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Theorysparky

Domestic Electrician
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Went to a house today (rented property) did the job i was asked to do and i noticed no smoke alarms fitted

Told the tenants never been any fitted to the mounting plate !!!

but they showed me a contraption connected just above a lightbulb holder on the landing.

it has vents in the bottom and beeps when the downstairs 2 way switch is used.

any ideas ??? i thought it might be a battery backed up light.

or is it a smoke detector ??

Cheers

 
Went to a house today (rented property) did the job i was asked to do and i noticed no smoke alarms fittedTold the tenants never been any fitted to the mounting plate !!!

but they showed me a contraption connected just above a lightbulb holder on the landing.

it has vents in the bottom and beeps when the downstairs 2 way switch is used.

any ideas ??? i thought it might be a battery backed up light.

or is it a smoke detector ??

Cheers
They are smoke detectors, they run off the mains when the light is on and then revert to battery at other times. Some of them have an emergency light built into them.

 
I thought of that idea about 10 years ago. Even spoke to a patents solicitor. My idea never took off as these cannot meet the regs for 2 reasons, the Lux Level is to low and the smoke detector has to be clear of obstructions, such as pendant lamps by a min of 500mm as stated in BS5839

 
they r the onestotally knacker the bulb holder
Would agree with that!

Had to replace a faulty landing light pendant that had one of these smoke detectors, the customer couldn't get a new bulb to work,

investigation found the smoke detector had wrecked the springy studs on the pendant.

I Fitted new pendant & rose and the customer got a pair of new battery detectors from B&Q.

They decided it was just as easy to stick a 9v battery in each year rather than replacing the lampholder every two years!!!!!

 
It looks a better beasty than the ones that plug in to the pendant holder,

But most occasions that I tend to be fitting somke detectors are either..

a) a loft conversion: where 3 interlinked detectors are needed.. and these are a bit pricey?

B) a rewire: where running in dedicated circuirt is negligalbe cost when you are pulling other cables anyway and normal mains/battery are cheaper again?

Additionally it limits the type of light fitting customer can use, nowerdays many dont always want pendants? wall lamps/spot lamps/leds etc..

Can they be used with dimmers? or low energy bulbs???

I get the impression they may be better for some small to meduim comercial type installtion e.g. large house converted to offices, as it says can be used to illuminate escape routes..

probably not needed in your average house?

 
For the relative cost, I`d rather put in a "proper" detector. for so many reasons they fail to comply with 5839.I`m with slips here
Yes Mate, I am all for the Hard wired Smokes, but just wondered what you guys thought of these?

:)

 
For the relative cost, I`d rather put in a "proper" detector. for so many reasons they fail to comply with 5839.I`m with slips here
In other words it's a bag of poo...

:D

 
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