All homes in Scotland require interlinked smoke alarms

[ICouldHaveCheckedFirst]

www.gov.scot/publications/fire-and-smoke-alarms-in-scottish-homes/

We weren't aware of this until we got a leaflet through the door from a company wanting to charge us for fitting some, so we checked. The above was posted on the gov.scot website 2 days ago.

Maybe everyone else knows already, but I thought I'd post just in case.

Deadline is 01 Feb 2021, so there's no need to panic just yet.

And how will that help with stopping the spread of covid over the winter months?

Like you I knew nothing until I got a leaflet. Not sure how big Nic is going to police that one; I think it becomes an issue for selling - home report- and it may be an issue for insurance? Not sure what legal remedy they have either.
That said I have looked at home reports and unless they are going to add a mandatory electrical check, I don’t see how the average survey is going to know. Unless the program their laser measuring gadgets 🤷🏻‍♀️

Seems like they should have been talking about this publicly before now.

Thanks for this

I can see having a working smoke alarm should be a household priority but I can see in our home we don't fulfill these criteria as ours are in the hallways only.

I'm not in Scotland but this caught my eye because I recently discovered that when our house was built, the upstairs smoke alarm wasn't actually connected to anything, the builders just put it there for show. I got an electrician to fit one but to connect it to the downstairs one was going to involve major work, cutting through floorboards and ceilings etc. So we have two separate alarms supplemented by battery operated alarms.

The only reason I discovered this was because I want to sell the house and wanted to be able to say it had brand new wired smoke alarms.

I can see this meaning rather major wiring work.

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst

Deadline is 01 Feb 2021, so there's no need to panic just yet.

That's less than 4 months away!

It's a bit annoying if you already have fire alarms up just not interlinked ones.
Also seems a bit ott unless you live in a massive block of flats like Grenfell and it's pointless unless they are interlinked with all the flats. Inside the flat you'd have to be deaf not to hear it from any room.

Imagine the annoyance though when someone inevitably burns some bacon!

That guidance page was first published on 12 October - for something that is supposed to be implemented by February 2021. So less than 4 months away!

We have non-interlinked alarms, so DH has just ordered some interlinked ones. He also reckons interlinked ones have been fitted to new builds for a number of years already, it's just older properties like ours.

We need to buy 9 I think. Which given we already have 8 perfectly good ones (including 2 wired into the mains) is rather annoying.

I was thinking about posting this too OP as like you first I knew was our alarm company trying to get us to buy a service.

I will fail on this. We have a old property and have just redecorated our hall so the battery ones will have to do for now. I read the guidance and think battery ones are ok though they need a long life??

The other fail for me will be a heat alarm in the kitchen. I have smoke and CO2 but what's a heat detector? Again not happy about having to chase in wires if it's an absolute must to have wired or interlinked.

Going to ignore this, our flat is tiny so can hear any alarm from anywhere. And the only way they will ever check is if you sell your home or are a landlord.

Again not happy about having to chase in wires if it's an absolute must to have wired or interlinked.

You can get interlinked long life battery ones which are acceptable. It's just whether it's worth the cost of having them wired in versus getting new ones every 10 or so years.

Could someone explain what an interlinked smoke alarm is, for people like me who don't know ?

@Dinosauratemydaffodils Excuse my ignorance but do the wireless ones, running off battery, need wifi to work? Or else how do they communicate with each other?

www.safelincs.co.uk/ultrafire-ufub1rf-radio-interlinked-home-fire-detection-essentials-kit/

This is the kind of thing you need. They work on radio to talk to each other. So when one goes off, they all do.

Using a heat detector only in the kitchen means it won't go off every time you burn the toast, only when it actually detects heat.

The ones I linked to require no chasing and can be installed by yourself - you just need to make sure you have all the detectors listed in the regs.

Thank you @NothingIsWrong

I actually remember reading a BBC article about these alarms a year or so ago, but then I forgot about it. So I think the policy is old, just badly publicised.

It looks like you don’t have to have them wired in, you can get long life battery ones that can link without wiring. I’m not sure how practical that would be though, especially in a big house.

It does seem like very short notice for something they estimate will cost at least £220.

There we go more than 2 years old!
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-43443725

They are a nightmare when one goes off in the night for no good reason like a spider walking over it, you are half asleep, finally manage to disconnect it only for the one next to it to start up. We don't understand how to work ours as you can tell.

...and over Christmas ....and during Covid when lots of people will be struggling to keep their heads above water

....and before anyone says it, I appreciate that the legislation was proposed pre-Covid.

Our ceilings are so high that we'd need to bring in the extra tall ladders from the garage and still struggle to reach them if one of them goes off for no reason or to replace the batteries

As mentioned, this was announced roughly 2.5 years ago and was prompted by Grenfell.

Definitely hasn't been publicised well and I think a lot of people will be finding out for the first time via that installer company's leaflet!