If you are looking for the best Smoke Alarms service, then call Us. We are fully licenced electricians providing outstanding and affordable service. We…
If you are looking for the best Smoke Alarms service, then call Us. We are fully licenced electricians providing outstanding and affordable service. We offers a reliable and comprehensive maintenance and repair service that is perfect for homeowners, commercial property managers, body corporate managers and strata managers alike. With extensive experience servicing both residential and commercial clients within the local Brisbane area. Our qualified team offers a variety of services, including a 24-hour service for emergency issues.
If you are looking for the best Smoke Detectors Installations service for your home, then call Sneyd Electricial. We are fully licenced electricians providing outstanding and affordable service.
Did you know you lose your sense of smell while you sleep, so the chances of you being awoken by a home fire are very slim.
Ionisation or photoelectric smoke alarms In most modern homes today you will see either the ionisation or photoelectric smoke alarm fitted. The ionisation smoke alarm is great for detecting flaming fires and works on the principal of using a small amount of radioactive material to ionise the air in a chamber were current flows, once smoke enters the chamber the air will decrease resulting in a reduction of current flow which will sound the alarm. Smoke alarm installers are now moving away from the ionisation type alarm due to their operation of detecting only flaming fires and the length of time it takes for an alarm to sound in the event of a smouldering fire.
The photoelectric smoke alarm is by far becoming the more popular of the smoke alarm type and its effectiveness in sensing smouldering fires has put it top of the selling list. The smoke alarm is designed with a chamber and inside the chamber it has a light source, when smoke enters the chamber the light disperses sounding the alarm. Most homes contain furniture made from synthetic material and the photoelectric smoke alarm is ideal in a home containing this type of furniture as it will respond quicker to the smouldering fires caused by the material on the furniture.
We use the Brooks photoelectric smoke alarm when doing smoke alarm installation. This smoke alarm also comes installed with a 10 year rechargeable lithium battery, so no need to be changing the battery annually. It can also last up to 3 months alone without mains power connected. This alarm is ideal for detecting smouldering fires.
Call Sneyd Electricial with your smoke queries on 0448 096 625
Queensland's interconnected-photoelectric smoke alarm legislation has been rolling out in stages since 2017 — and any home built or substantially renovated, sold, or leased after 1 January 2022 needs to meet the full standard. The full standard requires photoelectric, hard-wired or 10-year-lithium, interconnected smoke alarms in every bedroom, every hallway, and on every storey. If you're a homeowner not yet selling or renovating, the deadline is 1 January 2027. Send us a photo of your current alarms and we'll tell you where you stand.
Photoelectric alarms detect smoke particles by light scatter — they respond faster to the smouldering fires that are most common in the early stages of house fires, particularly the kind that start while people are asleep. Ionisation alarms detect by ionised air — they respond well to flaming fires but are slower on smouldering ones. Australian research (and now legislation) has settled on photoelectric as the better baseline for residential. Anything we install meets the photoelectric requirement.
Yes. For older homes that don't have the right wiring, modern wireless-interconnected photoelectric alarms with 10-year sealed lithium batteries are usually the most cost-effective path to compliance — they don't need to be hard-wired, they talk to each other wirelessly, and the 10-year battery means no annual battery replacement for the life of the alarm. We can advise on whether wireless or hard-wired makes more sense for your particular home as part of the quote.
The legislation requires one in every bedroom, one in any hallway connecting bedrooms, and at least one on every storey — even storeys without bedrooms. So a typical 3-bedroom single-storey home with a hallway is 4 alarms; a 4-bedroom double-storey home with a downstairs hallway is closer to 6. We confirm the count when we walk the property — there are some specific cases (e.g., open-plan layouts without a hallway) where the count is slightly different.
Modern smoke alarms have a 10-year service life — after that they need replacing entirely, not just a battery swap. This is true of both 10-year sealed-lithium battery alarms and hard-wired alarms with a backup battery. The 10 years is dated from manufacture, not installation, so an alarm that's been sitting on a hardware shelf for two years before it goes in your ceiling will already be 2 years through its life. We check manufacture dates as part of any compliance check.
Yes — for most homes we do a compliance walkthrough and install in a single visit. We assess what's there, talk you through the gap to compliance, install the new alarms, test the interconnect (you'll hear them all sound when one is triggered), and email through the documentation showing the work meets the standard. For larger homes or apartments with body-corporate involvement we sometimes split it into a quote visit and an install visit — you'll know upfront which it is.