How many smoke alarms do I need?
The Building Code of Australia mandates the installation of at least one smoke alarm in every new home – but is one enough?
Let’s say the alarm is installed in the main living area of your home and a fire breaks out. If you are asleep in another area of the home, perhaps with the bedroom door closed, you may not hear the alarm until it is too late… By the time you respond, the house is engulfed in flame, and deadly toxic smoke may block your exit path to safety…
As a general rule of thumb, alarms need to be installed within 10 paces of a fire to detect the smoke and still give you adequate time to escape. That is why it is so important to have at least two alarms installed in your home.
The best protection is an alarm in every room – excluding the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms. All alarms should be interconnected, so that if smoke is detected by one alarm all units will respond and warn you, no matter where you are in the house.
Where should they be installed?
Smoke alarm installation locations should be carefully selected in order to maximise their effectiveness and response time. It is also important to avoid certain areas so as to minimise the chance of false alarms or nuisance tripping. Follow these important guidelines.
- never install a smoke alarm in the kitchen area
- never in a steamy area (eg; bathroom, laundry)
- never in a garage or carport
- never in an outside location
- always avoid “dead air spaces”
The correct selection and placement of your smoke alarms is a critical issue. Thankfully, most electricians have been fully trained in all aspects of fire protection, and will be able to give you professional advice as a part of your installation.
If you sleep with your bedroom doors closed:
It is recommended additional alarms be installed in the bedrooms, interconnected with those located in passageways and other parts of the dwelling, to ensure that you are alerted by the activation of any alarm.
If there is no passageway:
If bedrooms are accessed directly from the living area, install the alarm outside each bedroom 900mm from the doorway. For additional protection, have interconnected alarms in the bedrooms as close as practicable to the centre of each room.
If there are bedrooms at both ends of the house:
Install interconnected alarms in the passageway to each of these areas. In passageways, the installation point should be at the end closest to the living area and certainly before the first bedroom is reached so that when the alarm sounds, there will be sufficient time to allow evacuation by normal exit routes.
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If you have a stairway leading to another storey:
Install a smoke alarm on the ceiling above the head of the stairs. If the stairway is enclosed, install the alarm on the ceiling within the enclosure near the exit to the upper storey and interconnect it with alarms in the upstairs room or passageway.
Avoid dead air space:
Smoke will not flow into ‘dead air spaces’. Avoid the marked regions to ensure optimum response from the alarm.
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Absolute Minimum Requirement.
Photoelectric recommended
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Photoelectric Smoke Alarm, for extra protection |
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Ionisation Smoke Alarm, for extra protection |
| Did you Know? |
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When you are asleep you lose your sense of smell. In the event of a fire, the smell of smoke will not wake you. Your life depends on your ability to be able to hear the audible alarm.
That’s yet another important reason why you should have more than one smoke alarm installed in your home, and why they should always be interconnected.
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Why is it important that my alarms be interconnected?
Where multiple smoke alarms are installed, they can be linked together or “interconnected” as desired. This ensures that if one alarm detects smoke, then all interconnected alarms will activate to sound the warning simultaneously in all locations in the house.
This is especially important in larger, or multi-storey homes, where the alarm that detects the smoke from a fire (ie the alarm closest to the fire) may simply be too far away for occupants to hear. By the time you hear the alarm the fire may be out of control, and your route to safety may be cut off.
Clipsal Firetek® smoke alarms allow up to forty alarms to be linked, ensuring that you will have the earliest possible warning of a fire danger no matter where you are in the house, and leaving you more time to exit safely.
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