Installation of mains powered alarms in HMO

[Guest Tania]

Hi,

We have a rental property which we are turning into an HMO we want to hard wire smoke alarms into each of the bedrooms, the halls and put a heat censor in the kitchen. Do we need to put this onto a new separate circuit or can we use the existing light circuit?

Tania

[green-foam]

There is no regulation as to which circuit it is connected to, however if it is connected to its own MCB there is the possibility that some one will turn it off. They will not do that if it is connected to the lighting circuit.

[Couvre-Feu]

You should look at the LACORS (freely available to download) guidance on housing fire safety for the grade of system you should be using and this will depend on a number of factors such as number of storeys etc. - dependent on that grade the power circuit may be the lighting circuit but you would need to consult BS 5839 Part 6 for guidance on the circuit.

[Tom Sutton]

In addition to courve-feu posting you will find LACORS guide at http://www.cieh.org/uploadedFiles/Core/Policy/Publications_and_information_services/Policy_publications/Publications/National_fire_safety_guidance_08.pdf and if the premises is more than two floors you will need to contact the local housing authority to find out which guidance you should be using.