Another questions for the Sparkys

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vkurup

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Not wanting to turn this into a building forum (but this is the only regular forum i visit)

A sparky visited us and recommended a full rewire (ours is a 60s house and none of the cables have a earthing cable). Interestingly he mentioned that we also need to have a heat sensor in the kitchen along with a fire/smoke detector downstairs and upstairs. I had never heard of it before. The kitchen was redone by the prev owner in 2009 along with a new electric ring & fuse box but they did not put any heat or fire sensors. The house has a Fire/Smoke/CO detector upstairs. The kitchen also has a door internally & an external side entrance.

In our old place, we remodelled our kitchen and made it open plan, but we did not add a heat sensor in the kitchen. So intrigued by the need to have ugly bits of kit around? Is the sparky an ex-car salesman?
 
vkurup said:
Not wanting to turn this into a building forum (but this is the only regular forum i visit)

A sparky visited us and recommended a full rewire (ours is a 60s house and none of the cables have a earthing cable). Interestingly he mentioned that we also need to have a heat sensor in the kitchen along with a fire/smoke detector downstairs and upstairs. I had never heard of it before. The kitchen was redone by the prev owner in 2009 along with a new electric ring & fuse box but they did not put any heat or fire sensors. The house has a Fire/Smoke/CO detector upstairs. The kitchen also has a door internally & an external side entrance.

In our old place, we remodelled our kitchen and made it open plan, but we did not add a heat sensor in the kitchen. So intrigued by the need to have ugly bits of kit around? Is the sparky an ex-car salesman?
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Sounds like new regs, the sparky added one into our new extension last year without even asking so I think they are reqd by law to do it now.

Google is your friend, search online to be sure.
 
The regs are even stricter in private lets, they require smoke mains detectors to be installed in all hallways up and down, in main living room and communal areas, a mains heat detector in kitchen, all smoke and heat detectors must be interlinked.
A carbon monoxide detector must be installed in every room where there's a gas appliance, IE a gas boiler or gas fire, not required for gas cookers.
If it's a complete rewire and needs certified , so you must have all the detectors installed as per regs , or he can't give you a certificate.
 
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Spartacus said:
It's a building regulation that has been around for over 10 years.

Why wouldn't you want something that could potentially save lives?
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He mentioned that it has been in place since 2009, but no one mentioned to us when we had done some work in the past. I am not against it, but dont want to do it if there is no reg. The existing arrangement seem to work - 2 fire/COs that are battery operated. He was referring to have it wired + battery backed.
 
We extended out kitchen 3 years ago. No mention of all that rubbish to us. Heat sensors indeed. Tell to shove his quotes up his do dah.

PS I am also doing another kitchen up (rental one we have). Again no mention from my sparky about it.
 
With all this work your undertaking I'm not sure why you didn't just employ a builder or someone as a catalyst to project manage everything and have him oversee everything and simply report back to you for each stage, it's what I/we do all the time, I use all regular tradesmen that I've used before on various sized jobs right across the country and the customer only then has me as there contact and visa-versa!
 
I just googled 'building forums' and there are squillions of them, would you not be better posting questions on one of them?
 
Spartacus said:
An after fit is real easy if you have the skill and expertise. No damage to existing decor.
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It you're meaning wireless , they still need a mains supply and are expensive to buy compared to the normal .
Monoxide detectors can be battery only , but must be a 10 year lithium battery.
thats in landlord rented accommodation in Scotland , not sure about down south.
 
daymond said:
I can't believe 60's ring and lighting cable did not have an earth wire.
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Ring circuits were normally ran in metal conduit and that was the earth. Or lead sheathed TRS cable and the lead sheath was the earth.

Lights back then were mainly just pendants that didn't really need an earth.
Not like the the metal fittings nowadays.
 
williamalex1 said:
Ring circuits were normally ran in metal conduit and that was the earth. Or lead sheathed TRS cable and the lead sheath was the earth.

Lights back then were mainly just pendants that didn't really need an earth.
Not like the the metal fittings nowadays.
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Sparky said, he was glad atleast the switch box was not made of wood... the switches are so old plus some bad diy plastering around it..
 
Could you not integrate these detectors into your existing house alarm? (Assuming you have one)
That would meet the criteria of being powered with battery back up. They can be programmed to fire each other off so that if one goes off they all do. Could be a cheaper way of doing it?
 
D4RK1 said:
Could you not integrate these detectors into your existing house alarm? (Assuming you have one)
That would meet the criteria of being powered with battery back up. They can be programmed to fire each other off so that if one goes off they all do. Could be a cheaper way of doing it?
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The current one is a wireless stand alone Fire Angel one from B&Q.. not sure if I can integrate it (but I could be wrong)
 
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