Building Research Establishment (BRE) & The Fire Indsutry Association (FIA) have two research projects in progress investigating the performance of contaminated heat sensors. One for heat detectors (connected to a fire panel) and another for heat alarms (self-contained devices for domestic applications).

As we anticipated, the hardest task is to obtain appropriate samples of used devices with supporting information on their history.

BRE & the FIA would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has provided us with samples to date – particularly those (80%) who have completed the supporting short questionnaire as they will be acknowledged as contributors to the research in the final report. 

To ensure statistical significance we need at least 200 good samples.  To date we have received a good mix of heat detectors (17 models representing 9 manufacturers) and a small proportion of them have been observed to be operating outside the limits of EN 54-5 – but we need many more samples to ensure the results are statistically significant.

PLEASE – if you have any used heat detectors or heat alarms which are over 5 years old or shows signs of significant contamination, please download and complete the appropriate questionnaire and return to [email protected] at BRE. 

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