Legal requirement?

mickysf
mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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edited August 2017 in Caravan & Motorhome Chat #1

Do any folk know if it Is a legal requirement of van manufacturers to fit a smoke alarm in new caravans these days? Are carbon monoxide alarms also required to be fitted? 

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  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #2

    No personal Knowledge. But:

    To meet NCC requirements, caravans
    and motorhomes have to be fitted
    with a Type B CO alarm that complies
    with the BS EN 50291 standard.

    Link: https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/9339143/ccmjultechnical.pdf

  • TheSearles
    TheSearles Forum Participant Posts: 18
    edited August 2017 #3

    As an ex-firefighter I strongly recommend both.  Have been to carbon monoxide poisoning in a motorhome.  Why wouldn't you?

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2017 #4

    Thanks folk, it's just that my new motorhome contained neither and I am questioning the requirement with the dealership. I've fitted both myself at my expense!

  • huskydog
    huskydog Club Member Posts: 5,460 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited August 2017 #5

    When we bought our second hand M/H last year the dealer gave us a smoke and CO alarm still in its packaging 

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #6

    From the link above: Mindful of potential risks, the
    National Caravan Council (NCC)
    decided that from 1 September 2011,
    new caravans and motorhomes
    submitted for NCC certification should
    be fitted with a CO alarm as standard.

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,388 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2017 #7

    Likewise.

    peedee

  • HelenandTrevor
    HelenandTrevor Forum Participant Posts: 3,221
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    edited August 2017 #8

    Our new caravan was fitted with both alarms, not sure it was because it was a legal requirement though.

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2017 #9

    So I guess this is a recommendation in order to meet NCC certification and not a legal requirement. I also guess this mean my new van neither complies with council requirements or is appropriately certificated but was legally sold to me without.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #10

    All National Caravan Council (NCC) approved dealers and manufacturers must fit a
    smoke detector in all new and second-hand caravans sold since May 1989 (BS 5446
    Part 1), although this will not apply to privately sold caravans or those sold by dealers
    outside the NCC.

    Link: http://www.durhamcentre.co.uk/fire-alert-mo.pdf

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #11

    Our 2005 caravan had a smoke alarm but no CO detector. 2012 one has both. 

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #12

    I would think possibly so. 

  • mickysf
    mickysf Forum Participant Posts: 6,474 ✭✭✭
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    edited August 2017 #13

    Just checked the dealership's website and they are members of the NCC. I know British made vans come with a smoke alarm fitted but I wonder if this requirement does not apply to NCC members when selling 'foreign' made models. Just a thought.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited August 2017 #14

    Maybe check with CC Legal Advice? The PDF with their Log does say all secondhand sold by registered NCC dealers should comply if I read correctly

  • TonyIshUK
    TonyIshUK Forum Participant Posts: 296
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    edited August 2017 #15

    Just read an article in the Waily Mail, quoting a Which report testing fire alarms.

    The worst alarm took about 9 minutes to respond, the best about 5 mins. All alarms met BSI conditions.

    slightly worrying in an enclosed space of a van ! Occupants would be smoke groggy by then.

    Rgds

  • Pippah45
    Pippah45 Forum Participant Posts: 2,452
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    edited August 2017 #16

    Mine is definitely more sensitive than that - even the steam from the boiling kettle can set it off!  And I can almost save the toast if I rely on the alarm!  But the reset button stops the annoyance. 

    Just a note to anyone thinking of fitting their own - I highly recommend a proper caravan/MH one with a reset button for the toast etc!  My caravan alarm failed last year and I went to a caravan shop - they are slightly more expensive but well worth it.  I know too many people who have removed their batteries.  undecided  Remember folks its the fumes that kill you before the flames.  I suspect my dogs might wake me but I would prefer to die of natural causes not fire! 

    If there isn't a legal requirement for a Gas Safety person to tinker/service  touring vehicles gas fittings I don't supposed they are fussed about fire?  Unless they have changed the law since my dramas of couple of years back NCC workshops don't necessarily have those people - the law then stipulated that "a competent person" was all that was necessary - and the approved workshop not far from me clearly employed incompetent ones. 

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