What Is A Heat Alarm And What Does It Do?

As the name suggests, heat alarms (also called heat detectors) are designed to emit a visual and audible alarm when a change is detected in the ambient room temperature. Unlike smoke alarms, which detect airborne particles, heat alarms respond to significant temperature increases, making them ideal for areas prone to dust, fumes, or cooking smoke.

Our Emerald heat alarms will activate when the temperature reaches and exceeds 55°C due to a fire, providing an early warning in garages, kitchens, and workshops. This helps prevent fire spread and enhances overall home safety, especially in high-risk areas.

Which Is Better – Smoke Alarm Or Heat Alarm?

We recommend installing heat alarms in your home to complement an existing interconnected photoelectric smoke alarm system (not as a substitute for it). The main benefit of a heat detector is that it is not susceptible to dust, cooking smoke, humidity, or other fumes, which are often the cause of nuisance alarms in conventional photoelectric smoke alarms.

For this reason, it may be beneficial to install a heat detector in kitchens (cooking smoke), garages (car exhaust fumes), laundry rooms (humidity), workshops, or attics (dust), where these external environmental conditions could trigger false alarms. By adding them to these areas, you enhance overall fire safety while maintaining reliable detection without unnecessary disruptions, ensuring a more comprehensive and tailored fire protection system for your home.

Can Heat Alarms Be Interconnected Too?

Yes, our Emerald heat detectors are designed to be interconnected with other Emerald smoke alarms, so if one sensor activates, it will automatically trigger all the other interconnected heat / smoke alarms within the same group. This ensures comprehensive fire protection by providing an early warning throughout the home or property.

The heat alarm that we sell is the fully wireless Emerald model EP-HA-RF-10. This alarm is powered by a 10-year long-life lithium battery, eliminating the need for replacements. It can be interconnected wirelessly with up to 40 Emerald alarm products, offering seamless, reliable fire safety without requiring Wi-Fi or internet connectivity.

Are Your Heat Alarms Suitable For Compliance With The NSW Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard?

Yes, our heat alarms (and photoelectric smoke alarms for that matter) are compliant with the NSW Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard. This standard applies to holiday rentals, Airbnb and other similar short term accommodation properties in NSW. Section 4.1.2 of the standard states that;

What the above passage means is that if there is a private locked garage on the same premises as the short-term rental accommodation, then a heat detector must be installed in that private garage (even if the garage is not accessible to the guest). This requirement ensures that any fire originating in the garage, such as from a vehicle, electrical fault, or stored flammable materials, will be detected early. The heat alarm in the garage must be interconnected with smoke alarms in the dwelling to provide a synchronized warning system. The interconnection can be either hardwired or wireless, allowing flexibility in installation.

Our Emerald heat alarms are fully compliant with Australian Standard 1603.3:2018 Automatic Fire Detection and Alarm Systems: Heat Alarms, and are suitable for the NSW Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) Fire Safety Standard. These alarms are designed to enhance fire safety by detecting rapid temperature increases, ensuring compliance with regulations while providing reliable protection for both property owners and guests.

Want to know more? Watch our ZEN Smoke Alarm YouTube channel or call us on 0478 596 402 today

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ZEN Photoelectric Smoke Alarms

New Farm, QLD, 4005