Smoke Alarm ?
 

Just a quick question.

Last night, the smoke alarm at the top of my stairs went off twice within 10 minutes. It is a 10 year one (had it about 3 years), but battery still ok, etc., test regularly.

No smoke about (stopped smoking in bed ages ago after one or two 'events' .. no comments, please :D).

Just wondered if it would have been affected by the unusual heat upstairs ???

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Oh dear I can think of sooo many comments but I will resist the urge :D

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Good .. will escape my wrath.

http://planetsmilies.net/angry-smiley-8013.gif

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

It wants new batterys Kate . Mine does that , Just replace them and it will be ok again .

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Don't understand, David, when the battery is running low, they just give out a tiny bleep at intervals, not full blown alarm call ? When I do a battery test now .. it tells me is OK.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Well it works for mine ! Is it the type with two batterys in it ?

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Dunno .. will have to go and find instruction leaflet .. LOL.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

mine goes off regular ...... its the steam from the shower that sets it off ....

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Like that scares me :p

I am assuming it has a 10 year battery

Take it back to the shop with a receipt and tell them it keeps going off.

It is only 3 years old and it was described as 10 year life when you bought it so you are covered by the Sale of Goods Act 1979. Basically goods must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality so it will last a reasonable length of time.

3 years is not reasonable for a 10 year smoke alarm, it is giving false alarms so is not fit for purpose.

Did you buy it or did the fire chaps fit it for you, have a read of this BBC News - Hampshire fire service's beeping smoke alarm complaints

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Are you sure you have got your alarm clock set for " P.M " :confused::confused::confused: lol

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just cos ive been online for 3 days before 9am .....:eek: :tongueout:tongueout:tongueout have been teddie sitting ...

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

As if I have got a receipt after 3 years !!

It is ok now .. was a simple question really .. would the heat generated in my upstairs have caused it to go off or have I got a poltergeist or summat ?

Not steam, Shill ..had me shower in the morning.

My emoticon didn't scare you ? Humphh .. thought that was the best place for all male domestic waste ... :D

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

ours started goin off constantly, so called fire brigade as they fitted it, they came n pratted about wi it n it was fine fer a couple of weeks,then same again, so i pulled the sodding thing down, end of smoke alarm problem.:D sleep better now.

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Suppose could get a bit of a 'Cry Wolf' situation Cashy .. which ain't good if you really had a fire.

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people are always telling me to go to hell anyway.:D

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

They are smoke alarms, not heat detectors, inside is a tiny chamber which reacts when any smoke or vapour is detected, some of those on sale a few years back had faulty lithium batterys in them.
Ring Accy Fire station & they will fit you a new one free of charge.
Retlaw.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

You can't replace the batteries in the ten year life smoke detectors. Ordinary pp 9 volt bateries won't fit.
Accy Fire Stn will fit new detectors for free.
Retlaw.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Kate did the fire service fit them ?
we had 2 10 year ones fitted by the fire service but where far to sensitive ours are on the stairs one at the top one at the bottom the bottom one would go off at the slightest thing even a pan of boiling water set it off.
after 4 years the one at the top of the stairs gave up and started chirping these where 10 year batteries but they cant be changed.
i phoned the fire service who arranged to call and have a look when they got here they said about 4 years ago they had a faulty batch of smoke alarms and these where 2 of them .
they then fitted 2 more smoke alarms that detect smoke in a different way so don't go off unless it is an emergency
the only thing is they left the old ones in place as well so i now have 3 working smoke alarms the faulty one i had to cut the wire to stop it chirping if i took them down there would be holes in the plaster.
give the fire service a call its free and they will fit the new ones for you.

Advantages
1) you get new smoke alarms free
2) you get a free dvd about fire saftey
3) you get to see firemen in uniform:D:D

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

They tell lies Kate, mine did that last year, it was only installed (a new 10 year one) 5 years ago when the fire brigade did a mandatory inspection of my home because I use oxygen. I rang HH and a workman came out within an hour and just replaced it, he said this happens a lot and that I should always report it immediately because although no fault is shown on test, there is one.

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I find it quite worrying that the fire service were aware they had fitted some faulty smoke detectors and did not check their records and go out and replace them.

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Mine doubles as a dinner gong.:D

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

That would be difficult, the smoke detectors aren't numbered, so even knowing there were faulty ones in the batch, which was not discovered until years later, how could they identify where the faulty ones were. Yes they do keep record of who has been fitted with alarms, but to revisit all those would be impossible. They respond very quickly to reports of smoke alarm faults.
Retlaw.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Difficult is dragging people from burning buildings, sending letters out to everyone fitted with a smoke detector from that batch is easy.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

I know it is, I've done it.
the trouble with the smoke detectors, is identifying which was the faulty batch, they were produced for the government in China. Lancs County was issued with those detectors which were then distributed to fire stations.
Not all the batches delivered contained faulty detectors. Think of thousands at a time in warehouses, being parcelled up and sent out to all the County Fire Services in the country. It didn't all happen at once but over a period of time.
Sending letters out to every one who had an alarm fitted is one hell of a task, could cause unnecessary panic, the detectors still work, its just the anoyance of the constant beeping, which is the only way of identifying them, then they will be replaced.
If smoke detectors were left up to individuals to buy and fit their own, how many would have them, compared to the present number whose homes are fitted with them.

Retlaw.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

so does mine .... :D:D:D

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Its the way the letter is worded thats important. Some people may not realise that the beeping means they are faulty and will be replaced and they may just bin them which would be very bad.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

The only reason they classed them as faulty is that they would go off at the slightest whiff of smoke they where very over sensitive that's why they said they where faulty not that they did not work

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

I have one that fits in a light fitting (see pic).
I recall that when fire alarms were discussed here in the past, firemen members didn't like this type.
Maybe it is because they are not ceiling mounted, so will not activate as soon as others do.
I have very low ceilings and short flexes on my light fittings so mine is only a few inches below what a ceiling mounted one would be, and is in a chandelier type shade which allows free flow of air/smoke.
I had a 10yr one which lasted 5, so wanted to avoid batteries altogether.

PS it does have a battery, but it charges itself from the mains - the light needs to be on for 1hr a week to ensure charging - it bleeps when its battery needs charge.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Thanks for all the feedback. No, wasn't fitted by the fire service ... but may do that next time ... ;)

Realised battery could not be changed after trying to open it to stop it ... won't opern ... 1.30 a.m. and not funny.

Anyhow, seems OK just now, not happened since. Just that it was an unusually hot night .. 28 degrees downstairs and was hotter upstairs.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

So get the number of alarms ordered by the government, then get the numbers that were distributed, and to where, you'l need all the other addresses of housing associations, etc, who also fit them for free, then get writing. Only a small % were faulty, most of the appear to be down South.
As for people who would bin them, they are the very people who wouldn't have fit their own in the first place.
Make a name for your self, get a placard and march round the town center, "Your Smoke Alarm Could be Faulty"

Retlaw.

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It is the responsibility of those that supplied them to do that?

I am too busy looking for places to plant poppies :D:D

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what about some lovely boxes in centre of seating in the Market Hall?:hehetable

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Is there enough light? :rolleyes:

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Probably not but there has been plenty of "fertiliser" about down there for a while:D:D:rolleyes:

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mine started going off this morning about 2am ... just a beeping noise not the full alarm ... have just rang rawtenstall fire station and he's going to try and sort replacements and come out today to replace them ...

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

not bad .. they've just been .. fitted 2 new ones .. and better ones than what i had .. and the instruction that if they started bleeping to ring accrington instead of rawtenstall .....:D:D:D

to say i only rang them up at 3.30pm .. they've been sorted and on their way back to the station .... 3 firemen it took ..2 to do the 2 smoke alarms and 1 to do the paperwork ....

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

Retlaw already answered this for you it is a SMOKE alarm, not a HEAT detector, heat will have no effect on a smoke alarm, how do you think this could possibly be in hot countries all the smoke alarms would constantly be going off. See below for an explanation on HEAT detectors

Fixed temperature heat detectors
This is the most common type of heat detector. Fixed temperature detectors operate when the heat sensitive eutectic alloy reaches the eutectic point changing state from a solid to a liquid. Thermal lag delays the accumulation of heat at the sensitive element so that a fixed-temperature device will reach its operating temperature sometime after the surrounding air temperature exceeds that temperature. The most common fixed temperature point for electrically connected heat detectors is 136.4°F (58°C). Technological developments have enabled the perfection of detectors that activate at a temperature of 117°F (47°C), increasing the available reaction time and margin of safety. This type of technology has been available for decades without the use of batteries or electricity as shown in the picture.

Rate-of-rise heat detectors

Rate-of-Rise (ROR) heat detectors operate on a rapid rise in element temperature of 12° to 15°F (6.7° to 8.3°C) increase per minute, irrespective of the starting temperature. This type of heat detector can operate at a lower temperature fire condition than would be possible if the threshold were fixed. Rate of rise detectors may not respond to low energy release rates of slowly developing fires. To detect slowly developing fires combination detectors add a fixed temperature element that will ultimately respond when the fixed temperature element reaches the design threshold.

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

you keep poppies out of this pal ! ! didnt get chance this pm to discuss em. Havent forgotten rhydings

Re: Smoke Alarm ?
 

well if it was me i would try new alarm