Smoke alarms in children's bedrooms

[Roxyrocks]

Hi all,
I was just wondering how many people have smoke alarms in their children's bedrooms?

Every summer when we have the fans running in our little ones bedroom I worry about it catching fire overnight so after their bedrooms have been remodelled and redecorated in a few weeks I'm planning on putting smoke alarms up in their rooms.

Is this something other people do or am I a bit OTT?

No, not in bedrooms.

Easy to install, very cheap and peace of mind. Go for it.
There are so many things you will worry about when it comes to children and for which there is absolutely nothing you can do . Remove this worry since you can.

We have one in our own bedroom - no kids, but if I did I would have one in their room too. All alarms in the house are interlinked as well as we are in Scotland and that’s the rules.

You could do, but not at the expense of ones on the landings and in the kitchen. Also you could plug the fans in via and RCD- I'm assuming this could make them safer but not sure.

I've got smoke alarms in every room on mains electric with 10 year battery back up.

Yes, every bedroom and on the landing. Used to work for the emergency services so I don't muck about with basic fire safety.

Yes. We have smoke alarms wired in and they’re in every room (minus bathrooms because of steam setting them off!)

I have them in my living room, hall downstairs, hall upstairs, all 4 bedrooms.

I asked the London fire brigade to come for free to fit top notch smoke alarms on all floors (not in bedrooms). Would highly recommend!

On the landing, not in bedrooms. I think it is sufficient and the doors are always slightly open.

I have them wired in every room after a loft conversion.

Interestingly I said to an electrician who came to move one for me that I could not understand why I had two in the downstairs hall about 2 foot apart.

It's because the smoke rises so because there used to be a doorway and there is still the bit of wall above where it used to be it means if there was only one it would take it a while to go off as the smoke would rise one side of the wall bit and it would take a while for it to build up enough to go under the bit of wall and pick up the one on the other side.

All in I have 9 I think in my 3 bed house - they are so loud when they all go off together.

I know this wasn't the question you asked but instead of a free standing or desktop fan have you considered ceiling fans? Honestly it is the best decision we ever made. They are in all the bedrooms. I know they might not look as beautiful as other light fittings but they make a huge difference in summer months. But no we don't have smoke alarms in the bedrooms, wired in landing and hallway.

Not directly related to your question, but I was at a conference a few years ago where research was presented showing that the majority of children, think it was about 70%, aged under 13 don’t wake up to the standard smoke alarm noise. Think a lower pitched alarm or spoken alarm was more effective but it was a few years ago so memory hazy. Message was very much don’t rely on them to wake children. However if your worry is related to the safety oh the fans, is it worth looking at ceiling fans instead?

Yes, we do, in all the bedrooms. We didn’t used to, but decided it was worth the cost to give any of us any extra time to escape a house fire. Those extra seconds can make a huge difference.

The ones the fire brigade installed shout at you "the fire alarm has been activated"

I have them in every room except bathrooms and my bedroom (steam from entrance suite used to set it off when I open the door!)

No smoke alarms in bedrooms, we have one in the hallway downstairs and one on the landing upstairs. I have three carbon monoxide alarms as well; one in the kitchen, one on the landing and one in our bedroom (our bedroom is above the room where the boiler is).

Perfectly sensible to put them in a bedroom. Also consider putting one in the loft and garage.

Ideally use mains powered ones, or ones that are linked, i.e. one goes off they all go off.

I use Yale ones, as they are linked to their (self install) alarm system, which will alert you on your phone.

We have one in the landing outside the bedrooms

Something to bear in mind is most smoke alarms will not wake up children. They are set for sounds that wake up adults and a surprising number of children are found still in bed and still asleep during fires.

https://www.earth.com/news/children-sleep-fire-alarm/

We've got one in every room except bathrooms. Especially with teenagers. Once knew someone who left their phone on charge and it set the bedcovers on fire....

Yes, smoke alarms in every bedroom, linked.

We have heat sensing alarms in the bedroom. We put them in after an incident where a small fire started in one of the kids rooms, and the smoke alarm did not go off. In spite of the door being open. I'm not sure what the advantages and disadvantages are of heat compared to smoke alarms but we figured it was worth mixing types in the hope that one will go off.

No in bedrooms and no fans going while asleep or any heating/cooling

If you do some research it turns out most young children won't wake up to standard smoke alarms. I tested this after my friend had a house fire. Sure enough my two who were 4&6, didn't wake up! You can get smoke alarms where you can record your own voice though. Also, you should have a mix of smoke alarms, some detect actual smoke, some detect minute pieces of ash. My friend only had the ash ones (rented house, wasn't aware previously of the different types) and her alarms didn't go off until actual flames broke out. By this point her entire downstairs was filled with thick smoke.

The main advantages for heat Vs smoke are the proximity to the bathroom Vs kitchen.

Next to a bathroom you want heat not smoke. This is because the steam from a shower could set off the smoke alarm but as it's not hot smoke it wouldn't set of a heat alarm. close to the kitchen you want the opposite smoke and not heat as general cooking generates heat that would set of the heat alarm and not a smoke alarm.

I lived in a flat where they installed them the wrong way around and every time the bathroom door was opened after a hot shower then alarm went off and in the kitchen every time we used the toaster (even without burning the toast!) Or opened the oven door the alarm would go off. They switched them around and it was only with burnt toast that the kitchen went off and the one outside the shower never went off.