Heat (thermal) alarms detect heat (hot air) instead of smoke. The alarm is triggered when the temperature within the sensor chamber reaches over 58 degrees Celsius – generally when a fire is well established. Wireless devices communicate with each other and other devices without the use of connecting wires. This can be through interlinking by radio or through wi-fi. All of the major manufacturers (Aico, FireAngel and Kidde) make smoke and heat alarms that will work in combination with one another and we have tested pairs of smoke and heat alarms from each of them. However, that being said, if we apply some common sense here, the safer option is to screw the base plate to the ceiling.

If you are worried by any aspect of fire safety for any of these groups, please do talk to them and arrange a fire safety visit on their behalf. Free Home Fire Safety Visit These alarms are more sensitive to smaller particles of smoke produced by the flaming stage of fires than optical alarms, and more easily triggered by cooking – causing false alarms.

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Fire and rescue services attended over 150,000 fires last year in England alone, and while the number of fire fatalities dropped to their lowest ever figure, 240 people still lost their lives. Buying a smoke alarm is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your home, your life and the lives of your family and friends. It can give you early warning of a fire before it spreads, and the best chance of getting everyone safely out of the house. Like any battery-powered smoke detector, you should replace the batteries every 6 months (and sooner if the low battery alert sounds). While a front-facing battery compartment would make it easier to change out the batteries, the rear battery door wasn’t overly challenging to access. We like the fact that the battery compartment won’t close unless the batteries are correctly installed, providing a safeguard against improper battery placement and a unit that won’t power up. As smoke enters, the infrared light is scattered onto the photodiode light receptor, triggering an alarm. They detect the larger smoke particles from slower smouldering fires. The more time you have to react to a fire in your home, the better chance you and your family have of getting out safely. Go Linked

Of the many features that distinguish the Google Nest Protect, the ability to receive alerts and silence the alarm in the Nest app is a real game-changer. If you’ve ever frantically opened windows and fanned a smoke detector with a towel in an effort to silence a false alarm, you’ll agree that pushing a button in the app to silence the alarm is faster, simpler, and less unnerving. Nest even delivers a ‘heads-up’ alarm that delivers a push notification to the app and causes the smoke detector to glow yellow, giving you a chance to dismiss a false alarm before the unit enters full-fledged alarm mode. This hardwired combination detector requires more advanced installation than a battery-operated version. However, it has a 10-year lifespan, and set-up is simple once the hardware is mounted—just use your smart device to scan a QR code on the device to get the process started. Pros: Can suit dustier areas, such as lofts, the area near your bathroom or rooms where people smoke.

First, a small, slow smouldering fire. Such a fire would not initially give off much heat, but would produce quite a bit of smoke. A smoke detector would detect this fire. Combination smoke and heat detectors are enrolled as 24-hour zones. This means that they can cause a fire alarm upon activating, regardless of whether the system is in an armed or disarmed state. This is important, as you will want to receive emergency help for a fire regardless of the current arming state. If you are at home sleeping with your system disarmed, a fire alarm can occur. A fire alarm can also occur if you are away from home with the system armed. Either way, your system will take appropriate action.

So if you’re out of your home and not near your phone when the messages come through, you’ll have no way of knowing the alarm was sounding. Of course, it is entirely possible to get connected smoke alarms that hook up directly to your home network via Wi-Fi, or through a proprietary connection or a Zigbee or Z-Wave hub. The advantage with these is that they can warn you of a fire through an alarm or alert on your smartphone, and also, with some systems, trigger smart lighting to come on. How we test smoke alarms

The best smoke alarms you can buy in 2023

As of February 2022, the Nest protect smoke and CO alarm no longer meet the requirements of the new Scottish alarm laws. This is because, while it can be linked to other Nest alarms, it has no way of detecting heat rises or of being linked to another heat alarm.