Modern Building Services

20 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES FEBRUARY 2021 FEATURE INSTALLER VIEW O ptical detectors may be the number one fire detector in the market today, but the popularity of Multi-Sensors has increased dramatically over recent years and prices have fallen, making them all the more attractive. Multi-Sensors combine two sensor types within one alarm, most frequently optical smoke and heat sensors. As different sensors detect different types of smoke and heat, and therefore different types of fire, combining more than one sensor in a single unit potentially makes for an improved response to real fires (as opposed to false alarms). It also reduces unit and installation costs, makes alarm specification far easier and, let’s face it, looks a whole lot better than having two alarms on the ceiling. That much you may well already be aware of, but here are four aspects of Multi-Sensors that you may not have considered before: 1. Multi-Sensors vary in design, as does their ability Not all Multi-Sensors are born equal! Just because you fit a Multi-Sensor, don’t assume it will perform better than all single sensor detectors. A good quality optical alarm that has been correctly specified and installed will more than likely outperform a low cost, basic Multi-Sensor; and by outperform I refer to their ability to detect fires whilst discerning false alarm sources. That’s because, like most things in life, you get what you pay for. Multi-Sensors vary dramatically in design, from basic models where there is limited cross evaluation of the sensor values, through to highly sophisticated devices featuring advanced algorithms to assess the variation in values from each sensor in order to determine the nature of the potential fire. INSTALLER VIEW Barry Sargent, Product Support Manager, Nittan talks through why Multi-Sensors have increased in popularity MULTISENSOR FIRE ALARMS: four things you may not know