Fire and rescue services attended over 150,000 fires last year in England alone, and while the number of fire fatalities dropped to their lowest ever figure, 240 people still lost their lives. Buying a smoke alarm is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your home, your life and the lives of your family and friends. It can give you early warning of a fire before it spreads, and the best chance of getting everyone safely out of the house.

A linked detector will set off all alarms in a home through radio signal, so you can be assured that even if you’re asleep and the furthest alarm activates, all other alarms will activate, ensuring you hear it immediately. If you own a Nest smoke and CO alarm, you will be able to continue to use it but it will need to be in addition to interlinked smoke and heat alarms.

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Smoke detectors are relatively simple by design and usually rely on an audible alarm to grab your attention. But if you’re looking for more advanced monitoring, the Kidde Smart Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm is the right choice. Like any battery-powered smoke detector, you should replace the batteries every 6 months (and sooner if the low battery alert sounds). While a front-facing battery compartment would make it easier to change out the batteries, the rear battery door wasn’t overly challenging to access. We like the fact that the battery compartment won’t close unless the batteries are correctly installed, providing a safeguard against improper battery placement and a unit that won’t power up. Pros: Good for bedrooms, landings and hallways, and near to kitchens as they aren’t as prone to false alarms from cooking. Like most sensors, combination smoke and heat detectors are available in wireless and hardwired varieties. With the rise of wireless alarm systems, wireless sensors are now the most popular option. If you go this route, you must make sure the wireless combination smoke and heat detectors you use communicate at a wireless frequency that is compatible with your system. Hardwired smoke and heat detectors are normally used with hardwired systems only. But there are some wired to wireless converters like the Qolsys IQ Hardwire 16-F that will let you bring over wired smoke and heat detectors for use with a wireless panel.

This hardwired combination detector requires more advanced installation than a battery-operated version. However, it has a 10-year lifespan, and set-up is simple once the hardware is mounted—just use your smart device to scan a QR code on the device to get the process started.

Combination Smoke and Heat Detector

As the name implies, smoke heat detector combinationdetector respond to both smoke and high temperatures. If either situation is detected, the smoke heat detector combination will alert the system. Most smoke heat detector combination detector detect smoke before they detect high temperatures. But there are some cases where the high temperatures may reach the sensor first. Having both sensing abilities is important for ensuring that a fire is properly detected. Smart smoke alarms not only trigger the alarm in your home but also send an alert to your phone. Ideal if you are out, or on holiday.

We test smoke alarms using an aerosol tester, sprayed in the direction of the alarm for up to five seconds from a distance of 30cm. If the alarm doesn’t respond within four seconds, we don’t recommend it. Having completed this functional test, we take a careful look at any controls, screens, or indicators to see how clear and effective these are. For kitchen, garage or workshop use, fire services also recommend fitting a heat alarm. These sense hot air rather than smoke, and trigger when the air in the sensor chamber reaches a specific temperature, which is usually 58°C. Heat alarms are slower to respond than actual smoke alarms, but they’re also not as prone to false alarms. They won’t go off when you’re grilling sausages or burning toast, but they still provide ample warning if something catches fire in your kitchen. If you are spending additional money on a smoke and heat detector combination alarm, then we recommend spending a little more on linked detectors. First, a small, slow smouldering fire. Such a fire would not initially give off much heat, but would produce quite a bit of smoke. A smoke detector would detect this fire.Heat (thermal) alarms detect heat (hot air) instead of smoke. The alarm is triggered when the temperature within the sensor chamber reaches over 58 degrees Celsius – generally when a fire is well established. Smart smoke alarms are designed to sound the alarm when they detect smoke, as a conventional smoke alarm would. But the unique selling point of a smart smoke alarm is the ability to send alerts to your phone when there’s a fire.

Ionisation alarms ionise the air between two electrodes. These are positively and negatively charged, creating a small current inside the chamber. Interlinked smoke alarms will use the same optical or ionisation technology mentioned above, so, they're not a type of alarm in their own right. This could be critical if you’re out when there’s a fire. All of the smart smoke alarms we've tested are optical models.

Ring your local fire service, and they will provide and install smoke detectors free of charge, as long as you meet certain criteria. Comments And Questions As a rule of thumb, it’s best to use optical alarms in living rooms, bedrooms or downstairs hallways where you either have a lot of upholstered furniture and soft furnishings or the alarm is likely to be set off by cooking fumes. Keep ionisation alarms for upstairs hallways or areas where dust or exposure to the elements (say, through an open door) might potentially set off an optical sensor. If in doubt, go optical or use a multi-sensor alarm. Use of ionisation alarms is generally being discouraged by many fire services, and some manufacturers have now discontinued their ionisation products. With a linked alarm, all alarms are activated simultaneously, giving you and your family potentially life saving extra time to get out of the building. A smoke detector can save your life. These small devices mount to the wall or ceiling and use a sensor to continuously monitor for conditions that indicate a fire. Smoke detectors are a must for virtually every room in your home and should be replaced every 10 years, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Smoke detectors are simple devices by design, but are available with features to integrate into your smart home or improve the functionality of the device. One of the most common features you’ll find is interconnectivity. According to Rodriguez-Zaba, “Interconnectivity is a really important safety feature that allows the detectors to be connected to each other and sound an alarm simultaneously in the event of a fire.” This means that even if smoke is detected in one area of your home, an alarm will sound on every detector installed in the house—helping to ensure that everyone in the home hears the alarm.