Smoke and heat alarms to comply with new law

[Castlecould]

Has anyone purchased theres recently and if so could you point me in the direction of where is best to buy? Was looking on Amazon but difficult to find ones that are smoke and heat detectors, have lithium battery and are interlinked which I believe are the requirements? TIA

Think ours were from Screwfix

How much did they cost overall @thedevilinablackdress? We have a 3 storey house and I'm really annoyed at having to switch over our perfectly functional alarms for the new ones, it is a cost I could well do without.

Anyone know if insurance would be invalid if we don't comply, or would that not make a difference? (insurance reasons would be the only thing to make me switch over!)

www.safelincs.co.uk/firehawk-w-series-sealed-battery-wireless-2-smoke-1-heat-alarm-kit

We got these ones. You also get 20% discount if you have a Blue Light Card

These are the ones the Fire Service are fitting for the (very few) people who qualify for free ones

I can't remember the cost, sorry. I'll try an dig it out. We are small flat tho, so didn't need many. Since insurers will try and find any loophole to get out of paying out, I reckon it's safer to have them
This page is useful and give indicative costs
www.gov.scot/news/changes-to-fire-safety-laws/

Cost wise I needed a heat detector & 2 smoke alarms - cost £97 including discount & delivery

There have been a couple of previous threads about this and pretty sure that the insurance thing doesn't apply. If you think about it, most insurers cover the whole of the UK and this only applies in Scotland.

You could check your policy conditions.

I'm not doing it until ours either need replaced anyway (not working) or we are moving when they will be a requirement for the house inspection thingy.

Thanks guys, yeah I had wondered that about insurance too Elephant. Really can't be arsed replacing them all right now as there will be so many for us!

I know and the instruction to have one in the room most frequently used is difficult. We have a Livingroom and Family room. We rarely use either to be honest, DH will go watch things in one or other from time to time. Otherwise we spread out. DS1 is a student but mainly at home so occupies his bedroom probably 23 hours a day! I work from home and use my study for that but also sit in there in the evening watching netflix and using my PC. DH works outside the house and has a PC set up in the dining room. When DS2 is home, he'll be in his room or in the family room playing on computer games.

Now obviously we do spent some time together but that could be in either living room or the dining room.

All that and the existing alarms go off when we fry a steak!

I don't really want to have an alarm on my public room ceiling when we can hear the wired ones we currently have in every corner of the house when they go off!

I don't see why insurers being UK wide would make a difference?
I'd imagine a clause like "comply with all necessary legal requirements in your jurisdiction" would be standard. Especially since Scotland and England have different legal systems.
I could be wrong, be interested to know for sure.

It's going to be at least £220 for us then, will also have to look up how long the batteries last. The cynical me has now thinking who in Scottish Gov has shares in the recommended companies!

I'm interested in this too.

We live in a compact flat but to comply will need 3 alarms (2 smoke and 1 heat) which will each be less than 2m apart.

As we can hear when smoke alarms go off in the flats 2 floors below us and in the next close this seems utterly ridiculous. Having the alarms interlinked will just mean we won't be able to get any respite from the noise when dh sets them off with a fryup (again).

I'm also minded to save my £200 for when we're looking to sell rather than right now but if it's an insurance requirement then of course we'll do it.

@MichelleScarn

It's going to be at least £220 for us then, will also have to look up how long the batteries last. The cynical me has now thinking who in Scottish Gov has shares in the recommended companies!

From what I've seen the batteries should last 10 years and the electrician hard-wired ones have to be replaced every 10 years as well.

@Castlecould if you are looking for battery powered (not mains powered) look at these safelincs site and they are suitable for new regulations

www.safelincs.co.uk/hispec-rf-pro-range-sealed-battery-wireless-2-smoke-1-heat-alarm-kit/

Other options
www.safefiredirect.co.uk/smoke-fire-gas-detection/smoke-heat-detectors/scottish-regulation-alarms.aspx

Thanks everyone. The Safelinks ones look like what I’m after. Thank you!

I purchased ones from safelincs but remember to check the ones you buy comply with scottish regulations

From AXA's policy terms.

I've just phoned and checked and they say the terms are the same for all UK nations and no smoke alarms (any type) are not required for insurance cover.

Sorry double negative fail. They are NOT required.

I'd be concerned though that their rules will change in Feb once this comes into effect

They said they would write out if that were to happen but they have always taken a four nation's approach to insurance. The advisor also put a note on my account to say what was discussed so there would be no misunderstandings in the future.

We got ours from screwfix. No idea of cost. But dh fitted them. We needed 3 alarms and a heat detector. The battery lasts 10 years.

I think the only time this is going to realistically be enforceable is when you go to sell a house.
It’s going to be a “legal requirement” but who exactly is going to police it.
Usual smoke and mirrors shite from scotgov 🙄

(And before anyone says it, my house is compliant as we retired this year)

@JudgeRindersMinder

I think the only time this is going to realistically be enforceable is when you go to sell a house. It’s going to be a “legal requirement” but who exactly is going to police it. Usual smoke and mirrors shite from scotgov 🙄

(And before anyone says it, my house is compliant as we retired this year)

When you sell your house it will probably be included in the home report.

Current home reports all mention that the law is changing soon, so that anyone buying that property knows they need to get new alarms (assuming it’s not currently compliant ).

@Double3xposure i know it’s in the home report, we bought a d sold this year …..a d contrary to ,y crap typing, we didn’t retire this year (I wish!J we REWIRED 😂

We cant afford these just now so will have to wait

We had these fitted last year (the initial date was early this year and they pushed it back due to Covid) and they were a nightmare. Any sort of dust motes or steam seemed to set them off, which was a LOT of noise between living room, kitchen, hall, and utility room! We had the electrician who fitted them back numerous times, and eventually unscrewed the living room and kitchen ones, which are now wrapped in blankets and in the shed. They could be put back up in a minute or so, but I thought our cat was going to have a heart attack every time they were wailing away.