All Smoke Alarms

Mains Powered Smoke Alarms

Mains powered smoke alarms are powered by the electrical circuit of a building and are mainly used in residential new builds, rented accommodation and smaller commercial applications. Mains powered smoke alarms offer long-term reliability and are hardwired into your property’s electrical system. These smoke alarms are ideal for permanent installations in homes and in businesses, where specified in a fire risk assessment require a Grade D system and where there is a continuous power supply available. All of our hard-wired alarms also come with backup batteries (alkaline or lithium) to ensure protection during power outages. Browse our range of mains-powered smoke alarms for trusted solutions that meet safety regulations and provide dependable, 24/7 fire detection.

Radio-interlinked Smoke Alarms

Radio-interlinked smoke detectors have integrated radio frequency (RF) senders and receivers. If one smoke alarm detects a fire, it passes this information to all other alarms within the same group of alarms to raise the alarm in the entire building. This makes radio-interlinked smoke alarms a top choice for comprehensive fire safety across multiple rooms or levels of a property. Some of the RF smoke alarms have sealed long-life batteries as the only power supply, making them an alternative to mains powered smoke detectors. You can guarantee compatibility between alarms by purchasing a bundle from Safelincs. Some of our bundles include heat alarms to give you comprehensive cover all over your building.

Ionisation Smoke Detectors

Ionisation Smoke Alarms detect changes in the electrical charge of particles in the air within their sensor chamber. They were particularly well suited for 'invisible' or fast-flaming fires, such as paper or dry wood fires, which can give off very little smoke despite having an active flame. They were sadly also very sensitive to burnt toast, which is why they should not be installed near kitchens. Historically, ionisation smoke detectors have been recommended for landings and office spaces, but the technology behind optical smoke alarms advanced to the point that they are interchangeable.

Ionisation smoke alarms are being phased out across the entire fire safety industry, from standalone domestic alarms to detectors in the largest commercial panel systems. This is because they use radioactive material in the sensor to detect the presence of smoke particles in the air, making them dangerous to manufacture, awkward and costly to transport, and an environmental hazard if disposed of incorrectly.

Safelincs has stopped selling ionisation smoke alarms, and we would encourage all of our customers to purchase optical smoke alarms instead. Optical smoke alarms are not potentially hazardous like ionisation technology, due to not using radioactive elements.

Heat Alarms

Heat alarms, as the name suggests, measure temperature rather than detect smoke. They are designed to detect rapid temperature rises, which make them ideal for kitchens, garages, and areas where smoke alarms might trigger false alarms. It is important to know that heat alarms only cover small areas in a kitchen or garage so might require several heat detectors for full cover.

Optical Smoke Detectors

Optical smoke detectors, also known as photoelectric smoke alarms, are highly effective at detecting slow-burning, smouldering fires. They are especially useful in living rooms, bedrooms, and hallways where fires may start gradually, and create a huge amount of smoke due to soft furnishings such as furniture and curtains. These alarms respond to larger smoke particles and are less prone to false alarms from cooking fumes (not in kitchens, though). Safelincs recommend optical smoke alarms for hallways, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms.