Smoke Alarms in Scotland - New Regulations means a large bill!

Grim72

There are new smoke alarm regulations coming into place in Scotland from February 2021. Until now we were able to simply go to a DIY store and get a smoke alarm for around £10 to stick to the ceiling. The new regulations mean that all our smoke/heat/CO alarms need to be interlinked - this will be the case for every house in Scotland! 
I wanted to get ahead of the curveball on this so have been in touch with a few "fire companies" to ask about getting a quote for them to install/fit suitable systems and my average quote price is coming in at £500 as it will mean them lifting floorboards etc to get wiring fitted (you can get wireless versions but the cost of the units mean it comes in around the same price of getting them hard-wired). I only have a 3-bed semi-detached house which means I will need the following to comply (incidentally I already have these in place but not interlinked)
3 x Smoke Detectors to Lower Hall, Top-Landing & Lounge.
1 x Heat Detector to Kitchen
2 x CO Detectors to Lounge & Bedroom

I'm just finding it hard to get my head around the fact that every house in Scotland is expected to shell out £500 to get this work done prior to February next year. Has anyone else in Scotland looked into this and/or managed to find an affordable solution? I appreciate it is intended to improve safety for everyone but nor sure where everyone is expected to find the money and/or electricians to follow the new regulations? Any advice/ideas would be appreciated?

cymruchris

I’m not sure of the laws in Scotland but have just installed a 10 year battery life wireless connectable system at my dads house. I didn’t spend anywhere near £500 - more likely about £200 for the setup I have. They were on promotion on amazon - but aren’t at the moment - keep a watch and I’m sure they will be again. 

FireAngel Pro Connected Smart Smoke Alarm, Battery Powered with Wireless Interlink and 10 Year Life https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WVM23Z9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qrNoFbF1Q0DEG

Le_Kirk

Can you point to the regulation please?  Is this for EVERY home or just for houses that might be rented/leased to others?  Is it retrospective?

scottishblondie

These are the details, for those interested.  I actually hadn't heard about the changes.  We already have a few interlined units, but it seems we'll need to upgrade a few more!

I (or rather my Dad) fitted a number of interlinked alarms to our rental property when the regulations came in a few years back for private landlords.  They are wired into the lighting circuit rather than running a new circuit from the consumer unit.  We spent, I think, in the region of £250.  I imagine a large portion of the cost from the company you spoke to is the running of new cables, so if you can avoid that the cost will come down.

RelievedSheff

Le_Kirk said:

Can you point to the regulation please?  Is this for EVERY home or just for houses that might be rented/leased to others?  Is it retrospective?

https://www.gov.scot/publications/fire-and-smoke-alarms-in-scottish-homes/

Grim72

Hi Le_Kikr - it is for literally every home! As a new forum user I can't post links unfortunately but if you google search for "Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law" you will see the link on the Scottish Government's website
.
Thanks cymruchris Even at current prices - based on my needs that would come in at under £300 which is a fair saving on the £500 quoted for hard wiring. I noticed they also do a 6-piece home kit covering everything I need (except for an additional CO2 alarm)  which might be an option. Out of interest were these easy to install/set-up - I know they need to be ceiling mounted to comply with the new Scottish regs. The downside is you will need to replace after 10 years compared to if they were hard-wired due to the lithium battery I think?

I still can't see how everyone is expected to afford these - hard enough getting some people to buy/install a cheap £10 smoke alarm!

Grim72

RelievedSheff said:

Le_Kirk said:

Can you point to the regulation please?  Is this for EVERY home or just for houses that might be rented/leased to others?  Is it retrospective?

And it isn't restropective - even if you have alarms in place - if they aren't interlinked they need to be replace by Feb next year. I only know about this legislation because I work in the signage industry and keep abreast of fire regulations etc - I have never seen/heard anything about this regulation in the public domain so I suspect there is going to be uproar when the general population finds out and a severe shortage of product/electricians to get them installed before the deadline. Part of my reason for posting on here about to be honest - hopefully helps some others to get ahead of the game before it's too late. 

theoretica

Grim72 said:

Hi Le_Kikr - it is for literally every home! As a new forum user I can't post links unfortunately but if you google search for "Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law" you will see the link on the Scottish Government's website
.
Thanks cymruchris Even at current prices - based on my needs that would come in at under £300 which is a fair saving on the £500 quoted for hard wiring. I noticed they also do a 6-piece home kit covering everything I need (except for an additional CO2 alarm)  which might be an option. Out of interest were these easy to install/set-up - I know they need to be ceiling mounted to comply with the new Scottish regs. The downside is you will need to replace after 10 years compared to if they were hard-wired due to the lithium battery I think?

I still can't see how everyone is expected to afford these - hard enough getting some people to buy/install a cheap £10 smoke alarm!

I think all the hard wired ones need to be replaced every 10 years too, because the smoke detecting bit dates too.  But (if the manufacturers haven't changed their fittings) it should be possible to do a fairly straightforward swap over unplugging the old units and plugging in new ones.

MovingForwards

Had the hardwired ones in the last rental flat.
Absolute PITA when they went off, which was nearly every time the kitchen was used, couldn't steam / boil anything as the alarm would go off. Chasing round the flat to fan the steam away, open the windows etc. 

Grim72

theoretica said:

Grim72 said:

Hi Le_Kikr - it is for literally every home! As a new forum user I can't post links unfortunately but if you google search for "Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law" you will see the link on the Scottish Government's website
.
Thanks cymruchris Even at current prices - based on my needs that would come in at under £300 which is a fair saving on the £500 quoted for hard wiring. I noticed they also do a 6-piece home kit covering everything I need (except for an additional CO2 alarm)  which might be an option. Out of interest were these easy to install/set-up - I know they need to be ceiling mounted to comply with the new Scottish regs. The downside is you will need to replace after 10 years compared to if they were hard-wired due to the lithium battery I think?

I still can't see how everyone is expected to afford these - hard enough getting some people to buy/install a cheap £10 smoke alarm!

I think all the hard wired ones need to be replaced every 10 years too, because the smoke detecting bit dates too.  But (if the manufacturers haven't changed their fittings) it should be possible to do a fairly straightforward swap over unplugging the old units and plugging in new ones.

Thanks theoretica So will that mean I will need to shell out £300 every ten years to replace the units too? If so I don't see any benefit in getting them hardwired - if all the units will need to be replaced after 10 years regardless of whether they are hard wired or wireless? I'm guessin g you can't just replace the battery like you can on the current cheap smoke alarms?

theoretica

Grim72 said:

theoretica said:

Grim72 said:

Hi Le_Kikr - it is for literally every home! As a new forum user I can't post links unfortunately but if you google search for "Fire and smoke alarms: changes to the law" you will see the link on the Scottish Government's website
.
Thanks cymruchris Even at current prices - based on my needs that would come in at under £300 which is a fair saving on the £500 quoted for hard wiring. I noticed they also do a 6-piece home kit covering everything I need (except for an additional CO2 alarm)  which might be an option. Out of interest were these easy to install/set-up - I know they need to be ceiling mounted to comply with the new Scottish regs. The downside is you will need to replace after 10 years compared to if they were hard-wired due to the lithium battery I think?

I still can't see how everyone is expected to afford these - hard enough getting some people to buy/install a cheap £10 smoke alarm!

I think all the hard wired ones need to be replaced every 10 years too, because the smoke detecting bit dates too.  But (if the manufacturers haven't changed their fittings) it should be possible to do a fairly straightforward swap over unplugging the old units and plugging in new ones.

Thanks theoretica So will that mean I will need to shell out £300 every ten years to replace the units too? If so I don't see any benefit in getting them hardwired - if all the units will need to be replaced after 10 years regardless of whether they are hard wired or wireless? I'm guessin g you can't just replace the battery like you can on the current cheap smoke alarms?

The current cheap ones you are supposed to completely replace after 10 years too, they have a date for replacement on the back. I don't know about replacement costs - I've only got as far as adding smoke alarms to a list of things I need to talk to an electrician about...