Sgt Bilko

Thanks Anthony, maybe the additional heat would cover us until we do a type 4 to explore the true extent of the compartmentation. Better to be safe.

I have a timber framed 4 storey block of flats. Issues with compartmentation which is confirmed. Went into the roof void which the wall that seperates the protected corridor and flat does not extend into the roof void & into the eaves. Present silent L4 in the communal for Aovs. LD3 in flats to support stay put. I have asked for SD in the roof space connected to the communal system and an interlinked Heat detector past the flat front door to alert residents to a fire in the roof and for change to simultaneous untill we get the compartmentation resolved. Also to not we can not confirm yet if the compartmentation is sound in the communal corridors. Inside the flat a is LD3. I have asked this be brought up to the present standard LD2. Fire alarm Engineer has agreed apart from he wants additional heat detectors as part of the communal system in all the rooms to support simultaneous. I feel this isnt required a I would be happy one Heat detection in the circulation space linked to the communal system so to alert them to a fire in the roof void or communal area.

Great thanks for the clarity. Fire safety can be so woolly some times and hard to interpret. I do find the monthly user test on a grade D system (not ARC) a strange one as most occupiers are not going to carry this out and you feel that if you had a fatal incident which was found to be due to the resident not having an early warning due to a faulty detector, that coroner would Find the RP responsible. But you could argue is this any different to other properties in social housing.

Hi, just trying to establish testing requirements in sheltered housing. I know part 1 system Grade A requires testing weekly and 6 monthly service. Grade D again weekly service annually. But when it comes to the Part 6 Grade D system within the flats. I am not sure of what the testing frequency is. specialised housing says monthly and so does BS5839-6. But if ARC is installed in the flats then how often should these be tested?? 94.16 Where the fire strategy for the building relies on remote transmission of signals from detection within residents' accommodation to an alarm receiving centre (ARC), at the time of the weekly fire alarm test, transmission from the accommodation of at least one resident should be tested to ensure that the signal is received correctly at the ARC. This test should be carried out from the accommodation of a different resident in each successive week, so that, over a period of time, transmission from all residents' accommodation is tested. There is no maximum time over which this should be carried out (i.e. if there are 30 flats in a sheltered housing scheme, it will take 30 weeks for transmission from all flats to be tested). Does this mean on the weekly communal test that weekly tests on flats with telecare should also be carried out on one of the flats and test a different flat each week until done. The flats we have are independent flats grade D no telecare then we have flats that part of the main building and have telecare installed. These activate at the ARC centre and notify the manager but not linked to the part 1 communal system. The way I interpreted this is monthly for the independent flats, then the scheme flats tested with the main alarm system. So if we had 52 flats a different one would be tested each week so over the 52 weeks they all would have been tested over the year. I don’t know if I have interpreted this incorrectly, but if not seems strange the independent flats are monthly and potentially the other flats yearly or possibly twice a year if less flats.