mains smoke alarm

[gpg1967]

had a electrition around today to give me a price to fit some mains smoke alarms and a heat sensor in the kitchen , he wanted to wire them from the lights but said that he would now have to run a seperate cable from the fusebox as some of the lights he couldnt find a loop live only a switched live any advise please

 

[breezer]

well what can any one say, he was there we are not

 

[joe-90]

Well what he's saying is that they'll only work when the light is switched on. Does that sound acceptable to you?

 

[mattylad]

NO, All just my opinion but I would want my smoke alarms to work at night when I'm in bed, I normally do this with the light switched off.

What he is saying sounds perfectly reasonable.

He needs a permanently "on" Live wire to be able to supply the detectors (as well a N+E).
Coming direct from your consumer unit could be better as also if your lights fuse because a bulb blows, do you really want your detectors to go off too?

 

[gpg1967]

sorry breezer what i meant was is he right to say we can you normal cable as i thought it had to be a heat resistant cable so it wouldnt melt as quickly if there was a fire and therefore give a longer alarm and no joe-90 it is not acceptable to me sorry for the confusion

 

[breezer]

gpg1967, twin and earth or three core and earth is fine for mains smoke detectors.

How ever either is not fine for a fire alarm, but you are not having one, only smoke detectors.

 

[mattylad]

You detectors are to pick up smoke, by the time there is an actual fire near it or its cable, the chances are its too late. It does it's job a lot earlier.

And you can always get the smoke alarms battery backed.