It is the LAW but what is the difference : Ionisation Vs Photoelectric Smoke Alarms
You may have seen a story on 60 Minutes on Sunday Night about the perceived dangers of ionisation smoke alarms. Click Link to 60 Minutes Segment
This sad story was centred on Australia’s worst house fire where 11 people died, 8 of whom were children.
As a rental property owner you are responsible for the Smoke Alarms in your rental property. It is the Law! Smoke Alarms are mandatory in all properties in Queensland.
Under legislation, smoke alarms must be inspected and serviced within 30 days before the start of a tenancy agreement or tenancy renewal.
For a property built after 1997, or any property which has been significantly renovated, the smoke alarms installed must be 240v hard wired alarms. In all other cases, 9v alarms or 10 year lithium smoke alarms are acceptable.
At Beautique Realty we use a third party company, 1300 Smoke Alarms, who assist you in keeping your property compliant. However, until last night we were not aware of the different types of smoke alarms.
Ionisation Vs Photoelectric Smoke Alarms
There are two types of smoke alarms; Photoelectric Alarms SEE the smoke and Ionisation Alarms SMELL the smoke. They both have their advantages but the Ionisation Alarms have their disadvantages as highlighted in the 60 minutes story.
Disadvantages of the Ionisation Alarms
1. Very susceptible to nuisance alarms due to cooking (toasters) and we often take them down to stop the annoyance
2. May be slow to respond to slow smouldering fires (most deadly type in homes) as shown on the 60 minutes story
3. Contain radioactive material
1300 Smoke Alarms ONLY use the Photoelectric Alarms. But if your property already had the Ionisation Alarms (and the alarm has not reached its life expiry date) then your property will still have this type of alarm in place.
Beautique Realty wants to be proactive in making sure that all properties are up to date with their compliance and as a part of this we want to make you aware of the type of alarm in your property so you can make a decision.
If you are concerned after watching this story and wish to have your property changed over to the Photoelectric Alarm please contact us immediately to have this arranged.
If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact me - Beau .
