What does hardwiring a smoke alarm mean?
- Thread starter jennyn
- Start date
I was wondering about what happens in an area where all homes have a HW smoke alarm installed and bushfires are in the area? Does a whole suburb go BEEP BEEP BEEP all day and night until the bushfire is put out?
Hard WHAT
Hi there . I am a Electrician and was also a Fireman with NSW Fire Brigade for over 20 yrs.
The good brand of Hard Wired Smoke Detectors can actually be linked together so that if say one in the top floor bedroom goes off then all the others will also go off in the house. As well they have Hush buttons. If you burn the toast the alarms will activate. But you can push the Hush button and the alarm will stopp beeping for a few minutes and reset. They are Hard Wired into the electrical system. They do not have a switch to switch them off or on. But are on a circuit of their own or a light circuit. The only way they go off is if the circuit breaker at the switch board trips or is turned off. Or if of course the supply to the home from the street fails. In that case the battery back up takes over.
And yes when there is a major bushfire smoke dectectors are beeping every where. I was in helensburgh on X/mas night 2001. Even after the fires had passed and houses extinguished. Fire engines turned off and most of the smoke cleared you could hear beep beep from all directions.
Hi there . I am a Electrician and was also a Fireman with NSW Fire Brigade for over 20 yrs.
The good brand of Hard Wired Smoke Detectors can actually be linked together so that if say one in the top floor bedroom goes off then all the others will also go off in the house. As well they have Hush buttons. If you burn the toast the alarms will activate. But you can push the Hush button and the alarm will stopp beeping for a few minutes and reset. They are Hard Wired into the electrical system. They do not have a switch to switch them off or on. But are on a circuit of their own or a light circuit. The only way they go off is if the circuit breaker at the switch board trips or is turned off. Or if of course the supply to the home from the street fails. In that case the battery back up takes over.
And yes when there is a major bushfire smoke dectectors are beeping every where. I was in helensburgh on X/mas night 2001. Even after the fires had passed and houses extinguished. Fire engines turned off and most of the smoke cleared you could hear beep beep from all directions.
Creepy. My dad was a volunteer fireman and sometimes I would visit him on site when he had just finished putting out the flames and had that boring time hanging around to make sure nothing flared up again. It's an eerie feeling especially at dawn or sunset and tendrils of smoke are still wafting up into the sky.GRCee said:
