Wireless Smoke & Heat Detectors

[gryphon]

With new legislation in Scotland coming in shortly i was wondering what's peoples preferred maker of 10 year lithium battery smoke and heat detectors.

 

[pc1966]

Yes, the expensive battery units should be cheaper to the customer, but after 10 years they all have to be replaced at the same price again.

With wired, you only have to replace the detectors, the extra cost in wiring is negated for future replacements.

With any luck the better brands will be reverse-compatible, but sadly I would not want to bet on all being so!

I wonder how many folks actually look at the 10 year+ costing?

 

[pirate]

My first 2 rental properties i fitted with a hybrid system. The requirement for smokes etc in rental properties dates back quite a few years here in Scotland, as does the need for an Electrical Inspection report and an Energy performance certificate. The rental market has had heavy regulation for years.
Anyway, before totally wireless 10 year tamperproof battery detectors were allowed, I fitted systems in 2 flats which, as i said above, were hybrid, in that the "main" smoke in the hall was hard-wired off the lighting circuit, but with an rf module fitted, and the other 2 detectors were of the wireless rf type. I'm told that some LAs permitted this, but i didn't ask them. The theory was simply that in the particular flats in question, once the requisite 2 smokes and 1 heat were installed, there was no more than 3 to 4 m between them. Thus, 1 sounded, you would hear it, and when it set off the other 2, you would be deafened!
I wouldn't have used this hybrid system for much larger properties, and of course those hybrids are now permitted under Scottish legislation. Hard-wiring all of them would have meant raggling (chasing) ceilings and cutting through decorative Victorian cornicing, and making good the damage thereafter. The cost of raggling, plastering after, and subsequently decorating would have been much more, obviously, taken longer, and caused some disruption too.
In a big property this extra work could amount to a lot of cash. Folks seem happy with the wireless, rf system, obviously, and the cost, over 10 years, is pretty negligible, imho. One of the main points in the Scottish Governments Consultation Paper was to encourage compliance, and allowing the battery rf detectors meant people were more likely to comply than if they had to contemplate the mess and disturbance of a hard-wired system. The cost of the hard-wired is considerably more than the extra cost of the rf, however as @littlespark noted above, once you have the wiring in, it doesn't need to be done again.
Easy fit, easy compliance, more homes in a safer state...vs a bit of disruption...the client has a choice, so that's A Good Thing... as Winnie The Pooh was wont to intone.

 

[littlespark]

On a fully battery RF system, you’ve still got fire detection after these storms have cut off your leccy and you’ve resorted to sitting round a gas superser to keep warm.