Complaints against officers

[Rich-Allen 24]

Topic.

I've got a standard smoke alarm fitted in the Hallway which works fine, but I have a special one in the Bedroom that does a visual warning rather than audio, as it's to wake me up when I'm asleep and thus don't have my hearing aid in.

The problem, is that the alarm keeps going off, flashing at random times during the night, often 2 or 3 times a night, at silly o'clock! We've reported it to the Socials, as it was provided by them when I moved into the Flat, they've replaced it, Dad's replaced the Battery in it, and it's still doing the same thing! Damn thing drives me bloody barmy it does! (apologies for the bad words).

Anyway, does anyone know the number for South Yorkshire Fire Safety team so I can ring and enquire if they could provide a special smoke alarm for deaf people? As clearly the one provided by the Socials, is not fit for purpose!

Help me before the dratted thing sends me daft! (or dafter as the case may be! )

[maka 7]

have you tried taking a hoover to the sensor, if its one of the ones that use a beam type detector some dust might be making it go a little crazy.

[Rich-Allen 24]

have you tried taking a hoover to the sensor, if its one of the ones that use a beam type detector some dust might be making it go a little crazy.

Hmm, as daft an idea as that sounds it could be worth a pop.

Thanks

[maka 7]

no problem. hope it works.

as it's not the battery if that's replaced

[Law_Grad 85]

How old is it and is it powered by only a battery, or wired to the mains and contains a battery back up?

Most smokes have a ten year shelf life, and somewhere within them will be a sticker with the manufacture date and or renewal date – although simply having the date of manufacture can tell you its age, in regards ten years or less.

So even if you only had the smoke install last year, it may have already been rapidlyt approaching its shelf life.

In addition to that, and although most mains fed smokes have a battery back up that use household batteries that a consumer can replace or remove, they quite often have an extra set of watch like batteries soldered within them as well – hence the ten year shelf life, as these often expire by then.

The hidden and non serviceable batteries are an extra failsafe as well, for when people turn the smoke off at the consumer unit and remove the normal household batteries as well, thinking that they can burn their toast with abandon – without realising that there’s still a potential power source going to the smoke.

You also state that this was fitted the local authority or the like, in which case you might want to contact them and ask if it is a make that was the subject of a recent recall.

If memory serves me correct, there were a batch of Dicon smokes that were being fitted by various local Fire Services and that were subject to recall & change, due to false tripping – although despite the nuisance of the false tripping, they were still viable and capable of detecting when needed, so didn’t just fail in a fire state.

Edit:

Link to info about the faulty Dicon smokes.

Click link

Edited March 16, 2010 by Law_Grad

[Ben_ 1]

Slightly off topic and however annoying it may be, just remember, a false alarm is better than no alarm at all.

[Hyde 328]

But in terms of smoke alarms, that's really not applicable.

[Administrative Account 7]

That is usually caused by low battery Voltage. If the alarm is mains operated then it might be the back-up battery that needs replacing.

[Rich-Allen 24]

Tried maka's suggestion, it remains to be seen whether or not it's worked.

Edited March 17, 2010 by Rich-Allen

[cat thing1546080826 82]

We had issues with our smoke alarms going off at random times...they are hard wired with battery backup.

I tried changing the batteries and hoovering them out but it didn't work. Eventually I took them down and we bought new ones. The ones we had, had a wiring fault internally.

Touch wood, they have been fine ever since. I hope they stay fine, as when they went off at 5am and woke me up I was none too pleased, and when they went off all day non-stop while I was at work they really upset Theo and 'Lulah.

I don't think it is that your curent alarm is not fit for purpose, it is more likely that it has developed a fault of some kind, as things will often do. After all, it has worked satisfactorily for this long.

[Rich-Allen 24]

The hoovering round the sensor idea didn't work after all, the flippin' thing still goes off, so the thing's obviously faulty.

[SkinSte 1,971]

Anyway, does anyone know the number for South Yorkshire Fire Safety team so I can ring and enquire if they could provide a special smoke alarm for deaf people?

http://www.syfire.gov.uk/346.asp

Google* is your friend.

If your deafness is to such an extent that an audible smoke alarm is not sufficent, I'd suggest you enquire about a rumble-alarm fitted to your bed. A light-only alarm is unlikely to be sufficent in a real fire.

*Other search engines available.

[Rich-Allen 24]

http://www.syfire.gov.uk/346.asp

Google* is your friend.

If your deafness is to such an extent that an audible smoke alarm is not sufficent, I'd suggest you enquire about a rumble-alarm fitted to your bed. A light-only alarm is unlikely to be sufficent in a real fire.

*Other search engines available.

I've had one of those for years, in fact the Housing wouldn't let me move into the Flat till one was installed.

The whole point of the thread is because the sensor on it has become faulty.

[Administrative Account 7]

I'm confused!

but I have a special one in the Bedroom that does a visual warning rather than audio, as it's to wake me up when I'm asleep and thus don't have my hearing aid in.

If your deafness is to such an extent that an audible smoke alarm is not sufficent, I'd suggest you enquire about a rumble-alarm fitted to your bed. A light-only alarm is unlikely to be sufficent in a real fire.

I've had one of those for years, in fact the Housing wouldn't let me move into the Flat till one was installed.

The whole point of the thread is because the sensor on it has become faulty.

[SC_GMP_BDIV 128]

I'm confused!

Me too!