Smoke, heat & CO alarms
Smoke & CO Alarm Installation in Cardiff & Caerphilly
Mains-powered, interlinked alarms fitted properly — the standard every rented home in Wales now has to meet, and the one worth having in your own.
- NICEIC registered
- Certified & notified work
- Free quotations
What "mains interlinked" means
A mains-powered alarm is wired into the house supply and carries a backup battery, so it keeps working if the power goes off and does not depend on someone remembering to change a battery. Interlinked means the alarms talk to each other: smoke detected in the kitchen sets off the alarm on the landing as well, where it will wake people.
The interlink can be a cable between the alarms or a radio link between mains-powered units. Radio interlinking avoids lifting floors and chasing ceilings in a finished house, and is what we use most often in occupied homes; where ceilings are already open, a wired interlink is straightforward.
If you let a property in Wales
Since 1 December 2022, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act treats electrical safety as part of whether a home is fit for human habitation. For alarms that means a mains-powered, interlinked smoke alarm on every storey, and a carbon monoxide alarm in any room with a gas, oil or solid fuel appliance. Battery alarms can be added on top, but they do not count towards the requirement.
The same rules require an EICR at least every five years, so it often makes sense to deal with both at one visit. See EICR testing in Cardiff, and for the wider Welsh position, what electrical work needs signing off in Wales. England's rules for landlords are different — a lot of the advice online is written for England, so check which country it is talking about.
Where the alarms go
The baseline is a smoke alarm in the circulation space on each floor — the hall and the landing — because that is the escape route. In a kitchen a smoke alarm will go off every time the toast catches, so the right device there is a heat alarm, interlinked with the rest. Bathrooms are left out for the same reason: steam.
Larger homes, open-plan layouts and loft conversions often need more than the minimum, and a bedroom where someone sleeps with the door shut is worth covering. Carbon monoxide alarms go in the room with the fuel-burning appliance, positioned to the manufacturer's instructions rather than wherever is convenient.
The Welsh kitchen detail
Wiring a new heat alarm into a kitchen is electrical work in a kitchen, and Wales — unlike England — still treats work in a kitchen as notifiable. Done by a registered electrician, that simply means it is certified through our scheme and you get the compliance certificate. Done by someone who is not registered, it needs a building notice to the council first. It is a small point, but it is exactly the kind of thing that turns up on a sale.
Replacing old alarms
Alarms do not last for ever. Most carry a replace-by date on the side or the back, commonly ten years from manufacture, after which the sensor cannot be relied on. If the date has passed, or the alarms chirp, or they are the old battery-only kind, it is time to change them.
Where an existing mains system is being replaced, we usually fit units that suit the existing wiring so the job is quick and tidy. If the house has no mains alarms at all, we find the neatest route for the supply and plan the positions with you before anything is fixed.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can I use battery smoke alarms in a rented home in Wales?
Not as the main protection. The requirement is a mains-powered, interlinked smoke alarm on every storey. Battery alarms can be added as extras but do not replace that.
Do I need a carbon monoxide alarm if I have a gas boiler?
In a rented home in Wales, yes: a CO alarm is required in any room with a gas, oil or solid fuel appliance. In your own home it is strongly advisable wherever there is a fuel-burning appliance.
Can you fit mains alarms without damaging decoration?
Usually, yes. Radio-interlinked mains alarms need a supply to each alarm but no cable between them, which saves most of the disruption in a finished house.
Will I get a certificate for the work?
Yes. You get the right certificate for the electrical work, and where it is notifiable — a new circuit, or work in the kitchen — the building regulations compliance certificate follows through our scheme.
Free quotes
Need alarms fitted?
Tell us how many floors, whether it is let, and which rooms have a gas or solid fuel appliance.