Improving Responsive Maintenance
Responsive maintenance call-outs to fire and carbon monoxide (CO ) alarm activations can be for a variety of reasons. Maybe a resident is experiencing an occasional beep or multiple nuisance alarms, it’s important that each of these scenarios is investigated and resolved in a timely manner, otherwise, the resident may remove the alarm themselves putting their family at risk by not having adequate working fire detection.
From a landlord’s perspective, it’s worth considering options to reduce the number of responsive maintenance calls to fire and CO alarms first, and then ensure those that do take place are dealt with as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.
The best way to reduce reactive maintenance calls is by specifying and fitting Aico’s Ei3024 Multi-sensor fire detector. The Ei3024 Multi-Sensor Fire Alarm is built on the same high quality, reliable and proven technology that all Aico Alarms are renowned for, but contains the latest high-tech enhancements making it the most effective domestic fire alarm on the market.
It contains both an Optical and Heat sensor for complete fire response and carries both BSI kitemarks BS EN 14604:2005 and BS 5446-2:2003. The intelligent alarm software actively monitors both sensors, providing total fire coverage, and passing all 7 of the BSI-specified fire tests.
The two sensors and intelligent algorithms increase the detector’s tolerance to nuisance alarms making it ideal for covering rooms where there is a potential risk for nuisance alarms. For example, in a living room where a resident smokes or vapes heavily, or a hallway / landing off a bathroom with poor or underutilised ventilation.
Another key feature of the Ei3024 is its ability to compensate for dust contamination. The alarm has a unique self-monitoring dust compensation mechanism incorporated into its software, which allows the alarm to tolerate up to twice as much dust contamination as a conventional optical alarm. The optical sensor chamber continually self-monitors minute changes in dust levels, if the dust accumulates to a certain level the alarm automatically recalibrates the alarm trigger point.
Specifying and fitting the Aico Ei3024 has been proven to reduce responsive maintenance calls. We are now going to work through two common scenarios to ensure a responsive maintenance call-out is as efficient and cost-effective as possible.
First Scenario – Alarm Beeping Continuously
If your alarm is beeping continuously, we need to check each alarm has a green light illuminated as this indicates the alarm is connected to the mains power, if there isn’t a green light you will need to investigate the reason for the loss of main power.
Second Scenario – Nuisance Alarms
A nuisance alarm means the criteria for fire has been met within the sensing elements of the alarm, this is likely down to the environment, i.e. steam, vape or smoke etc. In this scenario, the best course of action is to first check all the LEDs on the alarms, as the alarm has a memory feature which blinks the Red LED twice every 48 seconds following activation for 24 hours.
The Alarm memory is an important feature as if the house is unoccupied during an alarm activation it warns the homeowner that the alarm has previously detected fire. The memory feature can also identify which unit has previously triggered an entire alarm system.
The memory feature has two operation modes:
- Memory indication for 24-hour period after an alarm.
- Memory recall on demand
Once the source alarm has been identified, appropriate action can be taken e.g. in the case of a fire alarm event in memory, investigate the cause of nuisance / false alarm.
Now you know the source alarm you can also utilise the AudioLINK+ technology built into the alarm. The AudioLINK+ technology allows you to extract real-time data from the alarm directly to a smartphone or tablet via the AudioLINK+ App. A simple-to-read report is generated displaying details such as activation dates, sensor status and alarm life which can be emailed to help form part of property records.
The above process provides the responsive maintenance operative with facts about the situation to help them best resolve the call-out whilst at the property.
A way to further improve this process would be utilising the Ei1000G Gateway. The Gateway provides the ability to transfer information from the Radio Frequency network to an online portal over the GSM network.
Connected devices’ events are processed by the Gateway as they occur and cover events such as: Fire Alarm, Button Test, Mains Absent Fault, Head OK, Head Removed from baseplate and End of life.
This means from a responsive maintenance perspective you are able to show up to a property knowing exactly what alarm has reported a problem. Enabling you to diagnose and rectify the issue more effectively.
If you are interested in discussing and improving your responsive maintenance performance, please book a meeting with your local RSM who is able to run you through the various features and technologies. https://www.aico.co.uk/find-a-regional-spec-manager/
Written by Daniel Little, National Sales Manager
