Smoke alarm notifications

[gillyd88]

Evening all

I was thinking the other evening that should the unfortunate event of a house fire happen and no one is at home, we are reliant on the neighbours being in and hearing the smoke alarms to ring the fire brigade.

I began researching on how to have an alert through to your phone.

The main thing I have is that I already have a smoke alarm system that’s interlinked. I don’t want to replace anything.

I came across the new hive 360 device that will detect the smoke alarm going off, glass breaking or the dog barking and alert you. However at just under 100quid I was hoping for something cheaper.

I found a WiFi battery that goes in the 9v bit of the smoke alarm and will alert you however that appears to be really made for America and it isn’t that much cheaper than the hive thing at just under 50quid.

I couldn’t find anything else. Add on things for the burglar alarm were just glass breakers and buying one smoke alarm for the burglar alarm defeats what I was after.

Does anyone have anything already in place that alerts you to a normal smoke alarm? (Not linked to a burglar alarm unless it’s an aftermarket thing) Or does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

It appears that there is a rather large gap in the UK market at the moment. Although saying that it’s something I have never thought of until this week!

Thanks

 

[JohnD]

just under 100quid I was hoping for something cheaper.

Sounds very reasonable

 

[sparkymarka]

Sounds like you value your life/ house for less than £100 then ? How old are your interlinked smoke alarms ?

 

[gillyd88]

It’s not valuing my house for less than £100. It’s for trying to be cost clever as best as possible. Obviously if people had lots of money then they would purchase something that in relation to the function is expensive. £100 isn’t that much money in the grand scheme of things but if something does the same for half the price I will go for the cheaper alternative.

I was enquiring about if anyone had any differing ideas or if there were any suitable alternatives. The smoke alarms are 18months old.

 

[sparkymarka]

Not for less than £100 , by the time you fit relay bases to the smoke detectors ( if available) , hardwire or fit a radio transmitter , receiver and signaling equipment the cost is going to be more !

 

[Nozzle]

If you're out, and there's a fire at your home - any reasonable fire that generates smoke will be well ablaze by the time the fire brigade get there. Plus if there are reports that no-one is in the house they don't risk their life to get in the house before fighting it. Long and short of the matter is, if you have a house fire, you won't want to move right back in anyway. £100 remote smoke alarm? Gadget for problem that doesn't exist IMHO.

Your hundred quid better spent on prevention rather than detection.

Nozzle

 

[secureiam]

to be honest, I can't see you getting what you want under £100 unless its an add on to something you already have and even then, how its added.

The main purpose of a smoke alarm is early detection to get you out of the house before the smoke puts you into the kind of sleep that without medical help you are unlikely to wake up from.

smoke can often be detected as the fire is in its early stages, the thing with smoke it gets through the smallest of openings and rises where as fire its self need something to burn a closed door can hold back a fire, as does a plastered celling, for some time .

aone side of a fire door the room can be completely gone on the other it can look relatively normal odd bit of smoke damage.

What burglar alarm do you have?

there are options but even KIT-0080 which allows wireless smokes to be added to any panel is well over £100, hard wired smokes are available but they don't always have sounders built in and they are under £100, but need a alarm with a loud sounder for if the fire alarm does go off.

but better to have proper mains fitted smokes.

but if you have no smoke alarm at all then you should at least look at a battery operated one, just remember to maintain the battery.

 

[deedpopo]

I got a relay base off ebay for £20 (Aico)

And then I wondered why I had bothered running 240v 3+E over three floors when I could just have bought 12v alarm smoke detectors in the first place!

 

[TicTac]

This is never going to be a cheap option, and in the end, you've got to decide how much your peace of mind is worth. To elaborate on Secure suggestion, some burglar alarms will handle smoke alarms, and they can also notify you of an alarm through the wifi to your phone, but it wouldn't be cheap.

Maybe the simple option is to check your fridge, freezer and tumble dryer etc against the manufactures recall systems, and make sure things like the TD and WM aren't in use whilst you're out.

 

[JohnNox]

If you have a a smart burglar alarm (e.g. pyronix v10), you can add a wireless smoke detector to it for about £60. The alarm will alert you when it goes off with notifications on your phone; the alarm can connect to the internet via wifi/gprs/pstn etc.

Also, if you have a Nest smart thermostat, you can add a wireless smoke+CO2 detector to it for about £100. It'll also alert you over internet.

Alternatively, you can go the home automation route and get a zigbee/z-wave/etc smoke alarm, for well under £100. One example is the xiaomi smoke detector.

However in this case you'll need to have a 'hub/gateway' for the home automation system you choose - that's the bit that receives the wireless signal from the sensor and connects to the internet to send you an alert.

In the case of xiaomi this is quite cheap. Click here for more info on the xiaomi system - it'll cost you about £50 for gateway + smoke alarm, and then you can add other sensors too.