The danger of cheap smoke alarms.

The age old saying;

You get what you pay for,

rings true for most consumer products. Unfortunately, smoke alarms are no exception.

The new Queensland smoke alarm legislation was developed to reduce the risk of harm to persons in the event of a house fire, through the requirement of additional smoke alarms within a dwelling and revised smoke alarm design. But has it actually made our homes safer?

Prior to the new 2017 smoke alarm legislation, there was only a handful of different brands of alarms that were available to purchase. Fast forward to today, and there are now more brands than we care to count, all claiming to be the best and of high-quality, but many are falling short in these promises.

In a cost of live crisis, it may seem practical to purchase cheap smoke alarms or accept the cheapest quote from an installer to save a bit money; after all they don't really do anything until you burn the toast. Right? This is exactly what has been happening in the rental market where landlords have been installing the cheapest smoke alarms they can find. We get it, it's an investment and you don't live there however, renters are having to endure the pain of these cheap alarms randomly sounding at all hours of the day and night. This distress is compounded when children, special needs or elderly persons occupy the home.

What ends up happening? The installer is called back to rectify the issue but, they may not replace the alarms because they are all testing ok at the time of inspection. Or the alarms are replaced but it's with the exact same brand and the problem persists. Out of anger and frustration, the home occupants may completely remove the smoke alarms or smash them off the ceiling leaving the occupants at risk of harm if there actually is a house fire.

Hardwired smoke alarm smashed off ceiling.

Wait, wasn't the whole point of the new smoke alarm regulation to prevent harm from house fires?

Landlords generally won't realise this is happening as many of the smoke alarms are still under warranty and just get swapped out.....again and again and again at no expense. Unfortunately for many renters, they may be stuck with these poor performing smoke alarms.

---

Owner occupiers who have yet to upgrade the smoke alarms in their homes are urged to do their due diligence. The cheapest quote may not always be better in the long run. Question the installer on the alarms they use. What is the alarms fail rate? What issues have they delt with for the alarms they install? Hopefully the installer is transparent with this and gives an honest answer. Smoke alarms are a life-saving devices and should have a 10 year life span - although unfortunately many do not last a year. This is therefore a big investment and one which should not be taken lightly.

Buy cheap, pay twice. Yet it may also cost you your sanity, or worse.