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Wireless interconnection means that there is no reason to provide a lower standard of detection existing homes than in new or refurbished ones, says Neil Perdell.
When it comes to escaping from a fire in the home, time is vital.
Those extra few seconds can make all the difference between safety and injury or even death.
Since their introduction, smoke alarms have proved critical in providing people with a warning and giving them time to escape from a fire; they’ve made a real, undisputed difference. The task for fire professionals now is to ensure that people are not just given warning of a fire – but are given the earliest possible warning of one.
The recently published Summary Fire Statistics United Kingdom 2006 clearly show that some groups are more vulnerable in a fire than others. At first it would seem strange that babies under one year old are much less likely to perish than children aged one to four. Babies are, after all, even more helpless than toddlers aren’t they? With a little more thought, it’s clear that babies tend to sleep in a room with their parents, whereas the one to four year olds may have their own room. In a fire, parents may have time to snatch up a baby from within their bedroom, but rescuing toddlers from separate rooms takes extra valuable time – time they may not have. The elderly too, are more vulnerable as they may have hearing problems or are just slower in escaping. There are no figures for the infirm or disabled, but it’s no stretch of the imagination to understand that they need more time to escape than the able bodied.
Families with children, the elderly, the disabled – that profile fits a lot of tenants. What’s more, even the fastest, healthiest of young adults will benefit from the earliest possible warning. It’s just common sense.
There have been obvious steps to improve early warning times. Ensuring that the right alarm type is correctly situated in the right application, for example, or checking audibility levels in crucial areas, such as in the bedroom behind a closed door. Good maintenance practice is another. Interconnection of all the alarms in the property is essential if early warning is to be achieved.
There is another totally logical step to take – install more alarms in the property. It’s perhaps best reflected in the decision as to whether to install a Grade D, LD3 system as stated in BS 5839 Part 6 – the standard for domestic installations – as the minimum standard, or an LD2 system into a property. As a reminder, a Grade D, LD3 system consists of one mains powered alarm in the hallway interconnected with another upstairs on the landing. A Grade D, LD2 standard, on the other hand, involves an additional heat alarm in the kitchen and a further heat or smoke alarm in the main living area, with all four alarms interconnected. Those who favour LD2 as best practice argue that it is not acceptable that ‘existing tenanted properties’ should have less safety coverage than new build or ‘materially altered dwellings’ where LD2 is the recommended level of cover.
Interconnection
There are problems, however, with simply increasing alarm coverage. Quite aside from the cost of alarm units, there is all the extra time and associated installation costs, particularly with interconnection.
Interconnection is vital; it is a cornerstone of any early warning policy. When one alarm sounds, every alarm in the property is triggered and sounds. However, connecting all the alarms together by hard wiring is a big job – and expensive too. Walls and ceilings may need an unsightly trunking run. Floors and carpets may need to be wrenched up and then replaced. Tenants may hate the chaos and disruption – and actually withhold permission. Fire industry professionals have been left with the dilemma of recognising the need for greater coverage and interconnection to improve warning time, but finding it difficult to achieve.
Manufacturers recognise this too, and one of the strongest responses to the problem has come with the introduction of wireless interconnection. Now it’s possible to interconnect all alarm types through the use of wireless signals rather than hard wiring, using systems such as Aico’s RadioLINK technology. With no hard wired interconnection, it’s far quicker, simpler and less disruptive to install even a much larger and more sophisticated alarm system – and to make additions or changes when tenant needs change. Using wireless technology, safety has not been compromised and such systems have proved every bit as reliable as traditional old hard wired systems.
Sarsen Housing Association, which is responsible for nearly 6000 properties across south west England, has recognised the benefits of wireless interconnection. In Sarsen’s houses, two Aico Ei160 optical mains powered alarms have been installed; one in the downstairs hallway and one on the upstairs landing. Rather than using hard wiring, Sarsen has elected to use wireless technology to interconnect the alarms by radio signal.
“RadioLINK has proved very convenient,” says Sarsen’s programme surveyor, Justin Messenger. “It’s also proved to be cost saving too, both in terms of labour installation time and in reducing the cost of repairing a property after a hard wired installation.”
As installation continues, Sarsen is also exploring the potential of remote control technology, which allows tenants to control, test and hush alarms from a conveniently mounted wall box. The housing association is particularly interested in the implications this might have for the elderly and disabled.
“We’re very keen to get in front of legislation in everything we do,” says Justin Messenger. “We don’t just want to meet current legislation; we want to anticipate future legislation and be ready for it. That’s what we believe to be best practice.”
Sensor modes
There is a further obstacle, however, to providing the best possible early warning, and that concerns how smoke and heat alarms actually work. Optical, ionisation and heat alarms – the three types most commonly in use today – are individually designed to be very good at picking up one particular kind of fire. Unfortunately, there is more than one type of fire.
Fire can smoulder away for ages, or it can flare up suddenly and violently. Some fires produce a lot of heat very quickly, while others produce little heat but lots of smoke particles in the early stages.
When deciding which alarm type to use, specifiers have tended to go for the ‘best guess’. That is, they look at the type of fire most likely to break out in an area and choose the alarm type most applicable. This is not ideal and does not fully cover all risks. In a downstairs area covered by a single optical alarm in the hall, for example, the threat might come from a slow smouldering fire from electrics or furnishings – but it also may come from a fast, violent fire out of the kitchen. Here, a heat alarm would have given earlier warning.
Thankfully, manufacturers are beginning to understand this problem and respond to it with new products designed to properly cover multiple fire types and risks; this has come in the form of the multi sensor which combines two separate sensing elements – optical and heat – in a single alarm unit.
Multi sensors were once the province of big panel systems only, protecting buildings such as hotels and offices. Now, however, that powerful and advanced technology is at last being put at the disposal of those concerned with fire safety in dwellings. Given that the vast majority of fire deaths occur in the home, some might say such protection technology is long overdue in its arrival and application.
In practice, this means that the use of a multi-sensor offers an improved response to all likely fire types – and better early warning. For an application where a specifier or installer cannot be completely sure of the fire type threat, it provides a simple solution. In some applications, it can also help reduce costs by eliminating the need for two separate units.
A perfect example of where the new multi sensor has proved extremely beneficial is at the Llys Nant Fer sheltered housing complex in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, run by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The complex features 41 bungalows with warden call facilities. These have a smoke alarm in the hallway and a heat alarm in the kitchen, but problems were being encountered from false alarms.
The council’s Robert Shaw explains: “Whilst the heat detector in the kitchen caused no problems, we found the smoke detector in the hallway kept going off from smoke caused by cooking vapours. This was happening every two months. The fire brigade has been really helpful trying to educate the residents about their cooking, but many of them are quite elderly and are used to doing things a certain way. After 18 months of this, we decided enough was enough and we had to do something.”
The Council carried out a trial of Aico’s new Ei2110 multi sensor in four of the bungalows and didn’t get a single false alarm in four months. The trial has been so successful that the council is replacing all of its smoke alarms at Llys Nant Fer with these new multi sensors.
If we wish to further cut fire deaths and injuries, it’s essential that people are provided with the earliest possible warning in a fire situation. It’s a very positive thing that manufacturers are now starting to offer specifiers and installers tools with which to tackle the problem. The technology is innovative, yet reliable. Larger systems offering greater coverage are no longer such a daunting prospect as they were, thanks to wireless technology. At the same time, the advent of the multi-sensor means that all types of fire can be detected in the earliest possible time.
With time such a crucial element in survivability, it’s certain that lives will be saved.
Neil Perdell is national technical manager of Aico Limited, the exclusive UK distributor of the Ei Professional range of mains powered residential smoke and heat alarms. www.aico.co.uk
[
Wireless interconnection means that there is no reason to provide a lower standard of detection existing homes than in new or refurbished ones, says Neil Perdell.
When it comes to escaping from a fire in the home, time is vital. Those extra few seconds can make all the difference between safety and injury or even death.
Since their introduction, smoke alarms have proved critical in providing people with a warning and giving them time to escape from a fire; they’ve made a real, undisputed difference. The task for fire professionals now is to ensure that people are not just given warning of a fire – but are given the earliest possible warning of one.
The recently published Summary Fire Statistics United Kingdom 2006 clearly show that some groups are more vulnerable in a fire than others. At first it would seem strange that babies under one year old are much less likely to perish than children aged one to four. Babies are, after all, even more helpless than toddlers aren’t they? With a little more thought, it’s clear that babies tend to sleep in a room with their parents, whereas the one to four year olds may have their own room. In a fire, parents may have time to snatch up a baby from within their bedroom, but rescuing toddlers from separate rooms takes extra valuable time – time they may not have. The elderly too, are more vulnerable as they may have hearing problems or are just slower in escaping. There are no figures for the infirm or disabled, but it’s no stretch of the imagination to understand that they need more time to escape than the able bodied.
Families with children, the elderly, the disabled – that profile fits a lot of tenants. What’s more, even the fastest, healthiest of young adults will benefit from the earliest possible warning. It’s just common sense.
There have been obvious steps to improve early warning times. Ensuring that the right alarm type is correctly situated in the right application, for example, or checking audibility levels in crucial areas, such as in the bedroom behind a closed door. Good maintenance practice is another. Interconnection of all the alarms in the property is essential if early warning is to be achieved.
There is another totally logical step to take – install more alarms in the property. It’s perhaps best reflected in the decision as to whether to install a Grade D, LD3 system as stated in BS 5839 Part 6 – the standard for domestic installations – as the minimum standard, or an LD2 system into a property. As a reminder, a Grade D, LD3 system consists of one mains powered alarm in the hallway interconnected with another upstairs on the landing. A Grade D, LD2 standard, on the other hand, involves an additional heat alarm in the kitchen and a further heat or smoke alarm in the main living area, with all four alarms interconnected. Those who favour LD2 as best practice argue that it is not acceptable that ‘existing tenanted properties’ should have less safety coverage than new build or ‘materially altered dwellings’ where LD2 is the recommended level of cover.
Interconnection
There are problems, however, with simply increasing alarm coverage. Quite aside from the cost of alarm units, there is all the extra time and associated installation costs, particularly with interconnection.
Interconnection is vital; it is a cornerstone of any early warning policy. When one alarm sounds, every alarm in the property is triggered and sounds. However, connecting all the alarms together by hard wiring is a big job – and expensive too. Walls and ceilings may need an unsightly trunking run. Floors and carpets may need to be wrenched up and then replaced. Tenants may hate the chaos and disruption – and actually withhold permission. Fire industry professionals have been left with the dilemma of recognising the need for greater coverage and interconnection to improve warning time, but finding it difficult to achieve.
Manufacturers recognise this too, and one of the strongest responses to the problem has come with the introduction of wireless interconnection. Now it’s possible to interconnect all alarm types through the use of wireless signals rather than hard wiring, using systems such as Aico’s RadioLINK technology. With no hard wired interconnection, it’s far quicker, simpler and less disruptive to install even a much larger and more sophisticated alarm system – and to make additions or changes when tenant needs change. Using wireless technology, safety has not been compromised and such systems have proved every bit as reliable as traditional old hard wired systems.
Sarsen Housing Association, which is responsible for nearly 6,000 properties across south west England, has recognised the benefits of wireless interconnection. In Sarsen’s houses, two Aico Ei160 optical mains powered alarms have been installed; one in the downstairs hallway and one on the upstairs landing. Rather than using hard wiring, Sarsen has elected to use wireless technology to interconnect the alarms by radio signal.
"RadioLINK has proved very convenient," says Sarsen’s programme surveyor, Justin Messenger. "It’s also proved to be cost saving too, both in terms of labour installation time and in reducing the cost of repairing a property after a hard wired installation."
As installation continues, Sarsen is also exploring the potential of remote control technology, which allows tenants to control, test and hush alarms from a conveniently mounted wall box. The housing association is particularly interested in the implications this might have for the elderly and disabled.
"We’re very keen to get in front of legislation in everything we do," says Justin Messenger. "We don’t just want to meet current legislation; we want to anticipate future legislation and be ready for it. That’s what we believe to be best practice."
Sensor modes
There is a further obstacle, however, to providing the best possible early warning, and that concerns how smoke and heat alarms actually work. Optical, ionisation and heat alarms – the three types most commonly in use today – are individually designed to be very good at picking up one particular kind of fire. Unfortunately, there is more than one type of fire.
Fire can smoulder away for ages, or it can flare up suddenly and violently. Some fires produce a lot of heat very quickly, while others produce little heat but lots of smoke particles in the early stages.
When deciding which alarm type to use, specifiers have tended to go for the ‘best guess’. That is, they look at the type of fire most likely to break out in an area and choose the alarm type most applicable. This is not ideal and does not fully cover all risks. In a downstairs area covered by a single optical alarm in the hall, for example, the threat might come from a slow smouldering fire from electrics or furnishings – but it also may come from a fast, violent fire out of the kitchen. Here, a heat alarm would have given earlier warning.
Thankfully, manufacturers are beginning to understand this problem and respond to it with new products designed to properly cover multiple fire types and risks; this has come in the form of the multi sensor which combines two separate sensing elements – optical and heat – in a single alarm unit.
Multi sensors were once the province of big panel systems only, protecting buildings such as hotels and offices. Now, however, that powerful and advanced technology is at last being put at the disposal of those concerned with fire safety in dwellings. Given that the vast majority of fire deaths occur in the home, some might say such protection technology is long overdue in its arrival and application.
In practice, this means that the use of a multi-sensor offers an improved response to all likely fire types – and better early warning. For an application where a specifier or installer cannot be completely sure of the fire type threat, it provides a simple solution. In some applications, it can also help reduce costs by eliminating the need for two separate units.
A perfect example of where the new multi sensor has proved extremely beneficial is at the Llys Nant Fer sheltered housing complex in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, run by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The complex features 41 bungalows with warden call facilities. These have a smoke alarm in the hallway and a heat alarm in the kitchen, but problems were being encountered from false alarms.
The council’s Robert Shaw explains: "Whilst the heat detector in the kitchen caused no problems, we found the smoke detector in the hallway kept going off from smoke caused by cooking vapours. This was happening every two months. The fire brigade has been really helpful trying to educate the residents about their cooking, but many of them are quite elderly and are used to doing things a certain way. After 18 months of this, we decided enough was enough and we had to do something."
The Council carried out a trial of Aico’s new Ei2110 multi sensor in four of the bungalows and didn’t get a single false alarm in four months. The trial has been so successful that the council is replacing all of its smoke alarms at Llys Nant Fer with these new multi sensors.
If we wish to further cut fire deaths and injuries, it’s essential that people are provided with the earliest possible warning in a fire situation. It’s a very positive thing that manufacturers are now starting to offer specifiers and installers tools with which to tackle the problem. The technology is innovative, yet reliable. Larger systems offering greater coverage are no longer such a daunting prospect as they were, thanks to wireless technology. At the same time, the advent of the multi-sensor means that all types of fire can be detected in the earliest possible time.
With time such a crucial element in survivability, it’s certain that lives will be saved.
Neil Perdell is national technical manager of Aico Limited, the exclusive UK distributor of the Ei Professional range of mains powered residential smoke and heat alarms. www.aico.co.uk