which smoke alarm/detector

[damian]

Hi all,

I have come to the font of all wisdom because the boss has a question.

She needs to buy some smoke alarms. She bought some a few years back and they are already dead. New batteries they start chirping straight away. She's annoyed as they weren't the cheapest ones.

So...

What are the best smoke alarms to buy ? she wants quality but I bet she doesn't want the dearest. Any advice appreciated.

[Acco]

I have the EIPFSPTLH which is on page 11 of this PDF, I bought them direct from Brooks and had my sparky install them about 5 yrs ago and they are still working as good today as they did when installed. Mind you they weren't cheap, just found the invoice for them and they were $72 each back then. Retail on my invoice has them at $85.50 each but got an discount as I bought a few other things as well.

They do have battery powered ones which would probably be cheaper, would also recommend the Lithium powered ones.

I initially rang them as I was looking for a system that would work with my hearing loss as I generally couldn't hear most alarms and especially once I was in bed, as I remove my hearing aids, the sales rep told me to come in and took me through everything and I was very happy with their service and advice.

[damian]

Great site, thank you. I think she's looking for battery powered. Those lithium 10 year detectors look pretty good

[petersemple]

We have one wired in detector in our house, and I will probably get rid of it sometime. It is just outside the kitchen, and every time someone burns the toast it goes off, and there doesn't seem to be any way to turn it off. At least with a battery one you can pull it down for a few minutes. Very annoying.

[Chief Tiff]

We have one wired in detector in our house, and I will probably get rid of it sometime.

Just check with your local council first though. I read somewhere fairly recently that all new build houses must have at least one wired in smoke detector, and that older houses must have one wired in prior to being sold. Deliberately removing one may be regarded as extremely naughty.

This may only apply in QLD, and of course there is always the distinct possibility that I'm voicing an opinion via my alimentary tract.

[silentC]

I'm pretty sure that all new houses, all houses that are renovated or extended beyond a certain limit (dollars), and all rental properties are required to have hard-wired smoke alarms installed. This is certainly the case in NSW. There are also regulations about how many and where they are to be put.

If you're none of the above, you can probably do what you want. I guess no-one is going to know if you disable the smoke alarms in your new house either, but you may have trouble with insurance if it is discovered after your house catches fire

For what it is worth, we have HPM hard-wired smoke alarms in our place, one outside each bedroom door. Putting them in the kitchen is pointless since you won't hear them if you're asleep and there's too much nuisance triggering. The regs are for them to be placed within so many metres of every bedroom door, which sometimes means more than one in the same room, as is the case at our place.

Ours are wired together so that if one goes off, they all do, which is a good idea if the kids sleep at the other end of the house and there is a fire down their end. In 6 years I have replaced one battery - even hard-wired units must have battery back up. There have been a couple of nuisance triggerings from cooking but you just press the big button in the middle and they shut up.

[BobL]

Great site, thank you. I think she's looking for battery powered. Those lithium 10 year detectors look pretty good

We have one in the shed and two in the house. I'm somewhat paranoid about fires (I once found my shed smouldering ie within minutes of fully catching on fire) so I guess hardwiring is next in order. I found a roll of fire alarm wiring in a skip a couple of weeks back so that is a start.

[petersemple]

Just check with your local council first though. I read somewhere fairly recently that all new build houses must have at least one wired in smoke detector, and that older houses must have one wired in prior to being sold. Deliberately removing one may be regarded as extremely naughty.

This may only apply in QLD, and of course there is always the distinct possibility that I'm voicing an opinion via my alimentary tract.

Good point. There is another hard wired one in a different part of the house that is not currently wired in (no idea why - it was like that when we moved in) and is working off the battery backup basically as a battery powered one. If we get a sparky to unwire one he should rewire the other at the same time to make sure. I would also guess a sparky should know exactly what the rules around it all are as well.

[graemet]

We have a two wired in types connected to our burglar alarm, so you have to turn them off with the code. Best part is that we never have to remember to fit new batteries.

[rwbuild]

If you have them wired to to the alarm and the alarm is off when your home, then they won't activate to let you know of a fire or smoke danger.... or am I missing something in your description..... please explain more clearly

[graemet]

If you have them wired to to the alarm and the alarm is off when your home, then they won't activate to let you know of a fire or smoke danger.... or am I missing something in your description..... please explain more clearly

Yes, you're missing something. The alarms work at all times. This is painfully obvious when I burn the toast! Also, BOTH alarms sound, not just the one near the smoke.

[silentC]

Best part is that we never have to remember to fit new batteries.

It would be unusual for them to not have back-up batteries. Ours certainly do. But they don't need to be replaced very often.

[graemet]

The backup batteries have their own alarm on the main board. We've never had to touch them.

[silentC]

I've replaced one in 6 years. We get occasional power outages here in the bush