General Chat

I put my own smoke alarm between the kitchen and living room - it was always going off :-(
Then, (years ago) the council provided one - and a carbon monoxide alarm.
The smoke alarm was relocated to the landing - much better!!
It's gone off once - when I was cooking Christmas dinner for the whole family!
No smoke, but lots of condensation.

The initial large carbon monoxide alarm was in the living room (open fire). It's since been changed for a smaller one - and another has been added to the airing cupboard (where the boiler is)

We guessed that ;-)

My last posting was a joke.

I have a friend who switches off the heating when she goes out AND pulls out all the plugs when she goes to bed...... because that is what her parents did.

Ours went off middle of the night a couple of months ago...husband and I jumped out of bed switched lights on as we went to find fire......teenagers ????.....slept right through it all....we checked the whole house nothing, the alarm had stopped itself after a min or so......next morning kids didn't believe us......and yes it's one of those sealed 10 yr units which was right outside the bedrooms.

Smoke alarms wired into the mains but with battery backup in case the mains goes off are not expensive - about £ 20 one off.plus fitting. For insurance purposes it is best to use a qual. electrician unless you have a P50.

Some insurance companies stipulate such alarms especially where the property is let or in commercial use. Housing association alarms are usually mains powered independently of the user power supply in the case of flats.

Wired in alarms cannot of course be disabled as a matter of convenience except by a temporary override button. Attempting to do so is irrational.

And why, when batteries beep, is it ALWAYS 3am??


batteries when on their last legs, are "ok" when they are relatively warm,

but the voltage drops rapidly when cold causing the bleep....

nightime temps drop significantly, around 3 am.....
(also why your car battery is ok in the summer, but wont start the car, in the winter....)
Bob

Like Cynthia, ours were fitted by the fire brigade. We have had to replace one as it kept beeping. Unlike the older versions, you can't just replace the battery. It's a sealed unit.

It appears that some people have reported that design can go off if a spider sets up home inside. Despite getting the vac to it, said spider ( if there was one) wouldn't leave.

I'd suggested to OH that appears at the neighbours door with a step ladder & offer to replace the battery. He's said that we can't just rail road her. It has to be her choice.

Our smoke alarms are also wired in. We've never had any problems with them. Our heating is underfloor and takes a long while to heat up or cool down. It isn't efficient to keep turning it on or off as we discovered in our first couple of months in the property so we turn it on in the autumn and off in the spring.

Ours were fitted by the Fire Brigade - they are supposed to last for about 10 years. Any problems and they come round and sort it for you. No more changing batteries for us.... :-D


http://www.fireservice.co.uk/safety/hfsc

Regarding the central heating .................... we turn it down from about 20C to 17C if we are going to be out for more than an hour, and down to 15C if we are going away.

17C is the recommended turn down by our local authorities .............. sufficient to produce enough heat to keep the house warm enough to prevent freezing pipes, and yet saves a significant amount of money. We NEVER turn it off, as that means we have to call the gas people to come and turn the pilot light back on. The lowest the thermostat goes down to is 10C, and that is all we do when the weather warms up.

Our heating is by natural gas, and we pay monthly in a two step process that comes into effect if we use more than a certain amount of gas, with the second step costing more than the first step. We always exceed the amount in the winter months.

Turning the central heating too low costs more because it takes longer for the house to heat up on your return

Our smoke alarms are wired into the electricity .......... I was against them in the first place but OH went ahead. If the electricity goes off, we have no working smoke alarms :-(

If they beeping (and it is loud), the only way to stop the noise is to go down to the basement, find the fuse box, find the correct fuse and switch it off and then on.

THEN we have to re-set the bedroom alarm clock radios because that was the circuit they were wired into :-(

The one closest to the kitchen goes off if there is the slightest hint of smoke ..... I no longer use the grill. BUT I have discovered how to stop it easily ........... I stand underneath it and wave a tea towel around to waft the non-visible smoke away :-)

However, the one in the basement goes off for no apparent reason. It did it in the middle of the night a few months ago, worried OH no end because I was so sound asleep that I didn't hear.

Then it went off again yesterday afternoon, just after he'd gone out ............... I went down, checked everything out, no sign of anything, but couldn't turn it off. The noise continued until he came home over an hour later ......... fortunately it was very faint in the room I was in.

I want to go back to battery operated ones, he doesn't want to because of having to change the batteries :-P

it's called sod's law!!!!

IGP - yes, agree!! Our downstairs one is set off by the steam iron (not very close) or boiling something on the hob (again, not very close). And why, when batteries beep, is it ALWAYS 3am??

Years ago when my parents in law were alive they came to stay with us. While they were with us their neighbour rang to say there had been a break in. That's when we found out father in law had turned off the burglar alarm in case it went off and annoyed the neighbours. Good move Dad!

We have always changed the batteries every year. We had them changed at 1 house the week before Christmas now it's the weekend prior to our son's birthday, it makes it easy to remember. We use the batteries elsewhere till they run down.

Sharron we always switch our central heating off when we go out now. We've always had our boilers (gas) regularly serviced, but years ago I can remember us sitting in the kitchen after getting home from work to a nice warm house and noticing flames flickering through the sides of the boiler cover!!! Somehow some of the special nuts on the front of the boiler underneath the front cover had worked loose, allowing flames to escape when the boiler fired up. The place could have burned down had we not been at home and noticed it so we are worry gutsies too now. :-S

I can sympathise - there are at least two problems with many smoke alarms.

Firstly the batteries don't last very long so you get them beeping away to tell you to replace it. Not recommended when it wakes you up in the middle of the night. Secondly I found many are just too sensitive, going off when you make toast, not even burnt and during normal cooking.

My Dad used to that back in the day, but in his case it was when he went out to an evening meeting. Mum was not best pleased. (She'd put it back on!)

how very caring