Smoke detector and fire alarm systems provide early warning to ensure the safety of your commercial and domestic properties. A fire alarm is a self-contained device which makes a loud noise to give early warning of a fire in the early stages, giving you critical minutes to escape to safety. We stock a range of fire alarms, kits, call points, control panels and testers from top brands like Apollo, Honeywell and Siemens. You can also browse a quality selection of stand-alone fire, smoke and cigarette alarms along with a full range of accessories.
Types of fire and smoke detector systems
Fire detectors work either optically or by physical process:
- Ionization Smoke Detection – These detectors ionize the air so that a difference due to smoke is detected and an alarm is generated. These are more sensitive to the flaming stage of fires and are suitable for areas where high levels of smoke may be expected
- Optical Smoke Detection – These detectors work by sensing changes in the visibility of the surroundings caused by the presence of smoke. They have a high tolerance to false alarms caused by cigarette smoke or kitchen smoke for example. These are more sensitive to the early smouldering stage of fires
- Heat Detection – These heat detectors are designed to detect a fire as the temperature increases. Detectors can be either battery operated or hard-wired systems. Battery operated smoke alarms are cost-effective and can be installed almost anywhere. The main disadvantage is the battery can run out, however, most detectors will have a low battery warning or a test button to ensure replacement batteries are fitted at appropriate intervals. Hard-wired smoke alarms are wired into the mains and are more common in commercial properties and they have battery backups in case of a power cut.
Fire Alarm Accessories and Testers
We sell a wide range of compatible and functional accessories, testers and test kits, call points and control panels from a large selection of top brands such as RS Pro, No Climb, Apollo and Legrand. Amongst our varied Accessories you will find:
- Telescopic Access Pole – providing access to detectors, which are out of normal reach
- Automatic Fire Door Hold – an easy to install means of keeping a fire door open that will release automatically should the fire alarm sound
- Switched Input Module – this module uses wireless signals to interconnect smoke alarms and act as an interface with a host of other alarms or warning systems, for example, warden call or dial out units
- Heat Detector Tester – simple to use and suitable for a fixed temperature, rate of rising and combination detectors up to 90 degrees
- Smoke Detector Test Kit – for testing and maintenance of smoke detectors at up to 6 metres in height
