Product Warning - Fire Angel Alarms

[KARL]

Over the past couple of years I have bought something like fifteen different alarms of this brand. Most were smoke alarms, three heat ones and then a carbon monoxide type - all are interlinked with a sealed 10 year battery. Two have been replaced because they failed and now a third has failed years before the expected date. I contacted the manufacturer to obtain a replacement but this is proving very difficult.

I am trapped in circular correspondence: They ask for a form to be filled out, I fill in and submit the form. They ask that a test be carried out, I arrange for the test to be carried out and confirm the unit has failed. They ask me to fill in the form again....... I have now been asked for the third time to fill in the form. I have repeatedly offered to send the unit back if they provide a postage paid return envelope, so they can inspect the unit, they seem totally disinterested. I have sent all the identifying details of the unit they don't dispute that this is premature failure.

My assumption has been that normally the alarms work well, they all sound together on a test but there has never been a fire as a "genuine test". They were bought on the strength of their promised lifespan. The premature failure rate is now reaching a point where confidence is becoming dented and the clear reluctance to replace a faulty item does not help. The suspicion that they are having lots of returns and want to wear out the claimants does begin to push its way in.

Two things: I would want people considering buying Fire Angel alarms to bear my experience in mind. Has anyone had a similar experience to mine, or even any experience of a failed alarm from Fire Angel - if so when and how old was the failed alarm, did you get it replaced and how ?

[alavahalf]

In my last job I offered a service whereby you could have a Smoke alarm and a Carbon Monoxide detector fitted for free. I was at liberty to buy any carbon detector I fancied, as money was no object I choose Honeywell detectors. At the time they were the most expensive free standing unit available and as a rule I bought 100 at a time.
For smoke detectors I wasn't given a choice as the Fire and Rescue Service supplied me with 100s of smoke detectors free. The one they choose was The Fire Angel with the 10 year battery.
There are no precise figures about the amount of units that failed as they came out of the box, but at a guess I would have said it was about 1 in 20. Quite a high percentage. Luckily I never had to get involved in warranty returns, I would just advise the sales team of the failures as we purchased more. As we bought loads they never queried it and just included a few extra with every order. But as I say we had plenty of both the Smoke and the Carbon detectors fail and both well known respected products.

[KARL]

Thanks, alavahalf, that is illuminating. Failures will occur but the obstructiveness by Fire Angel employed toward an individual customer is (in my opinion) inexcusable.

[198kHz]

Interesting.
A few weeks ago I bought four FireAngel ST-622T smoke alarms, on the basis that they were a Which? best buy, and apparently "used by over 90% of UK fire brigades".
Two of the units were faulty - wouldn't even power up. The retailer, The Safety Centre, were fine with sending replacements, albeit with loads of form filling back and forth on .xls docs.

[alavahalf]

If the Fire Service supply and fit them, then in theory you would expect it to be a good product, especially with the 10 year battery. But I can assure you I replaced loads of them that the Fire Service had fitted themselves .. often only a month or two old !
The scary thing is, it was not always noticeable that the alarm was at fault. The fact that I was in a persons house working, I would as a rule just check their alarms. It was often only then that the fault became apparent !

[KARL]

Well, well, well. So my intuition was in fact correct. All the more reason for people to know about this and consider avoiding Fire Angel - especially if, as in my case, one can't rely on the guarantee meaning anything. In my case identifying the supplier of any particular unit is not possible with any reliability because I bought them from different sources at different points in time. I went direct to the manufacturer who in any case provides the five year guarantee. The ID details on the back prove that the failed unit must be within the 5 year guarantee.

[198kHz]

Having experienced a 50% failure rate on brand new items, I'll be looking elsewhere next time.
This
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3554501/Top-British-smoke-alarm-manufacturer-admits-90-000-popular-devices-faulty.html
is from 2016, but maybe they still have reliability problems...

[Ryzen]

Over the last 30 years all our refit properties have been fitted with Aico mains interconnected units.We get very few problems and find Aico technical quick to respond.That said, they average around £30 per unit and require hard wiring into the system.You get what you pay for.
It winds me up when I return to a rental property to find that the local fire expert has taken ours down and replaced them with a stick on Fire Angel.

[furrypusscat]

A few years ago I was assessed by Deaflincs on behalf of Social Services re deafness and was issued with a smoke alarm with audible alarm, strobe lighting and under pillow vibrating pad. It lasted for years without any problems. I cannot remember the brand. Eventually it needed a new battery which I was unable to buy so got back in touch with Deaflincs and was told I would need a new unit. The one that they replaced it with was a Fire Angel with audible alarm & strobe lighting etc. Battery failed within 2 years, Fire Angel replaced the unit, within 2 years again the battery failed. The unit has been replaced now on 3 occasions free of charge. I think they agree to change the unit because I am classed as vulnerable due to my hearing loss.
If I had to buy one it certainly wouldn't be my first choice but do need to have one with strobe lighting so I am restricted with what is available.

[furrypusscat]

Forgot to say that the units I had supplied are connected to mains electric that charge the battery back up and have 10 year battery life.

[KARL]

I thank all contributors for their helpful input. The message seems entirely clear: Fire Angel alarms have a quite poor record and are probably best avoided - there are others but one wonders how much better they might be (suck it and see). Installing wiring for mains powered ones is a very expensive option, especially if responsibility for fire safety is not necessarily going to remain for long with the same party. I must say though, I do not subscribe to the infallibility of level of cost equating to level of quality/value gained, sometimes and maybe even often, but not always. I would never assume that the most expensive is best.