A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want me
to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but ISTR that
this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant regs?

On 28/02/2011 20:37, NoSpam wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want me
to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but ISTR that
this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant regs?

Talk to your insurance company - it may be a requirement, and you could
also talk to the fire officer at your local fire station. And you get
trustworthy advice and for free.

In article ,
says...
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger.


Have you left them long enough to charge up? If you've got the sort with
a big stack of supercaps instead of batteries they sometimes take quite
a while to satisfy themselves they're working.

Oh, and the obvious - have you wired them up right?

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

On 28/02/2011 22:42, Skipweasel wrote:
In ,
says...
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger.


Have you left them long enough to charge up? If you've got the sort with
a big stack of supercaps instead of batteries they sometimes take quite
a while to satisfy themselves they're working.

Oh, and the obvious - have you wired them up right?

They were installed a long time ago, not by me

On Feb 28, 8:37*pm, NoSpam wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want me
to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but ISTR that
this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant regs?

Have any of them been replaced recently? We had a problem where 2
different models were linked - the linking signals were incompatible,
so they triggered continuously.

A

On 01/03/2011 08:10, andrew wrote:
On Feb 28, 8:37 pm, wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want me
to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but ISTR that
this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant regs?

Have any of them been replaced recently? We had a problem where 2
different models were linked - the linking signals were incompatible,
so they triggered continuously.

A

Hard to get solid info - I'm tempted just to replace the whole set
because they're probably getting-on for 15 years old and it's starting
to feel like one of those favours that can become tedious - replacing 5
or 6 detectors could be faster than trying to fault-find

In article ,
says...
Hard to get solid info - I'm tempted just to replace the whole set
because they're probably getting-on for 15 years old and it's starting
to feel like one of those favours that can become tedious - replacing 5
or 6 detectors could be faster than trying to fault-find


Well - the obvious is to disconnect them one at a time until the problem
goes away...

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

NoSpam wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want
me to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but
ISTR that this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant
regs?

The regs are probably covered in BS5839, of which I only have part 6
(dwellings) and would not apply to an office. You may find a copy of the
full regs at the library.

If the office conversion was done with PP and the interconnected smokes were
what was required at the time then you might be better off trying to locate
and fix the fault on the existing alarms. It could be something as simple as
one faulty detector.

And just to be sure, are we are talking about simple mains interconnected
smoke alarms and not a fire alarm system with a control panel?

--
Adam

On 01/03/2011 13:45, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in the
late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want
me to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but
ISTR that this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the relevant
regs?

The regs are probably covered in BS5839, of which I only have part 6
(dwellings) and would not apply to an office. You may find a copy of the
full regs at the library.

If the office conversion was done with PP and the interconnected smokes were
what was required at the time then you might be better off trying to locate
and fix the fault on the existing alarms. It could be something as simple as
one faulty detector.

And just to be sure, are we are talking about simple mains interconnected
smoke alarms and not a fire alarm system with a control panel?


Yes, it's 5 or 6 linked alarms and there isn't a fire panel.
The original work had PP so I think I'll just change the lot for
equivalent mains linked alarms ... any suggestions for where to buy at a
sensible price? (one heat detector will be required for a small room
with a kettle and a toaster)

NoSpam wrote:
On 01/03/2011 13:45, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in
the late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want
me to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but
ISTR that this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the
relevant regs?

The regs are probably covered in BS5839, of which I only have part 6
(dwellings) and would not apply to an office. You may find a copy of
the full regs at the library.

If the office conversion was done with PP and the interconnected
smokes were what was required at the time then you might be better
off trying to locate and fix the fault on the existing alarms. It
could be something as simple as one faulty detector.

And just to be sure, are we are talking about simple mains
interconnected smoke alarms and not a fire alarm system with a
control panel?

Yes, it's 5 or 6 linked alarms and there isn't a fire panel.
The original work had PP so I think I'll just change the lot for
equivalent mains linked alarms ... any suggestions for where to buy
at a sensible price? (one heat detector will be required for a small
room with a kettle and a toaster)

Well I am a lazy ******* so I would buy the same make/model if possible.
That way I could just swap the heads and not bother with any wiring or
patress changes. Just shop around.

I would also take the old heads off one by one to see if you can identify a
particular detector that is causing the problem and eliminate the
possiblilty of a fixed wiring problem that you would then have to deal with
(although that is possible with rf bases).

As the heads were installed in the late 90s then they have probably passed
their "swap by date" and would need swapping anyway.

Cheers
--
Adam

On 01/03/2011 19:34, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
On 01/03/2011 13:45, ARWadsworth wrote:
wrote:
A friend has asked me to help solve a problem with linked smoke
detectors in a small office, which was converted from a cowshed in
the late 90s.
When the detectors are turned-on they immediately trigger. They want
me to replace them with stand-alone battery powered detectors but
ISTR that this is not permitted - can anyone point me at the
relevant regs?

The regs are probably covered in BS5839, of which I only have part 6
(dwellings) and would not apply to an office. You may find a copy of
the full regs at the library.

If the office conversion was done with PP and the interconnected
smokes were what was required at the time then you might be better
off trying to locate and fix the fault on the existing alarms. It
could be something as simple as one faulty detector.

And just to be sure, are we are talking about simple mains
interconnected smoke alarms and not a fire alarm system with a
control panel?

Yes, it's 5 or 6 linked alarms and there isn't a fire panel.
The original work had PP so I think I'll just change the lot for
equivalent mains linked alarms ... any suggestions for where to buy
at a sensible price? (one heat detector will be required for a small
room with a kettle and a toaster)

Well I am a lazy ******* so I would buy the same make/model if possible.
That way I could just swap the heads and not bother with any wiring or
patress changes. Just shop around.

I would also take the old heads off one by one to see if you can identify a
particular detector that is causing the problem and eliminate the
possiblilty of a fixed wiring problem that you would then have to deal with
(although that is possible with rf bases).

As the heads were installed in the late 90s then they have probably passed
their "swap by date" and would need swapping anyway.

Cheers

I had a look yesterday - there are 4 of one type and 1 each of 2 others!
I can feel a trip to TLC coming on.