Legal requirement?
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?
Comments
-
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
0 -
As an ex-firefighter I strongly recommend both. Have been to carbon monoxide poisoning in a motorhome. Why wouldn't you?
2 -
Our new caravan was fitted with both alarms, not sure it was because it was a legal requirement though.
0 -
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.
0 -
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.0 -
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
0 -
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.
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.
0
