You may have noticed us posting a lot of information about the smoke alarm legislation that came into effect 1st January 2017. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first being that we want to make sure everyone knows what’s going on so that they can get their alarms changed over before the deadlines. The second reason though is that we keep harping on about it because we genuinely think that this legislation is an excellent step forward in terms of fire safety.
A Quick Summary
Photoelectric smoke alarms have been around for a while, both in their own right and as a dual system with ionisation smoke alarms. But after extensive testing and simulations it has been found that photoelectric smoke alarms are more effective and more accurate than the ionisation smoke alarms.
Photoelectric alarms work using a beam of light, which when it’s refracted by smoke entering the light chamber sets the alarm off. They are the most effective when detecting smoldering fires, of which the vast, vast majority of house fires are. They are also less prone to false alarms. As well as all of this the new legislation has deemed that all of the alarms should be interconnected, which I know seems like common sense, but right now most smoke alarms are not interconnected. By having all of the smoke alarms in your home linked it means that if a fire happens anywhere in your home you will be alerted quickly. You no loner risk not being able to hear the alarm.
Safe And Effective
We firmly believe that once all properties have converted over to the new smoke alarm system there will be far fewer deaths and injuries from house fires. Once the system is installed it lasts for 10 years (and we can do any maintenance and checks in that time that need doing) which means you’ve also hugely lessened the risk that a smoke alarm won’t be working if a fire were to happen.
If you have any questions about the new smoke alarms then just get in touch with a member of our team, either using the online chat, sending an email to [email protected], or by giving us a call on 0738 282 020