Pierre ZFP Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I just read in my (Luxembourg) paper this morning that there was a vote in the Sénat to make the installation of smoke detectors obligatory in every logement by 2015 at the responsibility of the occupant.There was no mention of any sanctions if you don't or if you actually have to have a working battery in them!It seems there has been a big rise in the number of fire related injuries and deaths.I have to say that I have smoke and CO2 detectors but I think I'm in a minority, a quick straw poll of my French colleagues brought blank looks as to why they would have such things in their houses !!!I expect they will be on special in Lidl/Aldi very soon Anybody see this in the French press? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Yes, and my taxi driver was only talking about it this morning, so it must be true!There's an article online in the Figaro:www.lefigaro.fr/immobilier/2009/02/10/05002-20090210ARTFIG00382-les-detecteurs-de-fumee-obligatoires-dans-les-logements-.phpI'm not sure whether there are nowadays any 'normes' for domestic smoke detectors in France, there used not to be any. If there aren't any, no doubt it will take some time for AFNOR to get them sorted and then they will all be overpriced in the first year, just like pool alarms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I suspect most Brits will already have them in their Frech homes .. and I would hope a Fire Extinguisher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Lots do: with the batteries disconnected otherwise they keep going off when they stoke the woodburner!Meanwhile I have found the 'norme' NF - EN14604 currently in force, and if you google that you will find compliant devices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I already assumed it was law to have them. And 2015 seems a hell of a long way off to get a few €20 detectors installed as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Either you have been in France too long or la crise has not affected you in any way.€20 for a smoke detector [:-))]A few could cost €40, €60, €80................ [:'(]Yes I know that is what they sell for in France at the moment as they are viewed as something bizzare or exotic rather than a sensible life saving measure. I hope that eventually the price will fall to what they cost in the UK or even cheaper via Lidl Aldi etc.I had a couple of high spec optical units with 5 year IIRC lithium batteries surplus to requirements (I will be using linked mains units) and put them on my réderie stall, I could not shift them even at €3 each although I did refuse an offer of 50cts for one of them.I am typing this whilst listening to the lunchtime news as there will be an article on this subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Polly wrote: "Lots do: with the batteries disconnected otherwise they keep going off when they stoke the woodburner!"I have smoke/fire and CO2 detectors fitted with the batteries connected,[:D] both purchased in France. As for stoking the woodburner, if you use the woodburner correctly you should never need to "stoke" it. Having said that Polly you are probably right, people who don't use them all the time will tend to stoke them, they think it's part of the ritual. [:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I have just watched the article, they were in a bricolage and asking shoppers if they knew what this round plastic object was, lots of consternation and conferring and head shaking just as if they had produced an UK 3 pin plug [:)]There were lots of references to England and nos amis anglais, the sapeur pompier said that it had been the law to have them in all UK houses for 10 years, I didnt know that, is it true? I know that it is a building regs requirement but not that all logements have to be equipped by law.Then they found a guy who knew what he was talking about although his wife let him down, he said that it is better to have mains powered ones that are all linked together (I agree) and better still to be linked direct to the pompiers (yeah mate you try it!) then his wife said "they all are in Angleterre!I am hoping that they will shoo the law in quicker for new builds and new rental contracts just like the electricity inspection as then there will be an opportunity to resell some UK source detectors at much less than what the French sheds and fournisseurs will be charging.But of course by then some NF marked ones will appear for only €100 each, the mere fact that there is not a French norme in existance will not get in the way of the (not) free market economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 His wife was half correct as hotels (Likely to be her Angleterre experience) and larger building shops etc will have addressable panels hooked up to the Pompiers......And as a contractor if you trigger a false alarm you can expect about a £3k bill in London if an appliance is despatched and often even if you phone within a minute of an alarm sounding they will despatch anyway. Those with wood burners could fasten the detector immediately outside the room and above the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Mine has gone off on more than one occasion as its in the kitchen and the grill has set it off ...now.. I know why my French heighbors have not mentioned hearing it ...They dont know what it is ..probably think its the car alarm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 I used to install the occasional fire alarm BigMac although never linked to the fire brigade I did though in my first seven years install monitored intruder alarms which was fun enough!After that I was doing access control and had many sites in the city on maintenance contracts, I usually would whip up there in the early evening to any call outs which was appreciated and understood by my customers until the evening that I set off the fire alarm whilst gently moving a ceiling tile with a smoke detector, it was the dust that set it off.I didnt get billed for it and I dont think that they did either or they would have at the very least wound it in to me, instead they would no longer let me work there unsupervised in the evenings which meant that they then received the service call within 24 hours as per the contract but no longer a rapid response.Hey! I must be £3k richer now, time for a celebration [B] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 [quote user="Chancer"]Either you have been in France too long or la crise has not affected you in any way.€20 for a smoke detector [:-))]A few could cost €40, €60, €80................ [:'(]Yes I know that is what they sell for in France at the moment as they are viewed as something bizzare or exotic rather than a sensible life saving measure. I hope that eventually the price will fall to what they cost in the UK or even cheaper via Lidl Aldi etc.I had a couple of high spec optical units with 5 year IIRC lithium batteries surplus to requirements (I will be using linked mains units) and put them on my réderie stall, I could not shift them even at €3 each although I did refuse an offer of 50cts for one of them.I am typing this whilst listening to the lunchtime news as there will be an article on this subject.[/quote]€20 was an arbitary figure I pulled off the top of my head. As in most countries you can get them as low as €7 or much more depending on on quality etc, I just used €20 as an average.I have no idea how much they cost in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 €20 wasn't a bad gues as it happens http://www.boulanger.fr/l_alerteur_detecteur_de_fumee/p_57776_305357.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Technically you may as generally it's the asset owner who gets the bill then beats the contractor about the head with it.I have had Four such call outs in my career and each one had a nice bill attached.They were in order of 'Ouchness' N*t W*st Bank in the square mile, B*r M*d (former portman BS) Hove, The Pi*r at Howgate Leeds and The C**lsea Hotel LondonAhhh the joys of shopfitting !.It's easy done dust in smoke heads usually the culprit even when bagged off. Problem is you may be working on a zone and think all is isolated then some bright spark will hit a call point or open a smoke shutter and all hell breaks loose.Funniest (Or not in these PC days) was the hotel where demo guys were removing a huge mobile steel famed oak faced sound proof partition room divider and decided they would disconnect the bogeys and step back letting said door fall on some strategically placed cusihions. I was unaware of this as we were follow on contractors but technically 'In possession of site'I was on the top floor if memory serves looking down into the atrium where oall the Sloanies were taking tea with Mama and Arab ladies were wafting by doing whatever they do...when the door came down it was like a bomb going off!Actually thinking about when this was.....people may have been quite sensitive. As a young bloke though I must confess to nearly bursting a gut as the tea cups went up in the air and the formerly silent and pristine tree lined atrium was suddenly filled with a fine dust....then the alarms sounded!Nowadays things are all risk assessments and method statements but at the time it was funny......I am sorry for the poor people who were scared but funny nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 €20 was bang on the money and the figure that they quoted on the news program, its just that when you talked about a few €20 smoke alarms that represents a considerable sum to me.I have just dug out the ones that I tried to sell, it was a twin pack that I priced at €5 from the depart and didnt even get a sniff. Lets hope some of the people are now watching the telly and kicking themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Oh and I bought a load of smoke alarms in Noz a couple of years ago they were in red boxes and 5€ if memory serves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 [quote user="BIG MAC"]Oh and I bought a load of smoke alarms in Noz a couple of years ago they were in red boxes and 5€ if memory serves[/quote] Thats about right ...the UK price is about £4. 95 these days in lots of places ..They also sell two on a card which is what most people go for .one upstairs on the landing one in the kitchen The French IKEA site is showing Detecteur de. Fumee . / alarm- optique for 11 euros the UK IKEA the same one is £9.99... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Probably a silly question but here goes anyway.If having smoke detectors is so important why do we have wait for 5 years for them to be compulsory?John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Because we need five years worth of smoke related deaths to prove the statistics...However as many French Bars I have been in don't seem to have heard of the smoking ban it's all a wee bit academic maybe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 [quote user="Iceni"]Probably a silly question but here goes anyway.If having smoke detectors is so important why do we have wait for 5 years for them to be compulsory?John[/quote]c'mon! This is France, bureaucrats rule! We need rules to tell us how many alarms, how loud, which makes to buy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 They need to be calibrated to French smoke and carry an NF number or they wont work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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