Fire alarm law change Feb 22

[Chuck328]

The Fourth Reich have decreed that come next Feb all homes in Scotland require interlinked fire and smoke detection alarms.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/fire-and-smoke-a...

I'm a bit miffed about this. For starters, my detached two story house is nothing like a massive high rise in London.

I feel I alone should be the arbiter as to what level of protection my house has. As it stands, already having two smoke detectors and three CO detectors - all of which are plenty loud enough is fine. Having to throw most of it out and start again is a bit OTT.

The detail will be in the future house insurance small print. This will likely be the decider for most. Given our houses are our most expensive purchase the chance of voiding any insurance dictates to me anyway that I'll have to bite the bullet and spend possibly into the hundreds to comply.

That being the case, any recommendations ? Amazon is littered with makes I've never heard of. This time of year is expensive enough as it is, so cost is a factor.

Thanks.

[Pete54]

The only practical options are the radio linked battery powered ones.

Are they in anyway justified - of course not. Most house deaths from fire resulted from smoking in bed, chip pan fires and of course many 'people' had pinched the batteries from the detectors.

Now we have to have networked detectors - when the rate of house fires is the lowest ever........

Oh for some MSPs who can actually read and think!

[hidetheelephants]

They can knob off, I'll switch insurer before I fit this pointlessness to my gaff. Bunch of fking busybodies; I'd say they should stick to sorting the fked economy instead of this bks, but long evidence proves they're utterly handless at the job.

[colin79666]

It’s a farce.

In the middle of a pandemic it means having to have an electrician in your house for a few hours or install battery powered units. The latter wouldn’t be too bad but they are triple the price of standard alarms so many can’t afford them and pretty much always out of stock (again, pandemic supply issues).

[s2kjock]

I thought it was just going to be an issue when you came to sell your property - are insurers going to insist on it as well? That would certainly change my planned procrastination approach to this shenanigans.

[sherman]

Bet this gets an extension for people to comply with it as no body will have complied by Febuary because of covid and also the government have hardly pushed the need to comply .

[Desiderata]

sherman said:

Bet this gets an extension for people to comply with it as no body will have complied by Febuary because of covid and also the government have hardly pushed the need to comply .

There has already been an extension, exactly as you say happened last time and it got extended. Someone in the Scottish Government must have shares in Aico.

[irc]

Will probably fit a battery set in due course. No rush Prices may come down and there will be more feedback on ease of set up etc.

Cheap will do me. Our house is small enough we don't need a linked system other than the Reichstsg making Scotland the only country in the world they are needed.

Cheap will do. I just need a system fitted to prevent insurance issues in the amazingly unlikely event of a fire.

[Jader1973]

s2kjock said:

I thought it was just going to be an issue when you came to sell your property - are insurers going to insist on it as well? That would certainly change my planned procrastination approach to this shenanigans.

My parents put them in a few months ago because they were thinking of selling.

They got theirs through whoever it is that does their burglar alarm.

[flatlemon]

Thanks for the heads up!

This kit states it meets the requirement and isn't too expensive:
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/firehawk-w-series-seal...

[CO2000]

flatlemon said:

Thanks for the heads up!

This kit states it meets the requirement and isn't too expensive:
https://www.safelincs.co.uk/firehawk-w-series-seal...

These a bit lower profile
https://fireguardplus.co.uk/bundle?gclid=EAIaIQobC...

[flatlemon]

CO2000 said:

These a bit lower profile
https://fireguardplus.co.uk/bundle?gclid=EAIaIQobC...

Thanks for that, looks good!

[Heidfirst]

I have installed FireAngel Pro Connected ones. They cost me ~£35 each but the prices have risen no doubt due to the supply chain shortages.

[ikarl]

I agree with the principle

I disagree with the massive overreach of the ScotGov to make this a law inside my house

[Deltic1961]

New Zealand have just banned smoking. Seems it's getting worse by the day.

[Don Veloci]

Didn't realise Feb22 was an extension already!

Anyway, I'm of the opinion that it's completely out of order the Scottish Government didcating by law the level of chosen fire protection in my own private home. I have two perfectly working indenpendent Fireangels and a CO alarm.

A cynical voice is whispering... follow the money - someone in power is bound to be scoring!

I'll not be rushing to be an obedient citizen but it's alarming that everyone else around seems to roll over and be in a rush to comply.

In a case where an unoccupied home is fire damaged I'm pretty sure an insurance company will struggle to wriggle out of a pay out regardless of what type of a alarm was there alarming at nobody.

[Deltic1961]

Seems bizarre they're constantly moaning about the poorest in society losing out because of Westminster yada yada but at the same time implement a policy that will cost every household £200 to implement.

[NoddyonNitrous]

My daughter has learning difficulties and has some interactions with support workers. Their employer has written to say that they will not be allowed to come into the house unless I confirm that we have installed compliant alarm systems. So not just sale / insurers doing the enforcement.

[emrrtwo]

I had 2 old hard wired smoke alarms so I thought update them and get a battery heat alarm and am sorted, new law means they all must be interlinked / talk to each other and most hard wire ones don’t talk to battery ones. Can get ones that use radio frequencies to connect but a lot of them you seem to need to buy the alarms then additional radio ports that attach to each so are interlinked without cables.

With all that in mind I ended up going for the 10 year sealed lithium batteries ones that need replaced every 10 years, below link is who I went with as seemed a good price and were easy to fit / link
(think there site says currently out of stock but more on the way)

https://interlinked-wireless-alarms.co.uk/

[mikecassie]

It's not just the battery powered smoke alarms that need changing every 10 years. Every sensor, wired or battery powered must be changed every 10 years according to the scot gov website. Surely not?! https://www.gov.scot/publications/fire-and-smoke-a...

That is utterly daft, seems rather wasteful throwing out perfectly good smoke alarms every 10 years. Maybe Nippy and her acolytes have shares in Aico...

I wonder if I can buy the requisite alarms now and install them when I come to sell the house 🤔

Edited by mikecassie on Wednesday 15th December 07:59