Smoke/ CO2 alarms

[Guest JamesW]

Hi everyone, hope all is well.. 

before I go out and spend a chunk of money, I just wanted to sanity check the solution I have put together myself- I am not a qualified person hence reaching out here 😀

I live in a 7 year old 3 storey house- the smoke/ co2 alarms are the same age as the house  and ideally need to be changed out for new. I currently have a deta co2 alarm in the kitchen, and in each hallway on the ground / first and second floor I have smoke/ co2 alarms which are all hardwired and interconnected.. On the second floor this is where the airing cupboard exists and the boiler exists in the kitchen…

what I was thinking about doing was to purchase 3x google nest 2nd gen smart smoke/ co2 wired alarms for the ground / first and second floor, these will be interconnected but wirelessly, and also replace the co2 alarm in the kitchen to a standalone one.. I would also like to install a second standalone co2 alarm on the 2nd floor as this is where the airing cupboard exists and I would feel more comfortable having a backup seeing this is where my bedroom is!

i live in the UK (England)- I’ve read the regs but seem pretty vague or I’m not understanding them properly..

Based on the solution I have proposed above, having the interconnected (wirelessly) nest smoke/co2 detectors on each floor, and the standalone co2 only alarm in the kitchen presumably with a heat sensor, and another standalone co2 only alarm on the second floor installed close to the airing cupboard - would this be considered safe?  Also would anyone know if I am potentially breaking any rules? I think it sounds ok but would be interested in hearing from anyone who understands the rules better than me..

thanks in advance

Regards James

[green-foam]

I would suggest you do not install a carbon monoxide alarm near the airing cupboard. Carbon monoxide alarms detect carbon monoxide which is produced from improperly burnt fossil fuel, airing cupboards are where "hot water storage cylinders" are housed and as such never produce carbon monoxide. 🙂

I would also suggest that you install an interlinked smoke alarm in the main bedroom as well as elsewhere, the reasoning is, IF the smoke alarms should activate and the bedroom door is shut, you will be alerted quicker as the closed door will reduce the sound level.

I feel I should also point out that nest protect devices have an inbuilt redundancy feature, in that on the units 10th birthday it will stop working ☹️ the problem with this is if you buy a unit and it is already, say 12 months old, it will stop working 9 years later (it will give you 2 weeks notice) All other brands will work after 10 years of age but not as efficiently. (Yes you should still change them, but unlike the nest devices you don't have to rush.)

I would suggest Aico alarms as they cost considerably less, and work past their 10th birthday.

💬For future reference, CO2 is carbon dioxide, it is what you find in fire extinguishers and it is also what gives drinks their "fizz"

Carbon monoxide is CO it is given off by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.

Most smoke alarms have a working life of 10 years, older CO alarms have a working life of 5 - 7 years

[Guest JamesW]

Thank you green foam for your reply. 
 

I was reading about the nest smoke/ co2 alarms having an expiry date and they would start alerting you 2 weeks before they are about to expire. I will check out Aico- not heard of them before..

some really helpful advice- again I thank you..

kind regards

James

[green-foam]

I guess it my advice was not heeded as intended, it is still CO NOT CO2. And yes much to most folks surprise nest alarms will stop working on the 10th birthday, that is the 10th year since they were manufactured, NOT the 10th year after installation, but yes they will have a yellow light and announce that the unit should be changed.