What Fire and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Should You Buy?

The Best Fire Alarm for Home: Your Fire & Carbon Monoxide Alarm Buying Guide

Fire and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms play a crucial role in the protection of homes from fire hazards. Every fire and CO alarm is different, so it’s important to ensure you are choosing the right one. When buying a fire or CO alarm, it’s essential to consider the type of room, the grade of alarm, and the requirements of the home itself. In this fire alarm buying guide, we’ll look at common house alarm types and which ones are best suited for various areas of the home.

Key Takeaways

• The best fire alarm for home safety depends on the room. Use the right alarm type (smoke, heat or multi-sensor) for each area of your home.
• Smoke alarm vs carbon monoxide alarm: Smoke alarms warn of fire, whilst CO alarms warn of carbon monoxide from fuel-burning appliances.
• If you want fewer devices, consider a multi-sensor fire alarm (smoke + heat) or a multi-sensor fire & CO option where appropriate.
• Decide between a mains-powered or a battery-powered based on your home’s power setup, and look for suitable backup options.
• Check your home’s alarm grade requirements and consider how you want your alarms to work together across the home (for example, standalone vs connected options).

Which Fire Alarm Should You Buy? Smoke, Heat, Multi-Sensor & CO Alarm Types

Understanding the variety of alarm sensor types and what they do can often be confusing when choosing the best type of fire alarm for the home – there’s no one-size-fits-all.

Optical Smoke Alarms

Optical smoke alarms use infrared light to detect smoke. When enough smoke enters the sensor chamber, the particles scatter the infrared light onto a receiver that would usually not see the light pulses, which causes the alarm to activate. These types of sensors are less susceptible to interference from cooking fumes than ionisation alarms.

The optical sensor is better at detecting slow, smouldering fires. This makes an optical smoke alarm perfect for rooms such as the hallway, landing, bedroom, or living room, where fires may involve burning carpet caused by overheated wiring, or slow-burning fires.

Aico’s Ei3016 Optical Smoke Alarm contains a high-performance optical sensor. Its lithium battery back-up, in use when mains power is not available, eliminates the need for battery replacement in its 10-year life. An alternative alarm would be the Ei650iRF RadioLINK+ Battery Optical Alarm, which is standalone and operated by a 10-year lithium battery.

Ionisation Smoke Alarms

Ionisation smoke alarms respond quickly to fast, flaming fires. Ionisation detectors use small sources of radiation to detect smoke. When enough smoke particles are gathered, the radiation can no longer be detected and the alarm is activated.

The drawback to using an ionisation smoke alarm is that they are more prone to false alarms, such as from cooking fumes and steam, as they are highly sensitive to small smoke particles.

Ionisation alarms produced by Aico have now been discontinued and replaced with optical smoke alarms.

Heat Alarms

Heat alarms use a heat sensor to detect fast, flaming fires, best suited for fires caused by cooking or flammable liquids, making them perfect for the kitchen or garage. As they are not triggered by smoke, heat alarms are much less prone to false alarms in these areas.

Aico’s Ei3014 Heat Alarm contains a high-performance thermistor heat sensor, designed to provide a faster alarm response when triggered by temperatures of 58°C and over. The Ei630iRF RadioLINK+ Battery Heat Alarm would be the suitable option if a battery-powered unit is required, and it connects to other RadioLINK+ capable alarms.

Multi-Sensor Fire Alarms

Using a multi-sensor alarm can be useful when needing to install more than one sensor type in the same location, without having to install multiple alarms.

An alarm that contains both a smoke and a heat sensor is called a fire alarm. This type of alarm is acceptable for bedrooms, hallways, landings, living rooms and open plan kitchen-living or kitchen-dining areas.

The Ei3024 Multi-Sensor Fire Alarm can be used in any of these areas to provide detection for all fire types. Its smart software allows the sensors to work together, but also independently. Intelligent dust compensation and its mesh insect shield around the optical sensor reduce the risk of false alarms. Aico’s Ei660iRF RadioLINK+ Multi-Sensor Fire Alarm is their battery-operated heat and smoke alarm, and can connect to other RadioLINK+ devices.

For garages and kitchens, the Ei3028 Multi-Sensor Heat & CO Alarm enables coverage for both heat and carbon monoxide. With flashing fire and CO indicators on the alarm head to communicate the type of activation to residents, this alarm is suitable for kitchen and garage areas containing a fuel-burning appliance such as a log burner or boiler. Starting a car in a closed-door garage and leaving it running for a significant amount of time can drastically increase CO levels, so it’s recommended to have a detector there too.

For an all-round response to fire and carbon monoxide, opt for the Ei3030 Multi-Sensor Fire & CO Alarm, with all three sensors in one device. Suitable for any bedrooms, dining rooms, hallways, landings, living rooms and lofts which contain fuel-burning appliances, the Ei3030 has it all. With the same LED indicators as the Ei3028, the Ei3030 is the ultimate fire and CO alarm.

Carbon Monoxide Alarms

With CO being a tasteless, colourless, and odourless gas, having a high-performance detector in place is vital for the safety of your household. In the event of a CO emergency, having a CO alarm will alert you as soon as dangerous levels are present and rising.

The Ei3018 Carbon Monoxide Alarm has a proven electrochemical sensor to monitor CO levels. With a different sounder pattern to differentiate the CO alarm to any fire alarms in the house, the Ei3018 also features different flash rates of its red LED to indicate the level of CO detected. For the battery-operated version, the Ei208WRF RadioLINK+ Battery Carbon Monoxide Alarm would be suitable.

Should I Buy a Mains-Powered or Battery Alarm

Whether or not you require a mains or battery-powered fire alarm depends on the power systems within your home.

Mains Powered Fire Alarms

Mains-powered alarms physically connect to your home’s mains power supply, either from the distribution board or a local lighting circuit. This connection must be a permanent mains feed.

Many mains-powered fire alarms operate with a back-up battery source, whether that be a replaceable 9V alkaline battery or a rechargeable 10-year lithium-ion battery, which would be the more favourable option as it will not need replacing.

All of Aico’s mains-powered alarms have a battery backup. This battery backup is important to ensure full operation of the alarm in the event of a mains failure.

Battery-Powered Fire Alarms

Battery-powered alarms operate solely with either a replaceable battery or a built-in lithium-ion battery. Aico’s 600 Series alarms all feature 10-year lithium-ion batteries. These are tamperproof and will not need to be changed at any point in the alarm’s lifespan, making them hassle-free and easy to use.

Uncover the difference between mains-powered and battery-operated alarms.

Understanding Fire Alarm Grades

Fire alarm grades are used to place fire alarms under a particular set of criteria. A grade is assigned to each individual type of alarm. In most cases, the grade of alarm you should choose is dependent on the type of property, the needs of the occupants and legislative or regulatory requirements.

Grades of alarms are distinguished as follows:

• Grade D1 – Mains-operated alarm, including a tamperproof battery back-up. Aico’s 3000 Series alarms are Grade D1.
• Grade D2 – Mains operated alarm, including a user replaceable battery back-up. Aico’s 140e Series alarms are Grade D2.
• Grade F1 – Tamper-proof battery-operated alarm. Aico’s 600 Series alarms are Grade F1.

Information on Grade A, Grade C, and Grade F2 alarms can be found on our British Standards page. Aico do not manufacture fire alarms to meet these fire alarm grades.

Carbon monoxide alarms do not come under any grade.

For information on fire alarm grades, visit our FAQs.

Key Considerations for Selecting the Right Fire Alarm

When deciding which fire or carbon monoxide alarm is best for your home, you should consider the room size and layout, the proximity to potential fire hazards such as kitchens or fireplaces, the alarms’ sensitivity to cooking fumes or steam, and whether you need interconnected alarms.

Choosing a fire alarm with features such as a battery backup, test and silence buttons, and the ability to interconnect with other devices is essential. A battery backup allows for there to be a power source in the absence of mains power, ensuring constant detection. Having test and silence buttons keeps peace of mind that you can check whether your alarm system is working, and control if you need to silence your alarms during a false activation. With Aico’s RadioLINK+ and SmartLINK technology-enabled devices, alarms can wirelessly interconnect with each other so that when one alarm sounds, they all do.

The Final Word: Your Complete Smoke Alarm Buying Guide

It’s vital to ensure the correct fire alarm is chosen for the right type of room. Understanding the grades of alarm and different sensor types will allow you to make a more informed decision when purchasing alarms to protect your home from fire.

Use our Product Selector Tool to find the right alarm for your home.

For further information and advice, visit www.aico.co.uk/technical-support or call 01691664100.