Preferred Mains Smoke Detector brand?

[Noob2013]

Hi all,

What's everyone's preference on mains interlinkable smoke/heat detectors taking into account price, reliability and look?

Ive used Aico several times and never had a problem but they are expensive and quite bulky!

Cheers

 

[uksparks]

I would only fit Aico Ei16xx Series, mains powered with 10 year lithium battery. I see them to be the best in my opinion.

 

[Noob2013]

I would only fit Aico Ei16xx Series, mains powered with 10 year lithium battery. I see them to be the best in my opinion.

Yeah they are a very decent product. Where do you find the cheapest place to buy from?

 

[LankyWill]

I only fit Aico aswell as there by far the fastest to fit and the quality is superb. The radio link bases can get you out of a jam aswell.

 

[Hellmooth]

Fitted a few cheaper versions as well, hard to say anything bad about them as they work fine and haven't had any issues with them, BRK from screwfix are OK for the price, Kidde as well. I've also used really cheap ones from Yesss electrical, can't even remember the name, possibly firesafe...........cheap and cheerful but seem ok, I still stick to Aico though.

 

[uksparks]

Yeah they are a very decent product. Where do you find the cheapest place to buy from?

I buy them from my local wholesaler BED Electrical, I get them for about £34 each

You could look here:
Aico EI166RC 160 Series Mains Optical Smoke Alarm With Hush Built-In 10 Year Rechargeable Lithium Battery, Mounting Plate & Remote Control Functionality 240V, EI166RC

 

[amlu]

BRK are utter piece of crap!!!
had some purchased by tight wad customer recently, they came with a kind of connector with wires sticking out, to plug on the top of the unit and connect it up to the wiring. it sticks out a lot so the thing is not flush with the ceiling, looks like it requires their extra crappy plastic adaptor plate? Or a taped chocblock pushed into the ceiling void?
Ended up soldering their wires to my 3c+E cables and heatshrinking the lot...

Kiddie for me anytime, 2 piece - base has easy to install push-fit connection for one incoming and one outgoing cable, then you stick in the main part when the job is done.

 

[J.C.E]

the new aico E range are pretty good- used them a few times now
look bit more smarter
and the wireless bases are chips that go INTO the head- rather than having the old bulky wireless bases like before

ei166e, ei164e, ei100mrf

 

[shanky887614]

anyone used fireangel? ive used them quite a bit and not had any issues

 

[tazz]

The BRK and the old Kiddie, don`t actually meet BS standards, as there is no form of safe lockable isolation

 

[Englishman]

I would only fit Aico Ei16xx Series, mains powered with 10 year lithium battery. I see them to be the best in my opinion.

All day long.

 

[Hellmooth]

I've used the patress box with the BRK and its fine, although I only used them because it was an urgent Sunday job for a letting agent and screwfix was only place open!

 

[tomspark93]

My preference is sick as well, never had a problem.

 

[rich.250]

The BRK and the old Kiddie, don`t actually meet BS standards, as there is no form of safe lockable isolation

Agree with Tazz,
We always use Aico.
One of the only brands that fully comply.

 

[ruston]

Aico here too. One of the few products available today that I have complete confidence in.

 

[Harni]

Aico all day long for me. Bearing in mind im a fire alarm engineer so install a lot of these in domestic properties, Aico devices seem to be the best made and most reliable considering the price.

 

[Dave OCD]

Aico for me too, the only small criticism I'd mention would be that the terminal block 'compartment' doesn't give you much space to connect neatly,still much better than a deep ugly pattress or cutting a dry lining box into the ceiling though.

 

[123]

Aico for me, nothing else comes close. The terminal block can be a pain, especially if trying to get 3 cores into one terminal when fitting replacements. I've had to replace a lot of Kidde detectors faulty well before the replace by date on them, local fire brigade has said they get loads of false alarms from the Kidde stuff especially the CO detectors.

 

[Harni]

Only thing i will say is avoid the Aico sealed 10 year battery devices in favour of the PP3 versions. I seem to end up replacing a fair few of the sealed ones well under their 10 year life.

 

[Dave OCD]

I always buy the 9v replaceable battery back up version, much cheaper too !