Hi, I have splashed out on some expensive Aico alarms to meet the Scottish Alarm requirements but need help on one of the placements. I have attached a quick basic layout of the cottage not to scale or anything I will be having the Heat Alarm in the kitchen, can this be above / next to the hob area? And I will be having 1 of the smoke alarms in the lounge. The lounge has a slighly exposed central beam probably 3cm of it is exposed with decorative beams either side of it, should I mount the Alarm on the central beam or off the beam and mounted in-between them? But where in the Hallway should I mount the final Alarm? I was thinking close to the bedroom area? Or would you mount it at the L section or would that be too close to the front door? Thanks
I would mount it between the bedroom door and front door. Most likely scenario is fire starts elsewhere and triggers another alarm first. Or smoke hits that alarm before the bedroom. Either scenario gives you time to get to the front door to escape.
Thanks, what do you think about the exposed beam in the lounge, it's not much of an exposure but will measure it tonight. Thanks
Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk) provide some guidance as does How-to Videos | Aico - Where to site your alarms Good luck with your project
Thanks looks like the Aico video says if the beam is 600mm deep or less then mount it to the beam.... but it also says if the beam is less than 10% of the room height to mount it twice the depth away from the beam or 500mm away.... Hhhhmmmm lol Images attached
according to an article from East Dunbartonshire local authority "By February 2022 every home must have: one smoke alarm in the living room or the room you use most one smoke alarm in every hallway or landing one heat alarm in the kitchen All smoke and heat alarms should be mounted on the ceiling and be interlinked." It seems to have been devised by the government to save insurance companies having to make payouts, so best go above and beyond and put one in the fireplace.
Stevie, that guidance is slightly confusing but realistically in your situation when any smoke hits the ceiling it will accumalate in the first very small 'beam resevoir' until it reaches the bottom of the beam and will then flow into the next beam resevoir and so on until the whole ceiling is full of smoke down to the bottom of the beams. This is sometimes used as a means of protection and delaying smoke travel in engineered solutions. My point is that if you place the detector in one of the resevoirs you have to wait for the smoke to reach it, if you place it on the beam you have to wait for the smoke to get down to that level as well. Personally, and given the small drop size of the your beam,I would place it on the beam in the centre of the room /slightly nearer the doorway. More importantly in your situation is the need to have all doors leading onto the hallway closed at night to contain any fire in the room of origin. This will ensure that have the protected 'means of escape' to fresh air via the front door. Dont forget that serious fires in the home have significantly reduced due to our increased awareness and early detection . Good luck and hope you get it sorted.
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