What is required: Fire, Heat, Smoke Alarm and Carbon Monoxide Detectors 

Fire and Smoke alarms in your home must be interlinked and this can be achieved via traditional cabling methods or wirelessly. This new legislation also requires a Carbon Monoxide detector to be installed where there is a fuel-burning appliance (such as boilers, fires, heaters and stoves) or where there is a flue. Homeowners and landlords must comply to the new Scottish legislation by February 2022.

If you already have Fire and Smoke alarms installed in your property, check that they are interlinked. If you have an alarm system but it does not currently meet the new requirements, you can expand your system with wireless interconnection. By having an interlinked system, the whole alarm system will be triggered if one alarm is activated meaning you are alerted immediately in the event of a fire.
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If you need to expand your current alarm system, or if access to a permanent live is difficult, tamper proof long-life battery powered alarms can be used in place of main powered alarms with the tamper proof long-life battery back-up, providing they can be interlinked.

Once we receive your enquiry form with the details of your existing fire and smoke alarm detection in your property our team will review your information and then choose the most cost-effective and safest option in order that your property complies to the new legislation.

The method of complying could be a combination of cabled hard wired mains powered alarms, as well as long-life battery alarms. All fire and smoke alarms will be designed to interconnect with each other as per the legislation by either cable and/or by wireless connection. This may mean that the some or all of the existing detectors within your property will have to be renewed so that existing and new alarms all interlink with each other.

See below and also our Legislation page for further information. 

Further detailed information is below.

But can you summarise what Fire, Smoke, Heat and Carbon Monoxide alarms I now require in my home to comply with the new legislation
  • Most importantly all smoke alarms and heat alarms must interlink with each other e.g. when one alarm sounds then all smoke and heat alarms in your property must also sound at the same time. This interlink can either be done by hard wire cabe between each alarm or by radio wireless communication or by a combination of both. This means that installing simple standalone smoke and heat alarms with replaceable 9 volt batteries is NOT allowed
  • A heat alarm is required in your kitchen
  • A smoke alarm is required in your main daytime room which will likely be the living room or lounge, you may have more than one room you class as a daytime room so a smoke alarm would also be required in this room
  • A smoke alarm is required on each level of your house, for most homes that will be for ground and 1st floor hallways/landings. Homes with more than 2 storeys and attic conversions would also require smoke alarms on those additional levels 
  • More smoke alarms may be required depending on the size and layout of your home e.g. you may require smoke alarms in any rooms that are adjoining to your kitchen or daytime room if you have to go through those rooms from your kitchen or daytime room to reach your escape route hallway. Smoke alarms will be required in those adjoining rooms if the kitchen and daytime rooms have no doors leading directly to outside your home
  • You may require more smoke alarms in hallways that are large and smoke alarms may be required in small rooms that you need to go through to get from the hallway escape route to outside your home. Additional heat and smoke alarms may be required in rooms, hallways, areas that have obstructions on the ceiling e.g. dropped beams
  • You can install hard wire cable smoke and heat alarms that connect to your electricity but the smoke and heat alarm must have a battery back up. As long as this alarm is mains powered then for private individual households then the back up battery in the alarm can be 9 volt replaceable back up (although we recommend that 9 volt battery back up's are not used, instead use long-life non-replaceable lithium battery back up type. For all rented accommodation eg Private Rented or Social Housing Rented then the battery back up in the mains powered smoke and heat alarms must be of the long-life non replaceable lithium type.
  • Battery only smoke and heat alarms are allowed but this type of alarm must be powered by a long-life non-replaceable lithium battery that will last for the life span of the actual alarm detector itself. This long-life battery only type of smoke and heat alarm must also be capable of interlinking either by hard wire or wirelessly by radio communication to all other smoke and heat alarms in your home
  • You can install a mixture of mains powered and long-life battery powered smoke and heat alarms as long as they all interlink, communicate and sound together when one smoke or heat alarm is activated 
  • If you already have existing smoke or heat alarms e.g. in your hallways, those detectors will have an expiry date (usually 10 years) so those alarms may need replaced. 
  • If you already have existing smoke or heat alarms e.g in your hallways then one or more of those alarms may need to be replaced in order that it can be replaced with a type of alarm that can interlink and communicate with any new smoke and heat alarms
  • Depending on your type of house any new smoke and heat alarms can be wired with cable but this will be determined on your type of home and how easy it is to get new cables to the required new alarm locations e/g living room or kitchen, if the cable route is difficult or disruptive a long-life battery only interlinking smoke or heat alarm may be used instead
  • All smoke and heat alarms must be installed on the ceiling in each room/area
  • A Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm should be installed close to all fuel burning appliances (excluding an appliance solely used for cooking) and in any room where a flue is installed or runs through.
  • CO Alarms do not need to interlink to each other and do not need to interlink to any other smoke or heat alarms 
  • CO Alarms can be battery only type but the battery must be long-life and last for the full working life of the CO alarm
  • CO Alarms can also be connected to the mains power but the connection cannot be by a removable plug and the detector should have an indicator and warning to alert users when its working life is due to expire
  • The new legislation applies to all homes in Scotland - whether that be private homes you live in, rented flats and homes from a private landlord or rented flats and homes from social housing
  • Stricter fire, smoke, heat alarm, CO detection may be required in some private and social rented accommodation and will be stricter in HMO properties where each bedroom must also have fire detection devices installed
  • The new legislation covering all homes comes into force on 1st February 2022
  • See below for more guidance and legislation details
  • Contact Stirling Electrical Services when you are ready to start the process to comply
By 1st February 2021, ALL HOMES should comply to the Tolerable Standards by having:
  • Smoke alarms in every circulation space on each storey, such as hallways and landings
  • Smoke alarms installed in the room most frequently used for general daytime living purposes (normally the living room/lounge)
  • Heat alarms installed in every kitchen
  • All smoke and heat alarms to be interlinked (either with hard wire cable or wireless)
  • All smoke and heat alarms to be ceiling mounted
  • Carbon Monoxide alarms to be fitted where there is a fuel burning appliance or a flue
  • The above applies to ALL homeowners and landlords
Types and Grades of Smoke/Heat Alarms
The alarms can consist of the following Grades:
  • Grade D1/D2 (mains powered with battery back up) alarms interlinked with wiring (hardwired) or wirelessly (by radio communication) throughout
  • Grade F1 (tamper proof long life battery) alarms interlinked with wiring (hardwired) or wirelessly (by radio communication) throughout
  • Mixed system: i.e. using a mix of both Grade D1/D2 and F1 which are interlinked either with wiring (hardwired) or wirelessly (by radio communication) or a combination of these
  • When adding to an existing system fire detection and fire alarm system in a dwelling, care should be taken to ensure that all alarms are interlinked and that all alarms sound when any one device is activated. 
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
CO detectors should be fitted in all rooms where there is a fixed combustion appliance (excluding an appliance used solely for cooking) or a flue. CO detectors should comply with BS EN 50291 and be powered by a battery designed to operate for the working life of the detector. The detector should incorporate a warning device to alert the users when its working life is due to expire.

Hard wired mains operated CO detectors complying with BS EN 50291 (Type A) with fixed wiring (not plug in types) may be used as an alternative, provided that they are fitted with a sensor failure warning device. CO detectors should be regularly maintained and tested in accordance with the manufacturers instructions. ​
​Our trained job booking team will be happy to discuss your requirements.
Please phone on 01786 813916 or book or enquire online.
 
We aim to provide a professional and efficient service from the initial job enquiry through to job completion.
Some of the information and guidance on this website comes from a combination of sources such as SELECT, AICO and Scottish Government