Smoke Alarms and Safety Equipment

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Tim
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Having moved fairly recently (three years, it still seems recent!) I thought I had better buy a smoke alarm. Reading the instructions, for my three bed house I'll need something like 6 of them, one for downstairs, one upstairs, one for each of the bedrooms and one for the hallway.I read that the landing one should be equipped with an 'escape light'.

In addition to this I should have a carbon monoxide alarm. I do at least have a fire extinguisher and blanket in the kitchen.

Is this overkill? I guess not considering what's at stake and the cost of alarms. Are there any other measures one might take I wonder?

Does everyone have this level of protection or are there more idiots like me about?
 
I have:
  • 1x smoke detector, downstairs hall
  • 1x smoke detector, upstairs landing
  • 1x CO detector, living room (multi-fuel stove)
  • 1x CO/smoke combined detector, front sitting room (open gas fire)
Thinking about it, there are 2x CO in the living room and I ought to move one to the kitchen (gas stove, gas boiler) which currently has only a "dot" CO detector. I work on the basis that CO detectors are needed where there's a combustion source and smoke detectors cover means of escape.
 
You are certainly not over the top, Tim. If you get caught out by fire it will be too late to remedy weaknesses.

Lot of good professional advice here:-

http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/smoke-alarms

Give a thought to escape routes (esp. if you may get trapped upstairs).

Also, think about how you will open your front or back door to get out in a hurry.

You can leave keys out of the lock as an anti-burglar measure (and burglars frequently do make use of keys left in locks to gain entry). However, if you have a fire then when (or if) you get to a door you will be in panic mode which is not the best time to be fumbling with keys.

I leave my key in the lock and secure the letterbox flap to prevent "fishing".
 
If you have any electrical outlets in your loft space, consider a smoke detector there too.
 
We bought a new build about a year ago and only have two, one downstairs and one upstairs.

Also a Carbon Monoxide one in the kitchen where the boiler sits.

I guess having more can't be a bad thing until the batteries start running low simultaneously :)
 
Get a set of interlinks, mains wire them. Sorted. (Well for 10 years then you need to replace them.)

These are pretty cool. Mains wire it (you can spur it off a lighting pendant) and slot in a cheap to buy mains alarm. You can get them from Toolstation.

https://www.aico.co.uk/product/ei168rc-radiolink-base/

BTW I wouldn't honestly bother with them IN the bedrooms. Just on landings and escape routes as well as kitchen. 3 or 4 seems about right for a 3 bed house. Plus CO if you need it.

Also, current fire brigade advice is NOT to have extinguishers. A blanket is fine for a pan but if you have a fire that needs an extinguisher you should be evacuating not fighting it. Some things are best left to experts ;)

Oh and locking doors on escape routes are just crazy. If you don't have deadlocks that can be opened by the interior handle then thumbturns should be mandatory. Just watch out if they are near a letterbox.
 
We have a mains wired smoke detector in the hallway & another on the landing.

We have battery ones in each of the bedrooms. I actually think they're even more important in kids bedrooms as they get that bit older/teens. (trying smoking etc? + leaving phone chargers etc plugged in)

We also have a carbon monoxide alarm in the utility room where the boiler is + another one upstairs on the landing.
 
Thanks everyone with your replies. I would agree with not having one in each bedroom and I like Jonathan's link to the wireless system, very neat idea. I'd not considered the loft either.
 
viv1969 said:
If you have any electrical outlets in your loft space, consider a smoke detector there too.
Click to expand...

If you do put one in the loft then you'll probably want a heat detector rather than a smoke alarm. The dust in a loft could set a smoke alarm off.
 
JonathanRyan said:
If you do put one in the loft then you'll probably want a heat detector rather than a smoke alarm. The dust in a loft could set a smoke alarm off.
Click to expand...

True, especially if the loft space is accessed regularly. I'd go for a 60° sensor rather than 90°.
 
Have they fixed them so they aren't "grilling sausages alarms" yet?

Those in my old house didn't go off in when there was an actual fire, but could be relied on to announce that sausages were cooking.
 
I've got the Nest ones, mains powered with battery backup, love the voice alerts and the built-in light. Expensive and doesn't do heat detection but I still think they are great!
 
JonathanRyan said:
Yes. That's why you use heat alarms in kitchens.
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By the same token, never stick a heat sensor directly outside a bathroom door.
Lots of hotels/supposed safety companies fall foul of that.
 
We've got combination of heat/smoke/co2 ones and fully integrated with our alarm system with all associated remote monitoring benefits. We have not put them in each of the rooms. We looked at the routes for escape and smoke and placed them strategically fully integrated in to the system. For example; in our house way before anything enters the bedrooms the system will have gone off fast and loud. I see current advice is one in every room, I think it is overkill and a risk we are happy to live with.
 
dejongj said:
; in our house way before anything enters the bedrooms the system will have gone off fast and loud. I see current advice is one in every room, I think it is overkill and a risk we are happy to live with.
Click to expand...

Unless, of course, the problem originates in a bedroom with a closed door.
 
viv1969 said:
Unless, of course, the problem originates in a bedroom with a closed door.
Click to expand...

:agree:

I posted a couple of examples earlier.

You can never be too cautious with not only your own kids, but they have friends over too.

OldCarlos said:
I actually think they're even more important in kids bedrooms as they get that bit older/teens. (trying smoking etc? + leaving phone chargers etc plugged in)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
No electronic devices are allowed in the bedrooms in our house ;) The risks of unsupervised access are much much greater in my opinion.
 
dejongj said:
No electronic devices are allowed in the bedrooms in our house ;) The risks of unsupervised access are much much greater in my opinion.
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There are still electrical outlets.
 
Eight smoke alarms, one CO alarm, two fire extinguishers, one fire blanket and fully opening windows in all bedrooms :)
 
mrgubby said:
Eight smoke alarms, one CO alarm, two fire extinguishers, one fire blanket and fully opening windows in all bedrooms :)
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Hope you don't live on the 20th floor of a tower block. If so get a parachute ........... :LOL:
 
arclight said:
Hope you don't live on the 20th floor of a tower block. If so get a parachute ........... :LOL:
Click to expand...
Or an emergency escape friction reel (like an extending dog lead).. I can remember a friend's student digs had one of these for making an emergency escape from a third floor window.
 
I think it's difficult to go "over the top" with safety devices. My own smoke sensors are mains powered. I have LED battery lamps in places that I can find (next to escape doors, magnetic one on the fridge) because, in case of fire, there may be no mains lighting and safe is better than sorry. keys are in locks, they can't be fished from outside. 25 years ago, my 3 kids were trapped in the house when it caught fire and I wasn't there. Their mother panicked and was no help. 2 managed to get out, the other one was rescued, no harm done but that kind of experience does concentrate the mind.

I know the fire brigade view on fire extinguishers, but I think that that's because some people are idiots - fire extinguishers need to be on escape routes so that people can't get trapped fighting a fire.

I'm probably a bit excessive. On the farm, we have red smoke flares, kept dry with cling film, on each tractor and the quad, in case help is needed where there's no mobile signal. Over the top? Less than a year ago, one of those flares guided an air ambulance in...
 
arclight said:
Hope you don't live on the 20th floor of a tower block. If so get a parachute ........... :LOL:
Click to expand...

Jetpacks in all rooms and everybody is certified ( at least my wife says I am )
 
Garry Edwards said:
I know the fire brigade view on fire extinguishers, but I think that that's because some people are idiots - fire extinguishers need to be on escape routes so that people can't get trapped fighting a fire.
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One of Mrs Nod's teachers' husbands is a fireman and recommends that she has a water extinguisher at the top of the stairs so that any smallish fires can be suppressed to get people out as safely as possible. Being in a Grade 2 (IIRC, could be grade 1) listed building means that putting a fire escape down the outside isn't allowed - far better to let people be trapped in the building... There are 3 extinguishers on the way down, one just inside the studio door, one of the first 1/2 landing and one on the full landing a floor below. (In the roof space, there is a lot of evidence of at least one fire - charred beams all over the place!)
 
Alastair said:
Or an emergency escape friction reel (like an extending dog lead).. I can remember a friend's student digs had one of these for making an emergency escape from a third floor window.
Click to expand...
I lived in a third floor bedsit in my 20's which had one of these. I'm glad I never had to use it as since installation someone had added a conservatory with a glass roof below. o_O
 
mrgubby said:
Eight smoke alarms, one CO alarm, two fire extinguishers, one fire blanket and fully opening windows in all bedrooms :)
Click to expand...
Isn't that overkill? :p
 
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