C-Tec Hush Button HMO Compliant Fire Alarm

Zoom

Our Price:   £102.18 List Price:   £124.30 Saving Of:   £22.12 (18%) (Exc. 20% VAT)(£122.62 Inc. VAT) Protocol:    Hochiki  Apollo Catalogue No:  XFP508H Brand:  C-Tec Availability:      Delivery Information Tweet Data Sheet

C-TEC's new Hush Button

A fire alarm solution for Houses in Multiple Occupation

C-TEC’s latest innovation - a ‘Hush Button’ interface unit designed to work with existing, widely available open protocol analogue fire alarm systems - gives fire alarm installers a unique opportunity to enter the lucrative and rapidly expanding HMO marketplace.

According to BS 5839 part 6 (the code of practice for fire alarm systems in dwellings) around 80% of all UK fire deaths and injuries occur in dwellings; that’s a frightening 500 fatalities and 14,000 injuries a year. Nowhere is the risk greater than in houses of multiple occupation where a fire in one ‘dwelling’ can quickly spread to another.

In order to reduce the risks, BS 5839 part 6 recommends minimum grades and categories for fire alarm systems in HMO dwellings - Grade D (mains/battery powered smoke/heat alarms) and Category LD2 or LD3 systems (detectors in all circulation spaces forming part of its escape routes) - and acknowledges the need for a BS 5839 part 1 system in communal spaces.

C-TEC’s Hush Button solution meets and exceeds these requirements in all areas and complies with some of the less publicised but nonetheless critical aspects of BS 5839 part 6.

Each Hush Button can be looked upon as a miniature fully monitored, self-powered single zone fire alarm panel that sits and is addressed on an analogue loop (see typical installation schematic below) with the ability to communicate its status back to the main panel.

Typically one double gang Hush Button is fitted in each HMO dwelling complete with conventional detectors and sounders to provide occupants with a simple, cost-effective means of invoking two types of ‘hushed’ period, as specified in clause 12.2 of BS 5839 part 6.

Says Andrew Foster, C-TEC’s MD: “Clause 12.2 indicates there be provision within each HMO dwelling for silencing unwanted alarms when there is a local fire alarm condition and for isolating the dwelling’s detectors should activities be taking place that could cause a false alarm.

"Many current HMO solutions overlook this. For example, in order to silence a local alarm on most current single system solutions, the dwelling’s occupier must first locate the communal fire panel which is usually located at the bottom of a flight of stairs, enter its secure user mode and work out which button to press - all within two minutes.

"C-TEC’s Hush Button allows you to silence a local alarm for up to two minutes from within the HMO dwelling itself and, if required, to isolate the dwelling’s detectors for up to 15 minutes prior to a local alarm condition occurring.

"It is, as far as we are aware, the only single system HMO fire alarm solution to do this. With a trade price of just £100.00 per Hush Button, the system complies fully and cost-effectively with both the clauses and the spirit of BS 5839 part 6 and uses readily-available technology every fire alarm installer is familiar with.”

A TYPICAL HUSH BUTTON INSTALLATION

HUSH BUTTON TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

* dependent on output current of host panel and devices connected.