Fire Safety
Product Review: from Hochiki By Ian Humby, UK Sales Manager, Hochiki Europe
Facility managers know that beam smoke detection has always come with a hidden cost. The detector itself is simple enough to specify: one head unit and a reflector cover a wide, open area far more efficiently than dozens of point detectors. The complication has always sat behind the scenes, in the hardwired controller needed to commission and align it. That means extra cabling, extra containment, and an extra visit from a specialist engineer every time something needs adjusting.
Hochiki’s FIREbeam Conex removes that step entirely. It is a conventional optical beam smoke detector, but commissioning and alignment happen through a free app on a phone or tablet, connected directly to the unit over Bluetooth. No internet connection is needed, and
no specified,
controller wired,
anywhere on site.
For a facility manager overseeing a warehouse, atrium, sports hotel chain, or retail
difference matters well beyond installation
day. The head aligns itself
floor, that motorised
in under three
minutes on first setup, and in around a minute on any later visit. With a long-range extension kit, one unit can cover up to 160 metres, protecting an area of roughly 2,400 square metres from a single point. Fewer devices, less containment, and a shorter list of things that can go wrong during a fit-out or refurbishment.
hall, has to be or mounted The maintenance picture is just as practical. Testing,
re-alignment, and diagnostics are all handled through the same app, so an engineer can carry a phone instead of a case of commissioning equipment. For buildings where access is difficult, whether that is height, restricted hours, or a live operational floor that cannot easily be closed off, cutting down the equipment and time needed for a routine check is a genuine saving, not a marketing line.
FIREbeam Conex is VdS approved (G221060) to EN 54-12:2015, and the unit itself is rated IP65 with an operating range of minus 10 to plus 55 degrees Celsius, so it holds up in the sort of unheated stores, plant rooms, and exposed spaces facilities teams are used to managing. The app also supports seven languages, including German, Spanish, and Italian alongside English. That is a genuine practical
benefit for the growing number
of UK facility teams managing portfolios that stretch across Europe, where a site in Germany or Spain can be commissioned and tested by a local contractor using the same app, in their own language, without a separate specification or process for each country.
None of this changes what a beam detector is for or how EN 54-12 compliant detection should be specified within the wider fire
strategy for a building. What it changes is how much time, cabling, and specialist labour that detection now costs to install and keep running. For facility managers balancing compliance obligations against tightening budgets, that is a straightforward and welcome trade.
More information and full specifications are available at:
Hochikieurope.com
10 fmuk
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