Help removing wired smoke alarms please.

[bubachuba]

Sorry if i have missed something, but has a faulty detector been considered? If they were installed and working correctly, then unless something has been altered with the wiring would assume the detector has gone bonkers if it keeps alarming. I am sure Kidde and Aico advise chucking them every 10 years.

 

[sparkwright]

Exactly.

 

[sparkwright]

Exactly.

Even a simple wiring fault (like reversed neutral and interlink wire, usually because some berk has used harmonised black for the neutral) can cause one detector to constantly sing.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Even a simple wiring fault (like reversed neutral and interlink wire, usually because some berk has used harmonised black for the neutral) can cause one detector to constantly sing.

Or not.

I would think that negligent on behalf of whoever thought it unnecessary to check.

 

[sparkwright]

Even a simple wiring fault (like reversed neutral and interlink wire, usually because some berk has used harmonised black for the neutral) can cause one detector to constantly sing.

Or not.

I would think that negligent on behalf of whoever thought it unnecessary to check.

I suppose it can easily be wired up wrong even if the installer does know what colours to use, just a natural loss of concentration perhaps.

I'm talking about a possible wiring fault in the op's property - though clutching at straws as we have so little info to go on. All we know is at appears just one detector is playing up.

I don't think the op has investigated the problem particularly, from what I can make out.

 

[PBC_1966]

I don't think the op has investigated the problem particularly, from what I can make out.

Which would be the sensible thing to do before ripping everything out and spending a lot of money on replacements which - by their very nature of being battery powered and wireless - will not be as good.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I suppose it can easily be wired up wrong even if the installer does know what colours to use, just a natural loss of concentration perhaps.

That's why there is a requirement for formal, documented, functional testing.

 

[ultomoat]

No. It isn't.

The best advive is to fit mains powered interlinked smoke detectors again.

You were required to have them, and you still need them.

Agreed. A condition of building control signing off your extension as being safe, compliant and habitable was that mains powered, linked smoke alarms were installed. There is a reason for this, they are required in order to make the extension safe, compliant and habitable. By removing them you are effectively nullifying the endorsement given by building control - which will potentially affect selling the house (should you ever wish to do so). It may also affect the cover provided by your insurance company.

The alarms that the fire service recommended are better than nothing at all, though aren't a substitute for the wired, interlinked alarms that building control mandated. Call an electrician and get the problem sorted.

Personally I think that this is a stupid thing to cut corners on. Getting an electrician to sort it properly isn't worth risking your life over. Having just bought a house with these sorts of DIY bodges (wires taped in ceilings, smoke alarms disconnected, extractor fans venting into roof spaces...) I'd rather you fix it properly now!

 

[ultomoat]

The 2013 regs state the following. It is unlikely to have changed significantly (well, the bits relevant to your situation) since your extension was built.

1.4 The smoke and heat alarms should be mains-operated and conform to BS EN 14604: 2005, Smoke alarm devices or BS 5446-2:2003, Fire detection and fire alarm devices for dwellinghouses, Part 2 Specification for heat alarms, respectively. They should have a standby power supply, such as a battery (either rechargeable or non-rechargeable) or capacitor. More information on power supplies is given in clause 15 of BS 5839-6:2004.

1.14 Where more than one alarm is installed they should be linked so that the detection of smoke or heat by one unit operates the alarm signal in all of them. The manufacturers’ instructions about the maximum number of units that can be linked should be observed.

1.19 The power supply for a smoke alarm system should be derived from the dwellinghouse’s mains electricity supply. The mains supply to
the smoke alarm(s) should comprise a single independent circuit at the dwellinghouse’s main distribution board (consumer unit) or a single regularly used local lighting circuit.


I don't think it gets any more obvious. Take your battery alarms back and get somebody to fix what you've got. The complete regs are here: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_B1_2013.pdf

 

[bernardgreen]

Disturbing results from some tests on the performance of wirless linked smoke / heat alarms in a three storey house. ( Type unknown as they went in the recycling bin )

Trigger the ground floor alarm and the first floor also sounded ( good ) but the alarm on the third floor did NOT sound ( vey bad, possibly fatal for people in third floor bedrooms )

Trigger the third floor alarm and the first floor also sounded ( good ) but the alarm on the ground floor did NOT sound ( bad )

Trigger the first floor alarm and all three floors sounded ( good )

Owner of the house immediately arrnaged for a wire interlinked alarm to be installed