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No smoke without fire


Martyn Walley of Aico looks at the benefits of interconnecting domestic smoke alarms with third-party safety systems and how best to achieve this.


D


omestic smoke alarm systems used to be pretty much self- contained affairs – you couldn’t add accessories to a system (there were none to add in any case), you couldn’t integrate them


with other alarm systems, and you certainly couldn’t interconnect to third party equipment. To do that required a commercial Part 1 system, which is entirely unsuited to the vast majority of residential properties, not to mention expensive. Smoke alarms have developed considerably over the years, from


improved response times through to greater system flexibility. This latter aspect in particular has had a considerable impact for landlords, especially in social housing. Now there are a raft of valuable system add ons, such as alarm control switches and the ability to connect smoke alarms to other systems.


Integrating alarm systems


In what circumstances would you want to connect a domestic fire alarm system to what is essentially a commercial one? The answer: when that Part 1 panel-based fire alarm system is fitted in the communal areas of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and apartment blocks. In this instance the individual apartments would be fitted with a BS5839 Part 6 domestic smoke alarm system. If this is triggered, it will only sound within that individual flat. To maximise safety and ensure the communal alarm can be heard within each property, it is beneficial to integrate the two


alarm systems so that the Part 1 communal system will activate all alarms throughout the entire building if a fire is detected, but does not allow individual flats’ alarms to activate those in the communal areas or within other tenant’s homes.


In case of emergency


Telecare/Warden Call Systems are commonplace in dwellings for vulnerable people and are an important tool to let people live independently in a safe environment, but in most situations they are not connected with the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the property. If a fire was to start or there was a CO leak, the alarms would activate but external assistance would not be sought, and this could be fatal. The ability to integrate these different systems means that if an alarm goes off, an emergency signal can be transmitted directly to the Warden Call system and on to the Alarm Receiving Centre if used. Assistance to evacuate the


“If a fire was to start or there was a CO leak, the alarms would activate but external assistance would not be sought, and this could be fatal”


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM May 2017 | 45 continued on page 47...


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