Senator 2 Fire alarm system- obsolete?

[kurnal]

Fire Alarm  Engineers - your advice would be very much appreciated please.

One of my clients has two "senator2" addressable panels (one a mimic) covering a large sheltered housing scheme, we need to review the detection due to an unacceptable number of unwanted signals caused by poor positioning of smoke detectors in each flat, the system being activated by cooking.

My advice is to replace the existing Gent 78215-01NM optical detectors in the flat lobbies with  78220-01NM Heat detectors to protect the means of escape (L2), and install stand alone smoke alarms in each flat LD3.

We have had advice from the newly appointed maintenance contractor that we would be better to replace the entire system due to the non availability of spares quoting 2 weeks delivery for smoke detectors which have to be sourced in eastern europe. Seems a bit drastic to me and I wonder if its because the engineers in question are not Gent integrators.

On the other hand I would hate to be recommending such an investment in modifcations to the system if it is no longer supported by the manufacturers and spares are scarce.

Any advice please?

[Galeon]

I think the senator was an early attempt before the integrators took over , so wouldnt be surprised if the sensors wont work on a Gent panel aka now.
Instead of all this palaver with changing detectors , here we go , if its a stay put jobby , why not alter the sounder configuration and possibly , with some thought old chap delay the transmission to the big red things with blue lights on when the warden (sorry housing officer is not on site ) . If the warden sorry housing officer is on site then they can 999 it instead.
This may work or not your game on the fire safety stuff , and at least put some shekels in the budget to replace the whole kit and caboodle later on .
Us fire alarm boys have always said go for something tame Apollo , Hochiki etc with a good panel , so no aggro later on going forward.
Sorry this is the best I can do after 4 hours of Latin dancing with over 40 women.................................

[kurnal]

You like the old girls then?

Thanks Paul. No we only have a problem when the scheme manager is off site - the response team has a 20min attendance and many of the unwanted signals happen in the evening. Last one was 4 am yesterday steam from a kettle left on.

Never used to be a problem when we had resident wardens, EC working time directive has a lot to answer for- are you listening David Cameron?

[Galeon]

You like the old girls then?

At least you get a cooked breakfast in the morning , i wont lower the tone with 'how do you like your eggs ?  

[Big_Fella]

The Senator 2 was a differently branded version of the Gent 32000 panel, which indeed the panel is obsolete (has been for a number of years, was Gents attempt of a more cost effective 1-2 loop panel at the time).  The panel will run the 34000 series detectors, which also have been superseeded around 5 years ago by the S-Quad range.  Detectors are available, albeit now at a premium.