Smoke Alarm Compliance Requirements For Home Sales In Queensland

Home fires can break out for a number of reasons, and so fire safety is of critical importance. To ensure that your home is protected, you most certainly need to have a smoke alarm installed. Not only does this provide peace of mind, but it is the law.

If you’re looking to sell or buy a home, here are some things you need to know about smoke alarm compliance in Queensland.

Where Do You Need Smoke Alarms?

According to regulations, you need to ensure that smoke alarms are installed in each bedroom throughout the house and interconnected. In the unlikely event that your home doesn’t have any bedrooms, then you need to ensure that at least one smoke alarm is installed somewhere along the route to the exit.

You also need to ensure that you have a smoke alarm installed in the hallway that connects the bedrooms with the rest of the house.

What Kind of Smoke Alarms Are Required?

There are many types of smoke alarms on the market, with some being less reliable than others.

Additionally, all your smoke alarms need to be photoelectric and must not contain an ionisation sensor. Although ionisation detectors are effective, they are not allowed because of the radioactive material inside – usually americium-241 – that emits alpha particles to ionise the air in the detector, thereby posing a health hazard. By contrast, photoelectric smoke alarms use light beams to detect smoke particles.

Lastly, all your smoke alarms need to be interconnected with every other smoke alarm in your house. In most cases, smoke alarms need to be hard-wired 240v with a backup battery and electrically interconnected. In some cases, we can use 10-year lithium batteries and Wi-Fi interconnection.

How Often Must Your Smoke Alarms Be Serviced?

The law requires that all smoke alarms be serviced once a year. This includes a thorough inspection and cleaning to ensure that they work optimally. However, even with regular servicing, smoke alarms can still fail when they get old. Therefore, to ensure that they work when needed most, any smoke alarm that is more than 10 years old needs to be completely replaced.

To ensure your smoke alarm installation is done correctly and safely, call HUX Electrical today.