Safelincs

Email received and gap gauges sent :-)

Hi GazMart As fire doors have to be fitted with very small tolerances (gaps have to be 2-4mm on top and sides) working in half inches makes it difficult to answer your question. Anyway, the amount that can be trimmed on modern fire doors is sadly very limited, as the lipping (the wood strip fitted around the door) is an essential part of the fire door during fire testing. Each door set type that a manufacturer produces and has tested, has gradually some of the lipping trimmed during repeated fire tests til the fire door eventually fails. This determines how much lipping can be trimmed safely. So, each fire door comes with a different permitted maximum amount of lipping removal and it is only small amounts that can be trimmed these days without risking invalidating a fire door. Where does this leave you? Assuming that the frame is of sufficient fire resistance in itself, you need to measure the opening of the frame, deduct 3mm on each side which gives you the door leave you want and order that size of fire door. This can be done easily online. Fire door retailers are set up to deal with made-to-measure fire doors, which are then ready to be hung with minimal trimming. Harry

Hi, while Ultrafire water mist extinguishers are very much suitable for A, B, C, F and electrical fires, they have indeed only a small number of ratings displayed on the front of the extinguisher. This is due to restrictions in existing standards that limit the display of ratings for water based extinguishers for gas (Class C) and liquid fires (Class B). That said, the B class of water mist is actually rated but has to be shown in the text on the right hand side of the extinguisher! For example, the 3 ltr water mist has a 13B rating (stated in the text on the right hand side of the extinguisher). The 1ltr version falls below the sizes/rating of water extinguishers currently permitted for testing in class A. On the other hand the 3ltr version, which does not have this size restriction, is rated 8A, 13B, 25F plus electrical. It will be a while before the test standard will be updated to allow the testing of water mist for gas fires (Class C). Water mist is actually one of the best extinguishers for gas flames. So, while a 1 litre water mist is clearly not as powerful as a 2 litre foam extinguishers, it has a broader capability than most foams which cannot be used on C, F or electrical fires. Harry

Hi Hannah, first step is to check the age of the alarm. If it is more than ten years old, it needs replacement. If the alarm is less than ten years old, vacuum around the openings of the alarm with a soft brush attachment. Change the battery as well. If all of this does not help, it might be a product fault (the manual unfortunately does not help greatly). If the product is less than 5 years old you are covered by warranty. In this case contact the retailer where you bought the product from or contact Sprue, the general distributor for the UK. If you need a new SA200BUK, these can be purchased here. Harry

Hi Izak, yes, you are being conned! There is no reason in your case to change your cover (unless you are storing flammable liquids!). A lot of servicing engineers pay bonuses based on additional sales by the engineers. Hence the sales pressure! Harry

Hi Helen, a number of videos showing the removal of mains powered smoke alarms batteries are found here Harry

Hi, I would take this very serious. If the alarm does not stop alarming you might indeed have a dangerous CO level in your house. You can find out by taking the alarm and yourself outside and by waiting 5 minutes outside. If the alarm stops, this would be another indication that there could be a dangerous CO level. In that case, get everybody outside, open all windows and call Who to Call If You Experience Carbon Monoxide From An Appliance Gas Emergency Services: 0800 111 999 Oftec (oil) - 0845 658 HETAS (solid fuel) - 0845 634 5626 If you do not think that you need to call the national helpline then you should call a Gas Safe registered engineer to come and check your appliances immediately. Harry

Hi Peter, Heat will not set off an Ei141 smoke alarm. The false alarms you experienced are probably caused by dust, fibres, a cobweb or an insect inside the smoke chamber. It is just down to the normal wear and tear of the alarms and contamination of the smoke chambers over the years. This is the reason that we recommend replacing the alarms after ten years in service, in order to avoid false alarms. Harry

Hi A 40 second beep is the low battery signal so it could be that the replacement battery is also depleted as batteries have a limited shelf life. If your alarms are 3 or 4 years old I would recommend replacing the batteries in all of them to eliminate any confusion as to which alarm is beeping. Harry

Hi Nick, can you please double check that no Carbon Monoxide alarm is in the same room with the battery running low. One of the most common causes for what you are observing. Harry

Hi, can you please check that there is no CO alarm hidden away in the same room (with a low battery warning). This is quite a common issue, as it is difficult to spot where a beep is coming from. Harry

Hi Rob In general, a moment (or torque) can be taken at any point along the width of the door and calculated by multiplying the distance (in meters) of that point from the centre of the axis (hinge) with the closing force measured (in Newton). Harry

Hi Nick I contacted expert Neil Ashdown CertFDI from Fire Doors Complete Ltd, who advised the following: 'The gap at the meeting edges must A) be 2mm to 4mm and B) filled with cold smoke seals so that the brush or blade of the seal touches the opposing door edge. Its OK to interrupt seal for mortice lock/latch and flush bolts. He should remove one or both leaves and re-hang to reduce the gap accordingly. There is no ‘one size fits all’ method to do this but the following are the usual solutions: a) Pack behind hinge blades with intumescent card. Easiest but will not resolve larger gaps and would increase gap at hanging edge. b) Cut off the lipping at the hanging stile of the door leaf (just the slave leaf should do, if that’s possible) and fit a thicker (no more than 18mm thick) hardwood lipping. The lipping must be securely fixed with PVA wood adhesive, screws, pins (sink the heads, fill and position centrally in the door thickness) and fixed flush with the face of the door without gaps. He must not cut into the door’s timber framing behind the existing lipping because that would weaken the door construction. c) Loosen one of the door frame jambs and pack with timber folding-wedges to reduce over-all width. Re-fix and fill any gaps at the wall interface with mineral wool / intumescent sealant. If using fire-foam make sure it has fire performance test evidence for use with softwood door frames. Some foams are suitable only for linear gaps in walls, there’s a new one called Blue60 but I am waiting for the product data sheet.' I hope this helps Harry

Hi Meow The green light indicates that the power supply to alarm is fine and the red blink every 40 seconds indicates that the alarm is in good working condition. After ten years, smoke alarms are starting to become less reliable so you should ideally change. There are dedicated alarm head replacements available which just slide on the old base Harry

Hi Dan Primarily, the owner is responsible. There are a number of legally binding documents, eg the guidance documents related to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which must be adhered to. In practice, the responsibility for extinguisher provision is often passed to servicing companies who, if they are eg BAFE approved, operate in line with a number of British Standards which specify type, location and quantity of extinguishers. These standards, are, however, only recommendations and a deviating extinguisher provision can be chosen by the owners, as long as they can justify their choice. A Fire Risk Assessor would usually only point out specific fire risks which might need addressing with portable or other extinguishers. Assessors will usually not specifiy extinguishers in detail. Harry

Hi Lee This sounds like a fault. You will need to check how old your Ei151 alarm is. If it is older than 10 years it will sadly need replacing. Here the latest list of replacement models for Ei150 series. Harry

Hi Annie I suggest two steps: 1) check the replacement date for the alarm. All mains powered smoke alarms should be replaced after ten years as they can become erratic. 2) make sure there is not a carbon monoxide alarm nearby that has a low charge battery and therefore beeps. These beeps can be very deceiving. To find out, take your Kidde alarm off the ceiling, remove the battery, press the hush button to drain any charge left and listen out for a few minutes. If this leads to nothing, you will have to replace your alarm. Here a list of Kidde replacement smoke alarms Harry

Hi Nicky You should select an optical smoke alarm, which by the way is the same as a photoelectric smoke alarm (they 'see' the smoke). Optical alarms are good for smouldering fires such as caused by electrical equipment. They also are less likely to give false alarms near a kitchen. In your case I would go for the pure optical alarm and not a combined optical/heat alarm. Harry

Hi Ian I asked our fire door specialist. Here his answer: "Unfortunately the amounts Ian mentioned are only an average; the actual amount that can be trimmed from a fire door differs from door to door, even if they are supplied by the same manufacturer. Rather than strictly relying on the materials, methods, and other components used during construction, the amount of excess is determined during testing of a finished fire door. During the tests, some material is removed from the edges of the doors until integrity is lost and the door cannot hold back a fire for the 30 or 60 minutes required. Due to the nature of fire doors and the regulations for their use, testing and integrity are fundamental to the selection of a fire door and subsequent liability in any legal action caused by a fire in the building. Large amounts of excess cannot be added to the edges as this material will likely not meet the standards required to uphold a door’s integrity. Test certification for a door will state the amount of material that can be trimmed, and this can only be provided on a per-door type/size basis to ensure the certification aligns with the exact constitution of the door you receive. " Traditionally, there had been standard amounts that could be cut-off, especially at the bottom of the door, however, due to the lightweight design of some modern fire doors, some fire doors will hardly tolerate any modification. So if your required fire doors are not exactly standard sizes you either need to order fire doors made to exactly your required dimensions or you need to find out from the retailer/manufacturer exactly how much can be removed. Harry

Hi, while it is too early to say at this point in time, our understanding within the fire safety industry is that standards etc will be kept the same to ensure we can trade (hopefully) freely with Europe. Harry

Hi Mark EI alarms do not give three beeps. I suspect you might have a CO alarm nearby with low battery. To double check, take your alarm of the ceiling, press the test button to drain any charge still left. I assume you will still hear three beeps. Harry

Hi, Water mist fire extinguishers (manufactured using de-ionised water) can be used on most types of fires in an office, home, public settings. That includes A,B,C, F class fires as well as electrical risks up to 1000V (at one meter). So, the perfect office and home extinguisher. Class D fires on the other hand (basically burning metal swarf, such as magnesium from machining operations) are a risk usually restricted to machining workshops and the water mist would be unsuitable, as water increases the chemical reaction of Class D fires. Harry

Hi Thomas That is great news! I am glad you saved yourself the cost of replacing your alarms unnecessarily. Harry

Hi Thomas I contacted Aico, as I could not think of any solution for you. They came back with: 'As the customer has done everything we would suggest and the Alarm is outside the 5 year guarantee he would need to get the Alarm s replaced. The new Alarms he would need is the Ei141RC & Ei144RC. They will still fit the same bases that are already there. I have attached the Data Sheets' Not good news but at least you have an authoritative answer. There are dedicated replacement heads available for the Ei140 smoke alarm family Harry

I would suggest water mist extinguishers, as these extinguishers are suitable for fat fires, electrical risks and general household fires. They leave no deposit as they only contain de-ionised water. They also require minimum training and are safe to use as they are creating a mist curtain between yourself and the fire. Any accidental or malicious use causes only a minimum amount of damage due to the de-ionised water and the spray consisting of a very fine mist. Harry