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Posted 20th Jan 2022
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I spent the morning looking into this and hope that it will save others a bit of time. These are all sealed battery units with a battery life of 10 years and a 5 year warranty. They are interconnected wirelessly so if one goes off they all go off. Delivery is free for orders over £100. These appear to be better than the (more expensive) Firehawk W Series which need a separate base with its own battery that lasts only 7 years. This was the best deal I could find. The new law in Scotland starts on 1 February and your home insurance cover might be affected if you don't have them. Some of these units are on back order until February.
I'm annoyed that Nest Protect does not comply with these regulations as there is no separate heat detector and I fitted them only a couple of years ago
HiSPEC BATTERY OPERATED RADIO FREQUENCY HEAT ALARM £21.49
HiSPEC BATTERY OPERATED RF PHOTOELECTRIC SMOKE ALARM £19.92
HiSPEC CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR WITH LITHIUM BATTERY & RF FUNCTION £39.82 (although you can get cheaper ones that are not interconnected, the law permits these)
HiSPEC RADIO FREQUENCY CONTROL UNIT FOR RF PRO ALARMS £38.09 (the detectors will work without this but if you have high ceilings it's easier than climbing a ladder to check each unit & pause battery alarms)
By February 2022 every home in Scotland must have:
If you have a carbon-fuelled appliance – like a boiler, fire, heater or flue – in any room, you must also have a carbon monoxide detector in that room, but this does not need to be linked to the fire alarms.
FWIW these are a fraction of the cost of a Nest Protect system but without all the unnecessary bells & whistles.
I'm annoyed that Nest Protect does not comply with these regulations as there is no separate heat detector and I fitted them only a couple of years ago
HiSPEC BATTERY OPERATED RADIO FREQUENCY HEAT ALARM £21.49
HiSPEC BATTERY OPERATED RF PHOTOELECTRIC SMOKE ALARM £19.92
HiSPEC CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR WITH LITHIUM BATTERY & RF FUNCTION £39.82 (although you can get cheaper ones that are not interconnected, the law permits these)
HiSPEC RADIO FREQUENCY CONTROL UNIT FOR RF PRO ALARMS £38.09 (the detectors will work without this but if you have high ceilings it's easier than climbing a ladder to check each unit & pause battery alarms)
By February 2022 every home in Scotland must have:
- one smoke alarm in the living room or the room you use most
- one smoke alarm in every hallway or landing
- one heat alarm in the kitchen
If you have a carbon-fuelled appliance – like a boiler, fire, heater or flue – in any room, you must also have a carbon monoxide detector in that room, but this does not need to be linked to the fire alarms.
FWIW these are a fraction of the cost of a Nest Protect system but without all the unnecessary bells & whistles.
Community Updates
96 Comments
sorted byThese don't comply with new regulations for houses. The alarm has to interconnected. This is a stand alone model. No interconnect
Pretty clear: mygov.scot/hom…ety
"If you have a carbon-fuelled appliance, like a boiler, fire, heater or flue you must also have a carbon monoxide detector. This does not need to be linked to the fire alarms. Gas cookers and hobs do not need a carbon monoxide detector."
and
"1 carbon monoxide alarm in any room where you have a carbon-fuelled appliance like a boiler or wood-burning fire place"
Ordered Firehawk set, any good ?
We have never used them so can't comment, we use 2 brand which we reccomend, Fireangel and AICO, thanks
Installed a set of Hispecs in my tenant's flat last month. Last week he had an accident in the kitchen when cooking oil caught fire. Heat alarm went off and activated others as it should. I'm not sure what else to expect from fire alarms? They are small, unobstructive and easy to install.
Dougie Barnett, Customer Risk Management Director, said, “As an insurer, our core purpose is protection and with this in mind, we support the installation of interlinked alarms to help people evacuate their homes safety if required. This is an important change for everyone to make, including developers of new build properties.
“We encourage installation as soon as possible however AXA will not invalidate a home insurance claim for existing customers who haven’t yet complied with the new law in Scotland.”
When asked if there is a time limit for AXA customers to abide to install new alarms or if it would be a condition upon renewed policies, a spokesperson replied: “We would communicate with our customers in advance of any alteration”
Everyones just blaming the SNP basically
Specifically these HiSpec ones? How did they fail? Were they returned to HiSpec for analysis, reported to trading standards?
HiSpec are based in Chorley and have been around for 20 years so I was hoping they'd have a reputation to maintain and wouldn't put their name to sub-standard products. Similar for the retailer, The Electrical Counter (based in Kent), 4.8 on trustpilot.
"The Scottish government said it had received assurances from the Association of British Insurers that while insurers may ask customers questions about whether the property is fitted with working fire alarms, they are not likely to ask questions about specific standards.
I have already fitted Firehawk in three houses and will install them in a fourth house next week. Easy to pair with each other and easy to install. I avoided FireAngel due to so many reports of battery failures. Time will tell regarding the Firehawk, but all good so far.
Yes, at present. (edited)
It's a mess - each insurer seems to be taking their own view on it. Safest thing to do is just get them fitted ASAP.
I already have mine but when I enquired today about timeline for family they were saying Friday. They took on extra staff but can't get them out the door fast enough.
@andrewmclachlan1 you never answered my earlier question. It sounds like you're saying you did previously install these specific models made by HiSpec. Can you say roughly what date you last installed one and had it go bad? There are different revisions of this model.
It's also surprising to hear they appear not to honour the 5 year guarantee? Is that what you're saying? You followed the instructions to return them and they refused? What reason did they give? Did you follow it up with anyone else?
It was far more interesting than your contribution
Do you have smoke alarms?
Yes.
Have some insurance.
My house burnt down, I want to make a claim.
Did you have compliant smoke alarms? We can't find a heat alarm in the ashes.
No, you didn't specifically say I needed them.
You can't have £250k then, sorry.
I ordered some today, pain in the neck but not worth the risk imo (edited)
You should stop insulting people with your cool story reply unless you want everyone to think you are a clown. Do you really think posting bullying insults is helpful. Reported
Well they have all the necessary BS Kitemarks and a 5 year warranty so that's good enough for me!
*COOL STORY ALERT*
Yeah, i don't know why every home insurer isn't issuing a statement to their Scottish customers confirming their stance on the matter. So far, the only one I've seen speak out via social media is Aviva who said their underwriting team are fine with existing fire alarms.
Obviously there's a lot of opinion on the matter, the play safe option is to bite the bullet and splash out if you can afford it and can currently find some quality alarms that work flawlessly. There's no doubt plenty naughty cowboys coining it in with the pensioners thanks to the Scottish government telling people they MUST fit them and home insurers not speaking out, and don't get me started on the plastic waste of changing over millions of alarms, many will just bin the old ones. What's the recycling plan? So much for COP26.
Anyhoo, my big opinions aside, you either get em fitted and relax with no beer money this week (we drink a lot in Scotland DO NOT ARGUE THIS FACT!!!), and by the way these new alarms are no doubt a good thing for those with mobility problems who need as much notice as possible to haul a$$. But if money's tight and you have working, tested alarms, then get on the blower or social media to your home insurer and get some proof in writing that your existing alarms will suffice for now. Upgrade when appropriate. All in agreement say AYE.
*END OF COOL STORY*
So I guess I'll need to replace (or supliment) my good quality reliable stand alone detectors with inflated price cheap direct from China ones, as there are no decent ones available in the shops. Hell, the lithium batteries in them are more likely to cause a fire!
Sounds like a great plan
I watched Shona Robison's statement after speaking to my insurer 3 times for clarification. They stated that the home owner must comply with the regulation where they live or their claim will be disallowed. So she's speaking a load of tosh! Further confirming she has no idea, she said although people are saying they're having trouble getting the hardware, she hss been assured by "popular DIY stores" that they do have stock. Straight after, I checked B&Q, Screwfix and Toolstation. Nothing in stock and no date for restocking!
That’s what I’ve noticed - the mains powered are a lot more yet there’s no real benefit that I can see. I’d be best to terminate the cables and push them back into the ceilings then just install battery units to cover the wholes.
Have had the Firehawk wireless radio linked smoke alarms and also the Firehawk wireless Heat Alarm installed due to the upcoming Scottish law change regarding these House fire safety items.
According to Certificate issued by the Installer, which i am unsure if legally required by scottish Law comes with 10 Year warranty on the Sealed Battery Heat Alarm and 7 years on the Sealed Battery Smoke Alarms
But will need to double check with installion guy.
Very little advertising from Scottish Government regarding this important impending law change and the confusion from insurance companies not helping things..
Still need to have carbon monoxide alarms fitted also but unsure if this is compulsory yet in Scotland
Hope this help
cheers
Fire alarms sit quietly for years doing nothing unless there is a fire . How can there possibly be hundreds getting returned all the time by electricians ?
you can buy a control unit but it doesnt need on. Theycan use the usual test hush button
You know you can use the quote button. Means that the people you have quoted will get notified of your reply. If you copy and paste their question, they won't get notified
What would you recommend mate?
AICO or fireangel mate
@wulliedufc
Thanks mate
Basically they need to be linked, have a 10 yr battery life, Heat alarm in a kitchen, smoke alarm in hallway and smoke alarm in room most occupied. Plus if you have a gas boiler or solid fuel in a room you need a CO detector but this doesn't need to be interconnected.
One good thing is as they need replaced every 10 years and the battery life is 10 years you're better off just going for battery ones rather than installing extra mains ones and the hassle of any rewiring.
I agree with you that it's a mess and should be cleared up quickly and openly by the Scottish Government and every home insurance provider.
But do we actually know yet which insurers are requiring/not requiring the new interlinked alarms? Aviva have said on social media they won't require you to have them, i can post a link or pic of that if it helps anyone. (edited)
The cheapest option is to go with all battery, by quite a margin. AICO do a mixed battery/mains range but it's twice the price and the detectors need changed approx every 10 years even if mains powered.
I'm opting to mix mains with one battery powered for the living room. The hispec pro range can be mixed between mains and battery powered
Googling it. It appears so.
Should be made clear in posting.
Lol. I actually ordered all wireless then sent a few back in favour of the same sized hard wired ones
expresselectrical.net/his…BwE
I literally just posted where to buy instock