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.

I knew nothing about this either. We do have wired linked smoke alarms but just in the downstairs hall and upstairs landing and a stand alone CM alarm in the utility room where the boiler is.

this bit : one smoke alarm installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes

Is likely to be the most awkward.

General daytime use for us would be weekday: me in study downstairs and DS1 in his bedroom. Both with trips to kitchen. weekend maybe slightly different with me all over the place. Evenings DH at home and moves between, living room and family room and kitchen, me much the same and will still spend time in study - DS1 still in his bedroom.... When DS2 is home from uni then he will be similar to DS1 but obvs a different bedroom.

So effectively I need alarms in all those rooms? Study door is generally open and it's about 5 steps from my seat to be out the front door.

Also got a leaflet through the door just as the decorator was packing up after painting the ceilings in the kitchen and living room.

It's a two bed flat, if the alarm goes off, we hear it.

In fact I can hear the alarm if it goes off in neighbouring flats as well so more alarms in every flat might be overkill and will drive us all crazy. I can't help wondering if there are enough alarms in the shops if we all actually start fitting them. The next panic buying craze.

"General daytime purposes" would in my case be the kitchen. But you're not advised to put a smoke alarm into the kitchen - just a heat alarm given how smokey it gets when I'm cooking steaks, even with the extractor fan on, that's definitely advisable

@NothingIsWrong

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.

Just to make you aware that at the bottom of the description of the set you linked to, it says it's not suitable for the new regulations in Scotland. Need grade F1 like this

Thanks OP for this thread, I'd not heard of this change (although my bank balance may not thank you!)

Bloody hell. They're expensive and the battery ones only last the lifetime of the battery.

It is expensive, just what people need when money is tighter than ever.
The alarm companies must be doing cartwheels.

We did our house up a couple of years ago, and found out about the rules via our builder, and there was guidance on the government website at that point, so it is not new but definitely not well advertised. We got battery powered ones. They need to have a sealed unit so you can't remove the battery, and will need to be replaced about every 10 years. They are linked remotely so if one goes off, they all do. And as far as i know it will be a requirement for selling a property in future.
I was kicking myself when I realised we'd forgotten to ask the sparky to do it during rewiring, but thankfully managed to work out what to get instead.

DH decided to go down the DIY route, and with an Amazon Prime account, ordered some for £35 each.

What did you order, I'll copy you

We got a leaflet about this too. I had no idea. I think we're going to ignore it for now, we're not planning to sell up any time soon and are happy with what we have for now.

It will be interesting to see if insurance companies make this a requirement of insurance. Apart from when you sell I can't see any other time this would get picked up.

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.

The sensors only last ten years, so you would need to replace them anyway, battery or hard wired.

Typical. We have just replaced two of our old smoke alarms which came with the house when we moved here 15 years ago. Of course I knew nothing about these proposals. Sigh!

ssd it was a Fireangel Pro.

Amazon now back up to £50. Likely to be cheaper elsewhere now.

Literally just got this leaflet throigh today.

We are planning on selling so better get looking

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst thanks

Thanks for posting this, I hadn't heard of it at all. Hoping to sell our house next year too so would have caused an issue with that if we hadn't done it. I can't believe I haven't seen more about this when it's less than 4 months away?!

When I did my research on replacing our smoke alarms less than a month ago there was no info at all on about this on Which Online, Amazon, B&Q or Screwfix.

I wonder which SNP Minister has shares in a manufacturer/installer?

DH installed 5 alarms yesterday. Just needs basic DIY skills & tools.

There are no wires involved, they communicate by magic - probably radio waves or something (I'm not technical, can you tell?).

Finally, they are fecking LOUD. Almost painfully so! So, buy the minimum number you need.

Is there a website that tells you the min you can buy? My house is small and I don't want them in every room.
Sorry I haven't read all the information about it yet.

You need one for every landing/level, a heat one for the kitchen and one for the room that has most daytime use - which in our case is the kitchen and definitely not the living room

Plus you need a carbon monoxide alarm for every room that has carbon burning fuel. Iirc correctly, that doesn't need to be interlinked - but many of the interlinked alarms are available with a carbon monoxide detector.

So we'll need three smoke alarms (house on three levels), plus a heat/carbon monoxide one for the kitchen (we have a gas hob and oven although I rarely use the gas oven as we also have an electric oven ) and can use the less than a year old carbon monoxide alarm that's currently beside the boiler upstairs for our living room (which has a gas fire but we'll be re-installing a real grate both require the detector anyway ) as we're about to get our boiler replaced and that comes with a new carbon monoxide detector.

Thanks

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine

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.

Fair enough but don’t expect to be covered by your insurance if you need to make a claim.

Fair enough but don’t expect to be covered by your insurance if you need to make a claim.

Good point