How to Replace a Fire Alarm

Replacing a fire alarm is an important part of keeping your home protected. Once safety alarms reach the end of their life, they need to be replaced to ensure your fire safety system and CO protection continue to work as intended. 

This guide explains how to replace a smoke, heat alarm and CO alarm, when alarms should be replaced, how to install a new unit safely, and what to check to make sure your home remains fully protected.

Quick Summary: Replacing a Fire Alarm

• Most alarms need replacing every 10 years (check the replace by date on the side of the alarm)
• You can replace an alarm yourself if the baseplate is compatible (easi-fit)
• Replace with like-for-like alarms to meet British Standard recommendations
• Turn off the mains power before removing any alarm
• Test every alarm after installation, following our alarm testing guidance
• CO alarms follow different replacement rules

Why is Testing Fire Alarms Important?

Carrying out a regular test on your smoke alarms, heat alarms and multi-sensors is a vital part of ensuring your home is protected. 

Alarms should be tested monthly to ensure your home life safety system is working correctly and nothing needs replacing. Recent statistics show that fires where a smoke alarm wasn’t present accounted for 24% of all dwelling fires (and 31% of fire-related fatalities).

This highlights the importance of having working smoke and heat alarms for protecting your home.

When replacing an old smoke or heat alarm with a new one, you must ensure that you are installing the correct replacement. 

We would suggest following British Standard recommendations, which cover specific guidance for fire alarm systems in all domestic properties. It highlights the type of smoke or heat alarms that should be installed and the areas of your property to protect.

Which type of alarms should I install around my home?

These are the best type of heat and smoke alarms to install for different areas of the home:

• Hallways – Optical Smoke – Ei3016, Ei650i, Ei146e and Ei650iRF
• Landings – Optical Smoke – Ei3016, Ei650i, Ei146e and Ei650iRF
• Living Room – Optical Smoke – Ei3016, Ei650i, Ei146e and Ei650iRF
• Kitchen – Heat – Ei3014, Ei630 and Ei44e
• Bedrooms – Optical Smoke – Ei3016, Ei650i, Ei146e and Ei650iRF
• Dining Room – Optical Smoke – Ei3016, Ei650i, Ei146e and Ei650iRF
• Loft – Multi-Sensor Fire – Ei3030, Ei2014, Ei660i, Ei660iRF
• Garages – Heat – Ei3014, Ei630 and Ei44e
• Bathrooms – Alarms should not be installed

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is another risk to be aware of, you can’t see it, smell it or taste it, and the best way to stay protected is by fitting a Carbon Monoxide alarm. The British Standard states that Carbon Monoxide alarms should be fitted in:

• Rooms that have any fuel-burning appliances – such as an open fire, gas cooker or boiler
• Any room that has a flue running through it

How Do You Know When to Replace a Fire Alarm?

Recommended Replacement Times for Alarms

You can find the replace by date and model number on the alarm itself, or refer to the packaging or instructions.

The majority of our alarms have a 10-year life guarantee, after which they should be replaced to ensure your home has the most effective protection.

The alarms have a date-code label on the side of them that shows the manufacture date and the recommended replacement date.

The four-digit code shows you the year and week that the alarm was made. The first two digits relate to the year, and the second two digits relate to the week.

If your alarm is coming up to its replacement date, a new alarm should be installed as quickly as possible.

The first step is to find out the model number of the alarm that you have installed. Then, you can find the details of your nearest Stockist, who will be able to recommend products for your needs and supply a suitable replacement alarm.

If any of the alarms in your property are from the Ei140RC Series, the alarm may emit a single regular beep, which indicates the alarm has a low battery. However, as a general rule of thumb, it is recommended that you change the battery in your fire alarm every year.

Replacing Your Fire Alarms

When it comes to replacing an alarm, firstly, you will need to ensure you have purchased the correct replacement alarm – Aico offer a lot of different alarm types! You can do this by visiting our handy Product Selector tool. 

There is a range of battery-powered and hard-wired smoke and heat alarms available, but if you’re not sure which alarm is right for you, get in touch with our knowledgeable Technical Team, who are always happy to help.

This step-by-step guide will teach you how to replace and remove the existing alarm heads in your property.

• Turn the mains power to the alarms off in the property and ensure the green indicator light on the alarm is off.
• Locate the flattened ‘T’ shaped slot on the side of the alarm. There will be a sticker and an arrow pointing towards it, saying, ‘insert screwdriver to remove’. If you can’t do this, follow the link below to our How to Remove an Alarm from the Base video.

• Insert a small flat-headed screwdriver into the slot, and at the same time, slide the head of the alarm away from the screwdriver.
• The old alarm will then come off the base and fall into your hand.
• Now, to connect the new alarm, align the new unit with the mounting plate and slide it into place. You should hear a slight clicking sound when it is in place.
• Turn the power back on from the mains and make sure the green indicator light on the alarm is on.

Can You Replace a Fire Alarm Yourself?

Yes, you can replace your fire alarm yourself if your existing alarm has an easi-fit base, which means there is no need to remove or re-wire the baseplate. Replacing fire alarms (keeping the same base) is an easy process that is safe to carry out by yourself.

Do I Need an Electrician to Replace my Fire Alarms?

If you are not comfortable replacing your smoke or heat alarms, or if your alarm’s mounting plate needs removing or rewiring, you will need to use an electrician to ensure the work is completed safely. See our list of approved installers. 

All the installers listed on our website have been trained by Aico to ensure they have all the information they need to correctly install domestic fire, smoke, and Carbon Monoxide alarm systems.

You can request a quote from our Installers by adding products to your basket and sending this through to the Aico-approved installers in your area.  Visit our product page to start.

For any further information, please visit our homeowner website or contact our technical team on 01691 664100.

How Do you Change the Battery of a Fire Alarm?

• Turn the mains power to the alarms off in the property and ensure the green indicator light on the alarm is off.
• Locate the flattened ‘T’ shaped slot on the side of the alarm. There will be a sticker and an arrow pointing towards it, saying, ‘insert screwdriver to remove’. If you can’t do this, follow the link below to our How to Remove an Alarm from the Base video.
• Insert a small flat-headed screwdriver into the slot, and at the same time, slide the head of the alarm away from the screwdriver.
• The old alarm will then come off the base and fall into your hand. 
• Replace the battery in the back of the device with a new 9V Alkaline battery – we recommend Duracell MN 1604 or Energizer 522 batteries. Using a different battery from the one recommended can cause issues with the battery backup. Take care with the battery clip and wires, as damage to these will result in constant beeps, meaning that the whole fire alarm will need to be replaced.
• Slide the device back onto its base. You should hear a slight clicking sound when it is in place.
• Turn the power back on from the mains and make sure the green indicator light on the alarm is on.
• Now test the alarm by pressing and holding the test button on the front of the unit. The unit should make an alarm sound.

How Do You Test a Fire Alarm System?

It’s a good idea to regularly test your smoke and heat alarms to ensure everything is working correctly.

Direct Test for Fire Alarms

• Check that the green light on the alarm is on.
• Press and hold the ‘Test’ button for 10 seconds.
• The alarm will beep loudly, so that you know the alarm is functioning.
• If you have other alarms in the building, they will most likely be linked together as part of a safety system. This means that if one alarm sounds, it will send a signal to trigger the other alarms in the property – so they should be emitting sound at the same time. 
• Finally, repeat the above steps on all the other alarms in the property.

Test a Fire Alarm Using a Control Switch

• Press the ‘Test’ button on the alarm controller.
• The alarm it is connected to will emit a loud beep, so that you know the alarm is functioning.
• If you have more than one alarm in the property and they are interconnected, this will also trigger all the other alarms in the property.
• If you are using an Ei450 RadioLINK Alarm Controller, this will continue for as long as you hold down the ‘Test’ button.
• If you are using an Ei1529RC Hard-Wired Alarm Control Switch, you will need to flick the ‘Test’ switch off to finish the test.

Fire Alarm Replacement Safety Checklist

• Turn off the mains power before removing any alarm
• Only use compatible Aico replacement alarms
• Check the date code and the replacement date on the side of the alarm
• Avoid damaging battery clips or connectors
• Test every alarm after installation
• Never install fire alarms in bathrooms