Owner's Manual
BARFS-1 Rev 2.1.1
7 of 50
3
SYSTEM DESIGN
The smoke/heat alarms should be installed in compliance with the requirements of
Building Code of Australia; for specific technical guidance of Australian Standards
AS1670.6, AS1670.1 and this manual should be used.
A properly designed early warning fire system ensures the alarm is given before the
escape route becomes blocked with smoke or heat. Therefore smoke alarms must
be installed along the escape route, heat alarms would not give sufficient warning.
3.1
Smoke / Heat Alarm
3.1.1
Basic Information about your Smoke / Heat Alarm
A Smoke Alarm is an early warning device, used correctly it will detect the onset of
a fire, raise the alarm and give occupants valuable time to escape prior to the
evacuation path becoming unusable. In today’s modern homes natural material like
wood and cotton have all but been replaced by synthetics. The result is that when a
fire does occur it will burn much faster and much hotter than for natural materials. It
will give off visible smoke and toxic fumes at much greater levels. For this reason
Brooks has used only photoelectric smoke alarms in the
BASFS-1
system. Research
indicates this technology is superior in performance to ionisation in residential
applications and is the overall best and most reliable type of smoke alarm technology
for use in the modern dwelling.
Heat Alarms are supplementary devices only; for those areas where Smoke Alarms
would not be suitable. Heat detection occurs usually once flames are present
therefore they are not early warning. Heat alarms
must not
be the only detection
used and
must be
interconnected to all smoke alarms to provide the best warning
throughout the dwelling.
When using household protective devices, basic safety precautions should always
be followed.
3.1.2
Technology
Brooks Australia offers a full range of detection technologies.
Photoelectric Smoke detection
Heat detection
3.1.2.1
Photoelectric Model EIB206P
Photoelectric (Optical) Smoke Alarms respond to a sufficiently wide range of fires to
be of general use, but are particularly responsive to smouldering fires and the dense
smoke given off by foam filled furnishings or overheated PVC wiring. They are much
less prone to nuisance alarms from cooking, and furthermore, contain no radioactive
material.
However, all optical smoke alarms are prone to nuisance alarms caused by dust or
insect contamination. Mesh screens are provided and are effective in reducing
insect ingress, but it is impossible to make the alarms dust proof, since they would
then be effectively smoke proof! For this reason, it is essential that optical smoke
alarms are periodically cleaned.
Operating Principle: Light scattering - transmitter produces pulses of light which are
detected by a receiver when smoke enters the sensing chamber.
