The matter of siting the alarms at home is very important, and Aico is kind enough to provide a great guide on where to site your Aico smoke, heat, and CO alarms.
It is crucial to site the alarm correctly in a property to ensure they provide life-saving detection and respond as quickly as possible in the event of a fire or a CO leak.
When there is a Carbon Monoxide leak or a fire in a property, properly sited smoke, heat, and CO alarms prove to be life-saving.
Of course, every property is different, but there are some basic rules to follow when considering where to locate your alarm.
The best place to Position the Aico Smoke and Heat Alarms
Where should we site the smoke alarm or the heat alarm? This kind of alarm needs to be positioned on the ceiling, as centrally as possible within the room or area where they are installed.
The alarms should be located 300mm from walls, light fittings, or any other obstructions. This is so that you make sure they are outside of any "dead air" spaces that occur in corners and spaces where the airflow may be blocked.
Furthermore, there should be an alarm within 3m of every bedroom door to ensure it is heard - audibility is very important.
If there are high-risk rooms, it is recommended to position alarms between such rooms and bedrooms.
However, it is not recommended to locate smoke and heat alarms in the bathroom or shower or too close to a bathroom or shower door, since the steam and moisture can affect them.
Buy Aico Heat Alarm or Smoke Detectors
Siting Smoke and Heat Alarms - in Brief
- Alarms should be on the ceiling, central location
- 300mm from walls, light fittings, or obstructions
- There should be an alarm within 3m of every bedroom door
- Position the alarm between high-risk rooms and bedrooms
- Do not locate alarms within bathrooms or too close to a bathroom door.
Siting Smoke and Heat Alarms near Staircases, Sloped Ceilings, and Beams
If there are stairways, it is best to site the alarms on the flat ceilings at the top and bottom of the stairs.
We do not recommend siting fire, smoke, or heat alarms on the sloped ceiling directly above the stairs.
If there are peaked and sloped ceilings, it is recommended that the smoke alarms are positioned at max. 600mm vertically down from the apex, while the heat alarms at max. 150mm vertically down from the apex on the slope.
If there are beams present, where the depth of the beam is less than 10% of the room height, it's best to site the alarm at twice the depth of the beam or 500mm, whichever is less.
If the depth of the mean is more than 10% of the room height, you should treat the beam as a wall, and you can fit alarms on both sides of the beam.
If the beam is less than 600mm deep, you can locate an alarm on the underside of the beam.
Positioning Fire Alarms near Staircases, Sloped Ceilings, and Beams - In brief
- In stairways: locate the alarm on the flat ceiling at the top and bottom of the stairs
- Peaked and Sloped Ceilings: Smoke alarms sited at max. 600mm vertically down from apex, heat alarms at max. 150mm vertically down from the apex on the slope
- Beams with depth <10% of the room height: alarm sited at twice the depth of the beam or 500mm
- Beams with depth >10% of the room height: fit alarms on both sides of the beam, or if the beam is less than 600mm deep, on the underside of the beam.
Best Place to Position the Aico Carbon Monoxide Alarms
There are a few considerations to pay attention to before siting Carbon Monoxide alarms (CO alarms), depending upon if the alarm is installed in the room with the fuel-burning appliance or not.
Different siting requirements are depending on where the CO alarm is installed - whether the room has a fuel-burning appliance or not. If the room has a fuel-burning appliance, the CO alarm should be installed on the ceiling, and it should be fitted between 1-3m from all potential sources of Carbon Monoxide.
Also, the CO alarm needs to be positioned 30mm from walls, light fittings or any other obstructions. In this way, you ensure that the CO alarms are outside of any "dead air" spaces that occur in corners and spaces where the airflow may be blocked.
If the fuel-burning appliance is in a confined space (such as the boiler room), the CO alarm should be located on the ceiling just outside the room.
If you want to install a CO alarm in a room that does not have a fuel-burning appliance, it should be sited at breathing height.
And if you want to install the alarm within a bedroom, this could be at the height of the bed.
Buy Aico Carbon Monoxide Alarms
Siting Carbon Monoxide Alarms - in Brief
In a room WITH the fuel-burning appliance:
- The CO alarm should be on the ceiling, 1-3m from all potential sources of CO
- The CO Alarm needs to be 300mm from walls, light fittings, or obstructions
- If the room is small/confined, the CO alarm should be on the ceiling outside the room
In a room WITHOUT a fuel-burning appliance:
- The CO Alarm needs to be positioned at breathing height
- In a bedroom, the CO alarm needs to be at the height of the bed.
You can find the full guide to installing Aico Alarms and where to Site your Aico alarms via their website. To purchase fire detectors, smoke detectors, Carbon Monoxide alarms, and heat alarms, head over to the Domestic fire alarms section on our website.
