Fire & CO alarms
Ideally, a CO alarm should be installed in every room containing a fuel burning
appliance (or outside boiler rooms) and in other areas to give warning such as well-used remote rooms and all bedrooms.
lBedrooms: Optical smoke alarms Smoke and heat alarms should preferably be ceiling-mounted at least 300mm (horizontally) from walls or light fittings. For LD3 systems, no point within the circulation area should exceed 7.5m from the nearest alarm and there should also be a smoke alarm between each bedroom and every other room (except sanitary accommodation).
CO alarm guidance Unlike the smoke alarm Code, BS EN 50292:2013 offers more general, less prescriptive guidance on carbon monoxide alarms. It stresses that CO alarms are not a substitute for good installation and regular servicing of fuel burning appliances or cleaning of flues, and that they are not intended to be used as an alternative to a smoke alarm. Alarms can be either hard-wired mains or battery powered and may have an automatic end-of-life warning. In the Standard (and related Building Regulations) the recommendation for CO alarms is determined by the presence of combustion appliances within the property
being considered. However, unlike fire, CO cannot be contained within a single property and can spread unnoticed to others adjacent which may not even have a combustion appliance. It can also be generated by sources other than combustion appliances. There is therefore a compelling case for CO alarms in all homes.
Detect and alert Obviously, it is essential that carbon monoxide from the source reaches the alarm to trigger it and also that the alarm sounder can alert or wake occupants. BS EN 50292:2013 recommends that: lIdeally, a CO alarm should be installed in every room containing a fuel burning appliance (or outside boiler rooms) and in other areas to give warning such as well- used remote rooms and all bedrooms.
lIf this is not viable, CO alarms should be considered in any room containing a flue- less or open-flue appliance and where the occupants spend most time. Alarms should also be installed in rooms through which an extended and/or concealed flue passes.
CO alarms in bedrooms should be fitted near the occupant’s breathing zone.
Again, England and Wales falls well below
these recommendations with Approved Document J requiring just a CO alarm in the same room as a new or replacement fixed solid fuel appliance (with a rated output up to 50kW). Other national Regulations are much closer to BS EN 50292:2013, covering all fuel types, although they all exclude appliances solely for cooking – unlike the standard.
Best locations Recent research shows that CO is normally emitted warm and so will tend to flow upwards, determining best locations as upper wall level or ceilings. CO alarms in the same room as a fuel-burning appliance should be located as shown in the diagram (left). If there is a partition in a room, the unit should be located on the same side of the partition as the potential source. CO alarms in rooms with sloped ceilings should be located at the high side of the room. In bedsits, the alarm should be as far as possible from the cooker and close to the bed.
Units in bedrooms or rooms remote from fuel-burning appliances should be located relatively close to the breathing zone of the occupants. Here, using Kidde’s mains CO alarms in bedrooms offers other benefits as well. Kidde’s Smart Interconnect system enables its CO alarms to act as sounders for the company’s Firex smoke and heat alarms, as well as warning of carbon monoxide.
Recommended locations for CO alarms.
www.ewnews.co.uk www.
kiddesafetyeurope.co.uk March 2017 electrical wholesaler | 23
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