Does this apply to commercial units?

Best...MD
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 5 Jul 16 at 21:29
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 Tue 5 Jul 16 21:41 
 Smoke Alarms - No FM2R
I think this is what you want....

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1541/contents/made
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 Wed 6 Jul 16 06:49 
 Smoke Alarms - MD
Gracias Senor.
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 Wed 6 Jul 16 16:19 
 Smoke Alarms - Armel Coussine
This house has them. They are a great nuisance.

When their batteries get low they start to utter squeaks at intervals.

When the fire smokes, or someone burns something in the frying pan, they all go off with deafening howls and have to be shut off from juice, if anyone can remember how to do that amid all the clamour.
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 Wed 6 Jul 16 16:22 
 Smoke Alarms - Robin O'Reliant
>> >>
>> When their batteries get low they start to utter squeaks at intervals.
>>
>>>>
We once spent the best part of half hour wandering round at 2am trying to find the source of that beep.
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 Wed 6 Jul 16 17:09 
 Smoke Alarms - Dulwich Estate II
"We once spent the best part of half hour wandering round at 2am trying to find the source of that beep."

It's not unheard of that a builder who has been mightily upset by a client spends a couple of quid and places one under the floor boards, in a ceiling void or in a partition - preferably a bedroom.

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 Wed 6 Jul 16 17:34 
 Smoke Alarms - Stuartli
Merseyside Fire Brigade has fitted many, many hundreds of smoke alarms over the years, a large number of them featuring batteries with a 10-year life span.

However, after about three years, the "long life" batteries' charge state has all too often dropped so low that they start to give off a squeak every 40 seconds as a warning the alarm needs completely replacing.

I've had three replaced by the manufacturers free of charge in recent years along with many others. Latest still has to be taken to the local recycling tip and continues to squeak regularly and very loudly some weeks after apparently giving up the ghost...:-(
Last edited by: Stuartli on Wed 6 Jul 16 at 17:35
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 03:02 
 Smoke Alarms - Pat
Stuart, dare I say a woman (this woman) just took the battery out of the old one after it had been replaced, to stop it bleeping:)

Men!

Pat
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 13:01 
 Smoke Alarms - Stuartli
>>Stuart, dare I say a woman (this woman) just took the battery out of the old one after it had been replaced, to stop it bleeping:)>>

Even I'm not that stupid. These particular smoke alarms (by FireAngel) are completely sealed...:-)

Women!

Stuart
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 13:34 
 Smoke Alarms - Pat
Do you honestly think a woman would have a sealed one fitted? :)

Pat
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 13:53 
 Smoke Alarms - Gromit
Do you honestly think a smoke alarm with no battery in it is any use to you? ;-)

What you need near the kitchen is either one of the alarms with a 'mute' button that temporarily quietens it if cooking fumes set it off, or a heat (not smoke) detector, if its mains powered.
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 14:06 
 Smoke Alarms - CGNorwich
I think you misunderstand Gromit. Fire Angle Smoke alarms are sealed which means the battery cannot be replaced unlike in other brands. In consequence when th battery fails they start bleeping and you have to replace the entire unit. They are meant to last 10 years and because of the technology they use they are recommended for areas like kitchens. They are described as "toast proof"
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 14:23 
 Smoke Alarms - Stuartli
>>They are meant to last 10 years and because of the technology they use they are recommended for areas like kitchens. They are described as "toast proof">>

Part of my original point about these Fire Angel smoke alarms is that their batteries DON'T last 10 years...:-)

Merseyside Fire Service, when the problem first came to light, believed that it was a faulty batch, but subsequent supplies proved equally short lived at around three years....:-(

At least the manufacturer doesn't quibble over sending a replacement free of charge.
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 Thu 7 Jul 16 16:59 
 Smoke Alarms - Robin O'Reliant
Our carbon monoxide detector has a sealed battery. It flashes a tiny little LED every minute to show it is working, something you never notice. After reading this thread I stood in front of it for a minute (Funny how a minute can seem like an hour) and sure enough it flashed. Must be four years old now.
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 Fri 8 Jul 16 10:29 
 Smoke Alarms - Gromit
No, CG, my tounge-in-cheek comment was for Pat, who removed the battery from her smoke alarm...presumably not a Fire Angel.

ISTR the reason fire brigades started offering sealed alarms was precisely to stop people doing this - or indeed taking the batteries to use in toys and other items. The mind boggles!

As an aside, building regs in Ireland over the past 10 years require smoke alarms wired into the mains to be installed in all new builds or renovations. But the detectors still have 9V battery backups so they'll still work in case of power cuts. And when those batteries eventually expire, the alarms still beep to remind you to replace the battery...as I discovered when the one in our loft ran out at 1am one morning...
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 Fri 8 Jul 16 11:38 
 Smoke Alarms - CGNorwich
Fair point but I suspect that Pat would have enough sense to replace the battery although a lot don't.

My house was built in 1994 and has a mains operted smoke alarms. They have the added benefit that if one goes off the others will also automatically sound

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 Fri 8 Jul 16 12:32 
 Smoke Alarms - Armel Coussine
Ours run off the mains too. Their batteries are just for back-up.
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 Fri 8 Jul 16 12:54 
 Smoke Alarms - VxFan
>> Ours run off the mains too. Their batteries are just for back-up.

Same here, but the backup battery failed after only 4 years. It's supposed to be a 10 yr one.

I wouldn't have minded so much, but to get a notification of it being flat at 4am wasn't very funny. To remove it from the mounting bracket on the ceiling involved inserting a small screwdriver into a slot to release the locking mechanism and then rotating it. And then it had to be detached from the electrical multiplug which involved another screwdriver. Once off the ceiling and in my hand, I then had to undo yet another screw to remove a cover to access the battery.

I was expecting to find a specialised battery fitted, but to my relief it was just a bog standard PP3. And a cheap unbranded one at that. Probably why it didn't last the claimed 10 years.
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 Fri 8 Jul 16 13:17 
 Smoke Alarms - Pat
I replaced the battery with a new one and it still continued to bleep, so we fitted a new alarm.

I removed the battery from the old one after it had failed.

Pat
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