Recommended me some Smoke / Gas Alarms

Matt-Page

Matt-Page

Matt-Page

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
Posts
3,794
Hi,
I'd like to fit some Smoke and gas alarms in my house. Would prefer to run them off electric, but the hassle and mess to fit them sways me more towards battery ones.

Not bought any before so looking for recommendations on the best ones to get? Not overly bothered about Smart ones, just want them to be reputable and work. Do they do them combined or is it better to buy smoke and gas alarms separate? Thanks.
 
By gas do you mean carbon monoxide?

I've used Kidde and FireAngel for the last few I've had.

For smoke alarms, I now buy the versions with a non-replaceable 10 year battery and an optical sensor.

Carbon monoxide and smoke alarms have different mounting requirements so will be separate.
 
bremen1874 said:
By gas do you mean carbon monoxide?

I've used Kidde and FireAngel for the last few I've had.

For smoke alarms, I now buy the versions with a non-replaceable 10 year battery and an optical sensor.

Carbon monoxide and smoke alarms have different mounting requirements so will be separate.
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Yea, Carbon Monoxide, or whatever it is that can leak from boiler / gas hob.

Ok, so buy battery and separate ones for each... Any particular names or standards I should look out for?

Thanks for replying!
 
I'm very happy with nest alarms. On the face of it they're pricy, but over 8 years not that bad, shopping around you can get wired for £85 or so.
 
rexehuk said:
I'm very happy with nest alarms. On the face of it they're pricy, but over 8 years not that bad, shopping around you can get wired for £85 or so.
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Yup. Now got 3 of them.
Once forgot to open the windows when prepping some cast iron pans in the kitchen. Got a couple of beeps from the one upstairs and a "smoke detected" announcement. Then got an alert on my phone, then a phone call from the other half asking why there was smoke detected... :o

Just from that, they're worth the money.
 
rexehuk said:
I'm very happy with nest alarms. On the face of it they're pricy, but over 8 years not that bad, shopping around you can get wired for £85 or so.
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nest protect last 10 years iirc before they recommend you replace them.

i have 3 of them 2 of them hardwired and the third battery operated.

hardwired obviously is the way to go if you want to use all their features. like pathlight, etc.

it's not just a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm but it does so much it's worth it. pathlight, detects movement and turns on heating, etc.
 
If you're not fussed by smart alarms Aico are the best. They use a universal "easi-fit" base which means when you come to replace them in ~10 years you just clip the new alarm onto the existing base, no re-wiring needed.

Ideally you're meant to use 3-core + earth and daisy chain all of the alarms together rather than powering them all off different circuits - the extra wire is a link wire which will trigger all alarms if one goes off. Take it from me, running a cable all the way around the house is a nightmare though :p. They sell a smartlink module you can install in the bases to wirelessly instead which is probably very worth it.
If you have a mix of alarm types (optical / CO / heat etc) the switch is recommended so you can mute all the alarms apart from the one that got triggered. E.g., if when you isolate them the carbon alarm is still going then you know it's a carbon monoxide issue.
 
Pho said:
If you're not fussed by smart alarms Aico are the best. They use a universal "easi-fit" base which means when you come to replace them in ~10 years you just clip the new alarm onto the existing base, no re-wiring needed.

Ideally you're meant to use 3-core + earth and daisy chain all of the alarms together rather than powering them all off different circuits - the extra wire is a link wire which will trigger all alarms if one goes off. Take it from me, running a cable all the way around the house is a nightmare though :p. They sell a smartlink module you can install in the bases to wirelessly instead which is probably very worth it.
If you have a mix of alarm types (optical / CO / heat etc) the switch is recommended so you can mute all the alarms apart from the one that got triggered. E.g., if when you isolate them the carbon alarm is still going then you know it's a carbon monoxide issue.
Click to expand...

Nest protect tells you what caused the issue and where.

No need to link them all either by wire or module it's all built in.

They also have other functions like sensors and path lights.
 
I had so many false alarms with Nest it was crazy. Sitting at work while your house was "on fire" is very nerve wracking, but not as scary as waking up at 4am to see a bright red flashing light telling you there is a fire downstairs. Never moved so quick in my life!

They sent me a v2 to replace it but never bothered installing. I have a heat alarm in the kitchen so not sure if they'll talk to each other.
 
I have a Nest Protect in the hallway - It looks good and is smart. I really love that it has a motion sensor in it and puts out a dim light when I get up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night :p

Most of the time, fortunately, it'll only go off when I make the mistake of not putting on the extractor fan or if I've burnt toast etc. So I like the fact that she'll say "There's smoke detected in the hallway" before it beeps like mad, so I can turn her off and run to save my toast :p

Quite expensive as smoke detectors go, of course, but I'm a big fan of "smart home" products. It lasts for 8 years, it also detects carbon monoxide and it regularly tests itself, to make sure everything is working properly.
 
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another nest fan here

had it about 4 years now

battery operated and the pathlight works great at night crossing the landing to the bathroom...its still on its original set of batteries as well

looks good, tests itself and keeps you updated

I would buy another without hesitation if I needed to
 
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