Linked fire/heat alarms law

[dessiato]

Can someone please clarify this for me?

As some will know I’m moving into the inherited house permanently end of next month. I’m told that all houses must have connected/interlinked fire alarms, and a linked heat detector in the kitchen. I can’t get a clear indication of what, and how, this must be done.

We have an intruder alarm which, I think, we might be able to use this.

But, exactly what is required?

It’s a large-ish, grade 2 listed house. Family owned for 100+ years. If any of this makes a difference.

 

[Sue]

Can someone please clarify this for me?

As some will know I’m moving into the inherited house permanently end of next month. I’m told that all houses must have connected/interlinked fire alarms, and a linked heat detector in the kitchen. I can’t get a clear indication of what, and how, this must be done.

We have an intruder alarm which, I think, we might be able to use this.

But, exactly what is required?

It’s a large-ish, grade 2 listed house. Family owned for 100+ years. If any of this makes a difference.

I know that when I got my flat re-wired about eight years ago, the electrician put in a wired-in smoke alarm and a separate wired-in heat detector one in the kitchen, citing the wiring regulations. I'd start there to get some idea. (An electrician should know all this stuff and be able to talk you through it -- I'm guessing if I needed both in a small, two-bed flat, you'll need a lot more in a large-ish house.)

ETA But I'm guessing it's different if you're not touching the existing wiring or renting it out or whatever. (This was also in England.)

 

[weepiper]

There's some helpful examples of what you need here Make sure your home is fire safe

 

[Sue]

There's some helpful examples of what you need here Make sure your home is fire safe

That's interesting, weepiper.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

 

[Sue]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

weepiper's link says it's now the law in Scotland to have them in general:

'The law in Scotland has changed and as of 1 February 2022 every home now needs to have interlinked fire alarms.'

 

[pogofish]

The simplest way is is to get radio-interlinked battery devices that just stick-up. They claim five years from each set of devices before replacement and for my late mother, who first had them put-in as part of a community alarm system a few years ago when she began to fail, this is indeed what she got from them. They needed replaced not long before she started her final decline.

Buying them yourself, a set of three - two smoke and one heat sensor for the kitchen is in the £80-90 range but I'd expect that to go down soon enough once the demand stabilises and a friend had his place done with hard-wired electric devices for around three hundred pounds but that of course will last a lot longer.

Beware of some of the chancers pushing-out dire warnings of what might happen under the law changes - many of them are rip-off merchants and I did note not that long ago that the insurers aren't insisting on them for full cover in anything over than new-builds and for landlords yet.

 

[editor]

They fitted these in my council block and they were so shit they kept going off in the middle of the night, You could literally hear people shouting at then and occasionally hear one being 'forcibly' silenced.

I unplugged them all and installed two Google Nest smoke/CO2 alarms which are excellent and dead easy to install.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

weepiper's link says it's now the law in Scotland to have them in general:

'The law in Scotland has changed and as of 1 February 2022 every home now needs to have interlinked fire alarms.'

I was thinking it’s a bit harsh to order everyone to start excavating their ceilings but apparently the battery ones communicate via radio so it’s an easy job.

 

[pogofish]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

It is in Scotland since February - However, there has been one delay to the legislation due to COVID/Lockdown already and the Scottish Government/Insurers are being fairly easygoing about implementation in established properties so far. This is possibly because for a very long time, leading-up to late last year it was next to impossible to get devices for less than silly money but that's changing now.

 

[danny la rouge]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

It is in Scotland. It's technically possible to be fined, but since there's no detector detector vans going around the likelihood is zero. It's one of those daft laws where a sensible precaution has been made daft by legislation.

 

[mx wcfc]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

We had to have proper alarms installed when we did the loft conversion a few years ago. It seemed sensible enough to me. (England)

 

[Magnus McGinty]

It is in Scotland. It's technically possible to be fined, but since there's no detector detector vans going around the likelihood is zero. It's one of those daft laws where a sensible precaution has been made daft by legislation.

It’s odd to apply regulations retrospectively; electrical regulations change every five or so years but it isn’t statutory that everyone must therefore rewire their homes to meet the new standards.

 

[quimcunx]

The fire brigade put them up at mum and dad's when they were attending a chimney fire back in January. They just screwed them to the ceiling. Unlike any fire alarms I've had in the past they do not go off every time you even think about sausages.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

We had to have proper alarms installed when we did the loft conversion a few years ago. It seemed sensible enough to me. (England)

Well yes as new installs follow the current standards.

 

[pogofish]

It is in Scotland. It's technically possible to be fined, but since there's no detector detector vans going around the likelihood is zero. It's one of those daft laws where a sensible precaution has been made daft by legislation.

Yup - the real threat they were using was that your insurance would require them for continued cover and/or only cover you for a partial/contributory liability if you had a fire and didn't have them but since the insurers said they wouldn't be implementing that just yet, there isn't much they can do about it.

However, as I'm one the terrible offenders who hasn't got round to it and as I don't trust insurers to maintain this policy forever, Ido intend to get them fitted this year as I get-on with the other jobs I need to do around the house. TBH, I'm mulling-over a rewire, which would take care of all that but need to save-up a bit more before I go ahead with it.

 

[pogofish]

The fire brigade put them up at mum and dad's when they were attending a chimney fire back in January. They just screwed them to the ceiling. Unlike any fire alarms I've had in the past they do not go off every time you even think about sausages.

Yes, they do stick/screw-up really easily and are quick to test/connect. I think it was about thirty minutes max when they were replaced. IIRC although they all work to a standard, you do need to get devices that are "certified" to work together, which pretty-much means from the one manufacturer. Adding other devices is fairly easy too.

My mother did manage to set her's off a few times over the time she had them and they were also the type that connected to a base station that phoned the emergency line when that happened. Thankfully, as the emergency contact, they always called me first before sending the fire brigade round to find she'd just burnt her toast or cremated a pie again!

But yes, they were reasonably insensitive and didn't go-off whenever a fly farted like the old council-supplied smoke detectors!

Another time she had logged string of alerts that I traced to a faulty cable in the base-station setup. They sounded utterly gobsmacked to hear that I'd replaced everything with good quality cables from my bag of bits and worked-out how to reset/reinstall the base station without their help..!

 

[danny la rouge]

It’s odd to apply regulations retrospectively; electrical regulations change every five or so years but it isn’t statutory that everyone must therefore rewire their homes to meet the new standards.

Well, for some reason known only to ScotGov, they've decided to make it mandatory for private domestic homes of any age to install new detectors that can speak to each other. In my case that's a flat in a Victorian building.

 

[dessiato]

I don’t think it’s statutory to have linked fire detectors in a domestic property unless it’s new build or you’re planning on having tenants in it.
Although, are you talking about Spain? I wouldn’t know about there.

I'm moving from Spain to Scotland. I've never seen a fire alarm in a private house here.

 

[dessiato]

Well, for some reason known only to ScotGov, they've decided to make it mandatory for private domestic homes of any age to install new detectors that can speak to each other. In my case that's a flat in a Victorian building.

Our house is 3, maybe 4, hundred years old, so I guess one way or another we'll have to do it.

 

[weepiper]

It's been mandatory in rented properties for ages. It might stop you burning to death. It's a good thing.

 

[dessiato]

I was talking to a neighbour in a modern 5 year old, 3 bed, house who paid just short of £300 for one heat and one fire. Ours is much bigger so I expect it'll be much more.

 

[dessiato]

It's been mandatory in rented properties for ages. It might stop you burning to death. It's a good thing.

I agree. It's an excellent idea. I was once in a minor house fire, it's quite "exciting."

 

[Magnus McGinty]

It's been mandatory in rented properties for ages. It might stop you burning to death. It's a good thing.

I had one in my room in a house share I was in once. I’d often be rudely awakened in the middle of the night by a housemate’s pissed attempts at bacon sandwiches or whatever they were trying to do. My landlord was an electrician so should have known to put a heat detector in the kitchen.

 

[pogofish]

Our house is 3, maybe 4, hundred years old, so I guess one way or another we'll have to do it.

One issue I have heard of is in older places with granite/stone internal walls is that the signal doesn't carry very far/well between the devices.

 

[editor]

Just to plug the Google Nest Protect one a bit more - what's clever about them is that when they go off a voice will say, "smoke downstairs" or "CO2 in the kitchen" rather than just blast you with noise, You also get notifications on your phone which is handy.

Smoke alarms will warn you of danger, but not if you aren’t home to hear them. (They’re also ugly and a pain to shush, and they shriek at burnt toast.) Smart smoke alarms are the cure, and Google Nest Protect is the only one worth buying. It sends speedy alerts of smoke or carbon monoxide to your phone, has great design, is simple to mute, and has a “heads-up” warning before triggering its siren. The Protect also self-tests and has a motion-activated path light.

The Google Nest Protect has all the features we recommend in a smart smoke alarm. It can detect both slow- and fast-burning fires, and it wirelessly interconnects with other Protects. The Protect uses voice alerts to warn you which room the danger is in and gives you time to check before it triggers the siren. It’s the easiest alarm to silence, through the polished and friendly Nest app or by pressing its mute button. And the Protect is the only model that tests itself—which cuts down on annoying low-battery chirps in favor of useful smartphone notifications when something is wrong. The Protect is available in both hardwired and battery-powered versions, and therefore it should work in any home.

 

[pogofish]

Just to plug the Google Nest Protect one a bit more - what's clever about them is that when they go off a voice will say, "smoke downstairs" or "CO2 in the kitchen" rather than just blast you with noise, You also get notifications on your phone which is handy.

Google Nest isn't compliant with the Scottish law. You can still use them of course but you would need a set of interlinked devices as well.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Well, for some reason known only to ScotGov, they've decided to make it mandatory for private domestic homes of any age to install new detectors that can speak to each other. In my case that's a flat in a Victorian building.

We have a smoke alarm in the hall, and the upstairs hall.

We do not, and will not have, linked wireless alarms. It is bullshit, just another exercise of power from the Scottish Nazis.

The fuckwits have said in breath one 'It is the law', and in breath two 'no one will be prosecuted for not having them'.

 

[danny la rouge]

We do not, and will not have, linked wireless alarms. It is bullshit, just another exercise of power from the Scottish Nazis.

Good for you. You exercise your right to burn to death.

 

[weepiper]

We have a smoke alarm in the hall, and the upstairs hall.

We do not, and will not have, linked wireless alarms. It is bullshit, just another exercise of power from the Scottish Nazis.

The fuckwits have said in breath one 'It is the law', and in breath two 'no one will be prosecuted for not having them'.

I mean this is just silly, Sas. It's a sensible idea and could save lives (and get fires put out before the house is destroyed). You're just against it for spite because it's Nicola Sturgeon telling you which is pretty childish.