Safelincs

Hi Linda To use a Dorgard (a fire door retainer), you still require a fire door closer. The Dorgard only holds the fire door open against the pressure from the door closer. When the Dorgard hears the fire alarm it releases the fire door and allows the door closer to shut the door. Harry

Hi Gordon It sounds as if new fire doors have been fitted into existing frames, which is not always advisable, and the result in your case is clearly insufficient. You need to draw attention to this problem, as the fire doors might not offer the period of fire protection they were designed for. Harry

Hi Gordon I assume this large gap is on the top or sides of the door? The gap gauge is not used for the space underneath the fire door. If this large gap is around the sides and top there is indeed a problem and the doors are most likely incorrectly fitted. Harry

Hi Dave, the date shown is the replacement date. If you have several alarms in your house but not all have been replaced yet, the oldest alarm might be developing a fault and is setting all alarms off that are connected to it. How can you know that the existing alarms are correctly connected: if all alarms went off during the night this would evidence that they are wire linked (the EI150 series did not have RF connection option). The replacement smoke alarms for the Ei150 series are using the same cable system and will interact with all other Ei alarms in the network, however, the connector blocks between the alarms and the wiring in the ceiling are different, so have to be replaced. All mains powered work these days has to be carried out by an electrician, I am afraid. Harry

Hi No, the window will not give sufficient support for the escape ladder. You need to either break the lower double glazing with a hammer or special escape hammer by hitting the corners of the pane (never hit the center, as the hammer will bounce back and could injure you). Alternatively you can install a bar above the window onto which an escape ladder is hooked in an emergency. Please note that the bar has to be fitted with the bolts ABOVE the bar. Harry

Hi Brian The Alarm will beep as soon as it powers up. What I would recommend is to press the Test Button on each Alarm for 10 Seconds. This will reset the Alarm. Harry

Hi You can take the beeping alarm down and turn the mains power back on….meaning the rest of the alarms will still work when one is off its base. Just be careful not to touch any of the live wires on the base plate without smoke alarm head. Harry

Hi Kris, you need to check the replacement date on the unit. CO alarms last between 5 and 10 years. Harry

Hi Stewart How dangerous and scary! Hmm, while powder is frowned upon inside buildings these days, a small powder extinguisher might be the answer. It makes an awful mess, though and can get inhaled. An alternative is a foam extinguisher which works well on liquid fires. You should also consider anti-arson letterboxes to stop arsonists setting fire through the letter opening of your door. Harry

Hi, this mean that the detector found carbon monoxide where it was installed (97ppm). Was the heating on during the night, or is there any fireplace or gas appliance nearby? Harry

Hi Jasgaw Safelincs can provide fire doors with raked heads within certain limits with splays only to the opposite side of the hinges. You can send your enquiry to firedoors@safelincs.co.uk Harry

Hi Sue There are occasions where alarms with inconsistent power supply (eg in buildings not connected to the mains network) might display faults. As could presumably a power supply interruption through lightning (and there was plenty over the last few days). Generally, however, the power should not be switched off, as this will drain the backup batteries and leads eventually to a low battery beep. The standard approach to eliminating these sort of errors is to vacuum around the smoke alarms. If nothing else helps you will need to replace the smoke alarms. There are replacement smoke alarms from the original manufacturer available which do not require an electrician. Harry

Hi, I assume you used the new batteries that come with the alarms. If it was the optical version of the alarm try to vacuum out the chamber in case any dust from your dusting action got into the alarm. Once done, if you still get alarms you might have to claim on the warranty of the product and ask for replacements. Harry

Hi, it is definitely not the alarm :-) You need to hunt for hidden carbon monoxide alarms in the vicinity. One of those will be in a drawer with a low battery warning. Harry

Hi It is worth keeping in mind that a CO alarm in the loft might not be heard downstairs. My family had a brush with CO from a leaky chimney stack in the loft area. The first we knew was when a CO alarm in one of the kids bedrooms on the top floor was warning us about CO. The gas had made its way through the loft hatch. The best solution would be to have CO alarms both in the loft as well as below. Harry

Hi Frederick I am sure Neil Ashdown from FDIS can give a much more specific answer, you might be interested in this read about nominal fire doors (upgraded doors) Harry

Hi Bob Firstly, I would agree that the nozzle is the most important part of a water mist extinguisher. To protect against theft is difficult. There are the extinguisher theft stoppers that sound an alarm if someone is trying to take away the extinguisher but I am not sure if this would sound off if they just take the nozzle off. Some of these theft stoppers can be used with a reed switch sat underneath the extinguisher which will trigger an alarm even with slight movements. There are also fire extinguisher covers but these are generally used for larger extinguishers, only. Extinguisher cabinets are generally larger and not suited for 1ltr extinguishers. However, Henry Wolfe offers a stainless steel cabinet for 1 and 2 ltr/kg extinguishers, which could be fitted with a theft stopper and an extinguisher sign. We will discuss this issue with manufacturing. We may be able produce some sort of locking device on the UltraFire water mist range but this might require a modified design or perhaps some kind of glue. However, glue is problematic as you might have to check the nozzle at servicing. Harry

Hi Kevin With the green light off, your power supply to the unit is off and the battery is being drained. Check that the fuse has not been switched off. If that does not resolve things you will need to get an electrician out to check your wiring and connections. Harry

Hi, have you checked that the alarm is still within date? Depending from model and manufacturer CO alarms last 5 to 10 years. If you feel you cannot call out an engineer to check things over, you could get a second battery-powered CO alarm to verify the first result. Alternatively, you could buy a CO gas test spray to make sure your alarm is working. Harry

Hi Suzanne, with the strong winds it is possible that the log burner was leaking CO into your rooms, triggering the carbon monoxide alarm. Firing up an engine in the next room can also create sufficient CO levels to set off the alarm. Harry

Hi Sarah With the green light off, it is likely that the power supply is interrupted. Have you put the fuse back on after replacing the battery? If yes, you will need to get an electrician out to check the power supply. Harry

Hi Perky The materiel does not need to be fire retardant. To pass the fire proofing tests, you must put a complete product on a door. If that door passes the test, it's proof that the product does not compromise the composition of the fire door. The Dorgard had all these test successfully carried out. Harry

Hi Liz It sounds as if the fire retardancy of the curtain material worked well, as no fire was sustained. I would focus on the snow globe which caused a fire risk Harry

Hi Squeakabel Why don't you simply replace the heads for the Ei141 and Ei144? These are available as easichange kits and are easy to replace by yourself. Harry

Hi Keith, the plates cannot be the cause, as they have no sounder and have not changed. My hunch is that you have a CO alarm or some other device nearby, maybe even an old hidden alarm clock. Harry