Edwards Signaling 517FH User Manual

517FH Series 135°F Fixed Temperature Heat Detector

AC Powered, 120V 60 Hz with Battery Backup

Installation Instructions - Owner's/User's Information Manual
READ CAREFULLY AND SAVE

INTRODUCTION

The 517FH Heat Detector is for use as an evacuation device in
residential applications. Each alarm has a solid state piezo that
emits a temporal 3 signal to warn and alert the household to the
presence of threatening heat.

Your alarm is designed to detect heat that results from an ac­tual fire. Heat detectors are intended for use as supplements to
smoke alarms. This unit cannot detect smoke or other toxic gases,
therefore, do not rely solely on this heat detector to provide a warn­ing of a fire.
NOTE: In the event AC Power fails, a 9v battery will provide proper
alarm operation for a minimum of a 24-hour period.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR HEAT DETEC­TOR IS WORKING PROPERLY

• Your detector is provided with an alarm horn and pulsating Light

Emitting (indicator) Diode, which pulses every 30 seconds, and
a green AC power on LED.

• If the battery is low, a chirp will be emitted when the red LED

flashes. If the alarm is malfunctioning, or if the battery is miss­ing, the chirp is sounded without the red LED flashing. If AC
power fails, the green LED will turn off.

• To test your heat detector, direct a hair dryer at the sensor ele-

ment (silver disk) at a 4-6” distance. Alternatively, a cordless
soldering iron may be applied to sensor element. The unit will
return to normal standby mode once the disk cools down. A
cold damp rag or sponge may used to quickly cool the sensor.

NOTE: Tandem Interconnect Models.

• When testing one alarm, the alarm that is activated will flash the

red indicator light and sound its alarm horn. All other units will
sound the alarm horn with their red indicator lights remaining
off. The relays will also activate on all units in tandem on mod­els equipped with the relay option.

FIRE PROTECTION PLAN

Please note that there are hazards against which heat detection
may not be effective, such as smoking in bed, explosions, when a
closed door separates the alarm from the source of the fire, etc.
The ultimate responsibility for fire protection rests solely on you.

1. To minimize fire hazards—avoid improper storage of flammable

liquids and don’t leave small children home alone.

2. Bedroom doors should be closed while sleeping if a smoke

alarm is installed in the bedroom. They act as a barrier against
heat and smoke.

3. Establish an escape plan:

(a) Post a detailed floor plan depicting the chosen escape

routes.
(b) Each bedroom should have at least two escape routes.
(c) Make sure your children know what to do in case of fire

and teach them to follow the escape plan you have posted.
(d) Agree on an outside meeting place.
(e) Conduct fire drills at least twice a year.

(f) Be sure each member of the family is familiar with the

smoke alarm so they can react properly.

If the alarm should sound:

1. Never waste time dressing or gathering valuables. Follow the
escape route and leave the house immediately.

2. Check bedroom doors before opening. If the door is hot or
smoke is leaking in around the edges—DO NOT OPEN—use
the alternate escape route.

3. If there is smoke in the escape route—keep close to the floor
and take short breaths. If possible, cover your nose and mouth
with a wet cloth.

4. Do not use your own telephone—call the Fire Department from
your neighbor’s house.

5. Once out, do not re-enter your house, but proceed to your
prearranged meeting place.

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO TO MAKE
YOUR FAMILY SAFE FROM FIRES

Putting up heat detectors and smoke alarms is just the first step
in protecting your family from fires. You also must reduce the
chances that fires will start in your home and increase your chances
of safely escaping if one does start. To have an effective fire safety
program:

a. Install smoke alarms and heat detectors properly follow-

ing the instructions in the product’s manual. Keep your
alarms clean. Test your alarm monthly and repair or re­place it when it no longer functions. As with any electronic

product, alarms have a limited life, and alarms that don’t work
cannot protect you.

b. Follow safety rules and prevent hazardous situations:

• Use smoking materials properly; never smoke in bed.

• Keep matches and cigarette lighters away from children.

• Store flammable materials in proper containers and never use

them near open flames or sparks.

• Keep electrical appliances and cords in good working order
and do not overload electrical circuits.

• Keep stoves, fireplaces, chimneys, and barbecue grills grease­free and make sure they are properly installed away from com­bustible materials.

• Keep portable heaters and open flames such as candles away
from combustible materials.

• Do not allow rubbish to accumulate.

c. Develop a family escape plan and practice it with your

entire family, especially small children.

••

• Draw a floor plan of your home and find two ways to exit from

••

each room. There should be one way to get out of each bed­room without opening the door.

••

• Teach children what the smoke alarm or heat detection signal

••

means, and that they must be prepared to leave the residence
by themselves if necessary. Show them how to check to see
if doors are hot before opening them, how to stay close to the
floor and crawl if necessary, and how to use the alternate exit
if the door is hot and should not be opened.

CHESHIRE, CT 203-699-3300 F AX 203-699-3365

P/N 550-0175-000 © 1999

••

• Decide on a meeting place a safe distance from your house

••

and make sure that all your children understand that they
should go and wait for you if there is a fire.

••

• Hold fire drills at least every 6 months to make sure that ev-

••

eryone, even small children, knows what to do to escape safely.

••

• Know where to go to call the fire department from outside

••

your residence.

••

• Provide emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers and

••

teach your family to use this equipment properly.

WHAT TO DO IF THERE IS A FIRE
IN YOUR HOME

If you have prepared family escape plans and practiced them
with your family, you have increased their chances of escaping
safely. Review the following rules with your children when you
have fire drills so everyone will remember them in a real fire emer­gency:
a. Don’t panic; stay calm. Your safe escape may depend on

thinking clearly and remembering what you have practiced.

b. Get out of the house following a planned escape route as

quickly as possible. Do not stop to collect anything or to get
dressed.

c. Open doors carefully only after feeling to see if they are hot.

Do not open a door if it is hot; use an alternate escape route.
d. Stay close to the floor; smoke and hot gases rise.
e. Cover your nose and mouth with a cloth, wet if possible, and

take short, shallow breaths.
f. Keep doors and windows closed unless you open them to es-

cape.
g. Meet at your prearranged meeting place after leaving the house.
h. Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from outside

your house. Give the address and your name.
i. Never re-enter a burning building.

Contact your local Fire Department for more information on
making your home safer from fires and about preparing your
family’s escape plans.

WHAT THIS HEAT DETECTOR
CAN DO

This alarm is designed to sense heat produced by a fire. IT

WILL NOT SENSE SMOKE OR OTHER TOXIC GASES.

When properly located, installed, and maintained, this heat de­tector is designed to provide warning of developing fires at a rea­sonable cost. This alarm monitors the air and, when it senses
heat, activates its built-in alarm horn. NOTE: This heat detector
is designed for use within single residential living units only; that
is, it should be used inside a single-family home or one apartment
of a multi-family building. In a multi-family building, the alarm
may not provide early warning for residents if it is placed outside
of the residential units, such as on outside porches, in corridors,
lobbies, basements, or in other apartments. In multi-family build­ings, each residential unit should have alarms to alert the resi­dents of that unit. Alarms designed to be interconnected should
be interconnected within one family residence only; otherwise,
nuisance alarms will occur when an alarm in another living unit is
tested.

IMPORTANT NOTE: WHAT HEAT DE­TECTORS CANNOT DO

Heat Detectors will not work without power. A battery must

be connected to the alarm to maintain proper alarm operation if
AC power supply is cut off by an electrical fire, an open fuse or
circuit breaker, or for any other reason. In the event of AC power
failure, the battery will supply power for a minimum of 24 hours.

Heat detectors may not sense fire that starts where heat

cannot reach the alarms such as in chimneys, in walls, on roofs,

or on the other side of closed doors. Smoke alarms should also
be placed in each bedroom as well as in the common hallway
between them.

Heat detectors also may not sense a fire on another level

of a residence or building. For example, a second-floor alarm
may not sense a first-floor or basement fire. Therefore, alarms
should be placed on every level of a residence or building.

The horn in your alarm meets or exceeds current audibility re-

quirements of Underwriters Laboratories. However, if the alarm

is located outside a bedroom, it may not wake up a sound
sleeper, especially if the bedroom door is closed or only partly

open. If the alarm is located on a different level of the residence
than the bedroom, it is even less likely to wake up people sleeping
in the bedroom. In such cases, the National Fire Protection Asso­ciation recommends that the alarms be interconnected so that an
alarm on any level of the residence will sound an alarm loud enough
to awaken sleepers in closed bedrooms. This can be done by
installing a fire-detection system, by connecting alarms together,
or by using radio frequency transmitters and receivers.

All types of smoke alarm and heat detector sensors have
limitations. No type of smoke alarm and heat detector can
sense every kind of fire every time. In general, alarms may
not always warn you about fires caused by violent explosions,
escaping gas, improper storage of flammable materials, or
arson.

NOTE: This detector is not designed to replace special-pur­pose fire detection and alarm systems necessary to protect per­sons and property in non-residential buildings such as warehouses,
or other large industrial or commercial buildings. It alone is not a
suitable substitute for complete fire-detection systems designed
to protect individuals in hotels and motels, dormitories, hospitals,
or other health and supervisory care and old age institutions.
Please refer to NFPA 101,The Life Safety Code, and NFPA 72 for
smoke alarm requirements for fire protection in buildings not de­fined as “households.”

Installing smoke alarms and heat detectors may make you eli­gible for lower insurance rates, but smoke alarms and heat de-
tectors are not a substitute for insurance. Homeowners and
renters should continue to insure their lives and property.

HEAT DETECTION

General. - While Chapter 2 of NFPA 72 does not require heat
detectors as part of the basic protection scheme, it is recommended
that the householder consider the use of additional heat detectors
for the same reasons presented in the next section. The addi­tional areas lending themselves to protection with heat detectors
are the kitchen, dining room, attic (finished or unfinished), fur­nace room, utility room, basement and integral or attached ga­rage. For bedrooms, the installation of a smoke alarm is recom­mended over the installation of a heat detector for protection of
the occupants from fires in their bedrooms.

Heat Detector Mounting – Dead Air Space. Heat from a fire
rises to the ceiling, spreads out across the ceiling surface, and
begins to bank down from the ceiling. The corner where the ceil­ing and the wall meet is an air space into which heat has difficulty
penetrating. In most fires, this dead air space measures about 4
in. (0.1 m) down the wall as shown in Fig. 5. Heat detectors
should not be placed in this dead air space.

The placement of the detector is critical where maximum speed
of fire detection is desired. Thus, a logical location for a detector
is the center of the ceiling. At this location, the detector is closest
to all areas of the room.

If the detector cannot be located in the center of the ceiling, an
off-center location on the ceiling may be permitted to be used.