The Increase in Non-Compliant Alarms
There has been an increase in non-compliant carbon monoxide alarms being placed on the UK market recently. Typically, this is more common on imported products.
The Correct Standards
It’s vitally important to ensure that when installing any Fire or Carbon Monoxide alarm that they meet the relevant European/British standard. All products sold on the UK market should also have the ‘UK CA’ and/or CE marking on the product.
Although many test houses exist capable of testing to the relevant product standards, Aico primarily uses BSI to test their products as only BSI can issue the Kitemark, which is well known and trusted throughout the UK. All Aico Fire and Carbon Monoxide alarms meet the latest product standards and contain the correct relevant labelling.
The relevant standard for domestic smoke alarms is BS EN 14604:2005 and for heat alarms its BS 5446-2:2003. The relevant standard for Carbon Monoxide alarms is BS EN 50291-1:2018, this replaces the previous version (BS EN 50291-1:2010) which has been withdrawn from BSI on 26/09/2021. Any Carbon Monoxide alarm manufactured after 26/09/2021 needs to meet the latest BS EN 50291-1:2018 standard.
All Carbon Monoxide alarms should contain clear labelling detailing the date of manufacture which should help consumers and retailers check that the product is compliant with the relevant product standard. The ‘replace by’ date label should also be clearly displayed.
Changes to the 2018 version of the standard
The changes to the BS EN 50291-1:2018 includes the following:
- Changes to the End-of-Life indicator requirements
- Requirements for mains-powered alarms with battery backup
- Number of potential interference gases
- Additional tests on alarm silencing
- Requirements for the audible alarms along with associated visual LEDs. This also includes fault, low battery, and End-of-Life
- Additional requirements for alarms using RadioLINK
- The sound output requirements have been increased to bring this in line with domestic smoke alarm standards.
