Obsolete

Following the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Scottish Government has introduced new fire safety legislation affecting every home in Scotland from February next year.

This is one of the two mains powered linked smoke alarms we got with the house, one in the hall, one on the landing.

From February by law we need to have a minimum of three smoke alarms and one one heat alarm, plus two carbon monoxide alarms which don't have to be linked.  

To achieve the recommended standard we will require at least six smoke alarms, two heat alarms and two carbon monoxide alarms all linked.

These can either be disposable sealed units with a built in 7-10 year battery for self installation which seems environmentally disastrous, or mains powered units which must be professionally installed and will require considerable new wiring and disruption not to mention the expense.  When you read the fine print, even these alarms only have a manufacturers recommended life of 10 years, and you must follow the manufacturers guidelines to comply with the law, so they are just as bad environmentally.

For us it will cost at least £250 to comply with sealed units, or probably three or four times that with mains powered ones.

Whichever option we choose the current alarms are obsolete.  The reason for this is the limited life of the (radioactive) sensing element, a single component which could easily be made replaceable if anyone cared, but isn't.  So we have to throw away all the electronics and plastic every time.  

Right to repair legislation can't come soon enough.  

In the meantime I ponder the wasted warts we have at the moment as I research the best option to take to comply.